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Federal employees who worked during Trump’s first term report feeling “PTSD” over his return, according to a recent report.
CNN’s René Marsh noted on “News Central” that many federal workers feel “scared” and “anxious” about potential mass firings in Trump’s second term, claiming: “We are in a dystopian hellscape. That is from a federal employee via text message last night and that is the mindset of many of the two million federal workers anticipating Donald Trump’s return to office.”
Trump has pledged to reinstate Schedule F, a 2020 order allowing tens of thousands of federal workers to be made at-will employees, making them easier to dismiss. Marsh claimed that Schedule F could enable Trump to fire ” disloyal ” employees to his administration.
“As you know, Trump has obsessed about the idea of federal workers being agents of the deep state working against him and his agenda. Some of the employees who lived through the first Trump Administration say they are experiencing PTSD,” claimed Marsh.
Former Trump appointee Ronald Sanders also told CNN this order could be “problematic” if used to enforce loyalty to the administration, stating: “The objective is to create space to put loyalists in what were, what are still, career civil service positions.”
Concerns are widespread in the federal government, with one Energy Department employee describing a “general feeling of dread” to CNN. An EPA employee added,”We are absolutely having conversations among ourselves about whether we can stomach a round two.”
In April, President Biden’s administration introduced a rule to protect federal workers from easy dismissal, aiming to reduce corruption and partisan influence. The Office of Personnel Management now prevents career civil servants from being reclassified as at-will employees, safeguarding their job security.
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