Thousands of newly hired federal employees have been fired by the Donald Trump administration. A thousand newly hired National Park Service employees also lost their jobs during the mass layoffs. An agitated federal even claimed that the President might have an ulterior motive behind the firings.
The Department of Government Efficiency, aka DOGE, was initially supposed to be led by Elon Musk. The department’s agenda was to focus on reducing government spending. Cutting down on the number of federal employees seemed to be one of the ways the billionaire came up with.
During Trump’s inauguration, the Tesla CEO claimed that he would bring down the government by $2 trillion. He later revised his initial estimate and claimed that he aimed to reduce spending by $1 trillion.
Trump’s decision to fire 1000 employees who look after the maintenance of America’s National Park Service has left the citizens in a state of worry. The move to downsize in a swift and abrupt manner is already being labelled as “aggressive” and “chaotic.”
Kristen Brengel, senior VP of government affairs at the National Parks Conservation Association, revealed how the mass firing will affect the parks. “Fewer staff means shorter visitor center hours, delayed openings, and closed campgrounds,” Brengel revealed.
Jeanmarie Wheeler, who was a former natural resource specialist at the Bureau of Land Management, spoke up about the mass firings. “I was so done. I felt so insulted,” she told The Daily Beast.
Wheeler was not the only one who lost her job. Several of her colleagues at the Idaho-based Bureau were fired alongside her. Jeanmarie told the outlet how she and her colleagues were cared for and managed 800,000 acres of the range land near Salmon River.
Wheeler claimed that her supervisor implied that Trump planned to use the public lands to make money. “That’s how I interpreted what he said,” she added. The agitation amongst the federal employees grows as the DOGE does not show any signs of stopping the aggressive layoffs. The layoffs have affected only probationary workers across multiple government departments so far.
According to USA Today, workers were fired across the Department of Education and Small Business Administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Elon Musk: The fraudsters show the most amount of righteous indignation.
Sean Hannity: “Why this rage against you now? First they hated President Trump, now they hate both of you.”
Elon: “I think we’re seeing an antibody reaction [against DOGE] from those who are receiving the… pic.twitter.com/tAraWSQFB9
— ELON CLIPS (@ElonClipsX) February 20, 2025
Veterans Affairs shared that they fired 1000 probationary workers, which saved them $98 million. Doug Collins, Veterans Affairs Secretary, noted that it was a “tough decision” to make, adding that it was the “right call.”
Elon Musk lost his title as the head of the DOGE soon after receiving it. The White House shared that the billionaire is not the head of the department, nor does he work for it.
Joshua Fisher, who serves as the director of the White House Office of Administration, clarified exactly what the Tesla CEO’s role in the cabinet was. Musk is now the “senior advisor to the president.”
