The big news today is that it appears the “freeze” order of yesterday has been entirely rescinded. Wow, did that mess blow up in Trump’s greasy orange face, or what?
I take it that around the country local television news reporters were covering the ways the freeze would impact local viewers. This must have upset a lot of folks. And I understand Democrats actually woke up and got aggressive in condemning it. And Stephen Miller is having a snit that the blowback stopped the freeze. Poor baby.
But wait … not so fast … later today the Trump administration said they were only rescinding the memo announcing the freeze order, not the freeze itself. Huh? NPR reports,
Karoline Leavitt, the White House spokeswoman, told reporters that the move simply meant a recession of the memo.
She said efforts to “end the egregious waste of federal funding” will continue. She said the OMB memo has been rescinded “to end any confusion on federal policy created by the court ruling and the dishonest media coverage.” The administration expects that rescinding the memo will end the court case against it.
After widespread confusion from the initially very broad memo calling for a halt in federal assistance, pending review, the White House tried Tuesday to further clarify which programs would not be affected, later specifying that it would not impact Medicaid and SNAP programs, for example.
This latest statement from the White House is likely to add to the confusion rather than clarify it.
So nobody knows what’s going on. On to the next outrage, the fake “buyout.”
The more I read about Trump’s so-called “buyout” of federal employees, the more confused I got. At first I understood it to be the standard sort of thing some companies do when they are downsizing, to offer employees a better severance package than they would otherwise get if they go ahead and resign. But that’s not exactly right. It’s more like a “deferred resignation.” If federal employees offer to resign now, they will still be considered employees until September 30, at which time their pay and benefits end. But while they are still considered employees they don’t have to come into the office. It’s not clear whether they’ll actually be working from home or not. What happens if they take another job before September 30? Do they get to “double dip”? From what I’ve read, probably not.
I found this on Bluesky:
I have read the email from OPM. It is not what has been reported. IT IS NOT A BUY OUT.
It is an exemption from the partially unenforceable return to the office EO until end of the Fiscal Year. You may have to work every single workday until the end of the FY. No guarantees. All discretionary.
— Eugene Freedman (@eugenefreedman.bsky.social) January 28, 2025 at 7:13 PM
See also What federal workers should know about Trump administration’s ‘deferred resignation’ offer.
Part of the problem is that it appears the executive branch needs congressional approval to do this, although right now Trump would probably get it if he asked. But another thing to know about this downsizing of the workforce is that it appears to be an Elon Musk operation. See Elon Musk Lackeys Have Taken Over the Office of Personnel Management at Wired.
One of the best things I’ve read today about the downsizing is by David Dayen at The American Prospect, who first explains that the email with the fake buyout offer went to employees with the header “Fork in the Road.”
This was an Elon Musk operation, through and through. In fact, the “Fork in the Road” email had the same title as one that Elon Musk sent to Twitter when he took over there, informing workers to be “extremely hardcore” or take the resignation offer. The Twitter emails even included the same ask of workers to reply with their decision.
lso like Elon’s Twitter experience, OPM enticed workers to take the offer by explaining how miserable it would be to stay in a government job. The Trump administration is requiring a return to the office, and stripping thousands of employees in policymaking roles of civil service protections. Because of expected divestitures of physical office space, many workers would have to relocate into new offices or maybe even new cities. Because of promised reductions in force, many workers who choose to stay could be furloughed anyway: “At this time, we cannot give you full assurance regarding the certainty of your position or agency,” the email reads. Moreover, there are statements about higher performance standards and an emphasis on being “loyal” and “trustworthy.”
If that’s what toiling in the bureaucracy is like, maybe you’d think about taking the big severance package, even if it sounds too good to be true. Which it is.
Musk’s associates have apparently taken over OPM, according to a rundown from Wired and a Reddit post by someone claiming to be an anonymous OPM staffer. Chief of staff Amanda Scales worked for Musk’s AI firm; a former Tesla and Boring Company engineer is a senior adviser. Memos written by OPM had metadata revealing the authors as Project 2025 authors and conservative think-tank veterans. The previous chief information officer was reassigned just a week into starting at the agency, apparently because he wouldn’t set up this distribution list to all federal employees. (According to the Redditor, that’s been set up on a separate server that looks like it’s coming from OPM.)
Trump, of course, wants to replace career civil service employees with his own lackeys. Elon may just be trying to help. But Elon has a history of mass firings of employees. He seems to view his employees not as resources but as cost, and one of his first go-to strategies for handling too much cost is an indiscriminate mass firing of employees. You probably remember all the layoffs at Twitter, which didn’t appear to do Twitter any good. Last year he laid off 10 percent of the global workforce of Tesla. A report by Reuters found that Musk damaged parts of his company and mightily pissed of contracted vendors as a result. Later he went on a hiring spree to replace people he had laid off. Genius. But given Musk’s history, someone capable of finding a good job elsewhere might think twice about working for Musk.
It’s also the case that Trump doesn’t like work-from-home arrangements and had ordered all employees to return to the office. However, in many cases work-from-home was written into Union contracts. David Dayen writes that some federal agencies have already rejected Trump’s back-to-the-office order for that reason.
It wouldn’t surprise me if a lot of federal civil service employees already have resumes in circulation, in hopes of finding a new job rather than continue to work for Captain Chaos. But I’d still be really cautious about going along with anything Musk/Trump proposes.
In other news:
Trump plans to cancel visas and deport all non-citizen students and others who took part in pro-Palestinian protests last summer. Reuters reports,
A fact sheet on the order promises “immediate action” by the Justice Department to prosecute “terroristic threats, arson, vandalism and violence against American Jews” and marshal all federal resources to combat what it called “the explosion of antisemitism on our campuses and streets” since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
“To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you,” Trump said in the fact sheet.“I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before.”
This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. Trump is Netanyahu’s boy.
In more other news: Today RFK the Lesser reported to the Senate for confirmation hearings. I haven’t been watching, but the reviews have not been kind. Among other things, Lesser believes Americans don’t like Medicaid because “the premiums are too high.” Um, there are no premiums, Lesser.
Update: The hits keep coming — Trump plans to turn Guantanamo Bay into a migrant camp.
I wouldn't take a buyout from Stump unless he promised not to honor it! Saw this great cartoon, this about sums it up, when it coms to the “ADL” money talks, especially 400 billion!
Gh1GWrHXwAAdMvE (680×679)
"Captain Chaos" is right. Mr. Trump believes that he will get the better part of the deal by creating anxiety. (Like by threatening 25% tariffs against Mexico and Canada.) He's threatening the federal workforce and offering an escape that looks like they will be in a work-from-home status, with enough supervision and oversight to keep them from getting a second job. Trump wants the resignation in stone but he will have them on a hook – he will reel them in if their skills are needed until the last minute of employment.
Did somebody in Trumpworld realize that they might need what these guys know? So they replace them with toadies in the office but they can pick the brains of the departing experts (by phone) for a half-year. Actually, pretty cute if that's the plan.
MAGA believes the feds are the source of all problems. Abolish the federal government along with all the civil servants and the world will thrive. Except all those agencies exist for reasons. Abolish FEMA and see what happens after a hurricane. As Maha observed, Medicaid is the agency that pays for assisted dying facilities (to use GULAG's phrase.) In a nursing facility is better than on the streets for a 90-year old with dementia. Maha and many others live in decent housing where they want to be because of rent assistance. People on the edge rely on Section 8 assistance. Meals On Wheels keeps many elderly people in their homes rather than a nursing facility. GOP slashes in the budget will throw them on the street. MAGA can ignore the realities – if Trump implements the cuts he wants, MAGA won't be on the receiving end of the backlash.
Trump wants to pick and choose who gets the funding. That's unconstitutional and was a bad political move – so he reversed. He's still scheming on how to cut off California's funding for programs Trump will make sure work well in MO and KY. He'll try five dirrent ways to get that kind of discretionary power before he quits,
It's worth saying out loud – Trump can not appropriate funds. The House has to do it. IMO, doing away with the spending cap is/was on Trump's mind because, with no cap, Trump will just spend unbudgeted money and send Congress the invoices as if they are his accountants.
The checks-and-balances system deliberately separates the executive branch from the legislative branch. If the USSC affirms that fundamental concept, the damage Mr. Trump can do is not unlimited. Johnson occasionally hints at working with Democrats to get something done, which is fine if Johnson is willing to make concessions for the support he needs. Johnson damn well knows he's going to get very little passed in the House with the majority he has because there are too many anarchists in the GOP camp.
For this period of history, the most critical branch will be the judiciary. The federal courts must uphold the Constitution and the states must conduct criminal prosecutions for domestic terrorism.
Oh, crap!
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-victory-lap-ahead-inauguration-213518860.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall
The horror continues. What I caught on RFK was mind boggling. Thanatos in the flesh and a cult leader of those who's drive is powered by Freud's death wish. It is no surprise he had republican supporters. A nightmare of a choice with many notable medical professionals on record in opposition to his appointment.
Governer Josh Green, former physician with personal experience with RFK, the current governor of Hawaii, went on record about how unfit this appointment is. He personally witnessed the trail of death RFK left in Samoa.
Any Senator voting for his approval casts eternal doubt on his moral and ethical fitness for that or any other public office IMO. I understand RFK's cousin's letter after hearing Governor Green. He has cast disgrace on the Kennedy family name and left a trail of horror and exploitation. No vax BIG problem. People have died and more will die as people like RFK spread but another big lie. Shameful. Horrific.
I'm familiar with the airspace around DC. If this was "close" to Reagan National, I find it hard to believe the AA pilot was out of position. If it was over the Patomac, as reported, the plane was on approach where they belonged. The main runway at National Airport is parallel to the river and both ends of the runway extend to the river so planes don't fly over metropolitan areas when they're only a few hundred feet off the ground. (Or pretty close – a pilot should be able to ditch into water rather than crash into a residential area.)
Any DC pilot knows there is a corridor – think of it as a tunnel from the end of the runway at ground level sloping up for arriving aircraft at one end and departing planes on the other. Which direction will switch so the planes always land and take off into the wind (as much as possible.) National has only one major runway though there is a shorter runway that might be enough for a regional turboprop but they would not be over the river on final approach. All aircraft must have transponders that give their location and altitude. The Army helo might not have one, but the regional jet damn well did.
National is the most overburdened airport in the country – only one runway long enough for jets and it's less than two miles from the White House. Congress keeps asking for more flights at National for their personal convenience despite warnings from Air Traffic Control that the interval between planes is too short now. (I expected a collision between planes when I first heard.)
My heart goes out to the families of the victims. I've made that flight more times than I can count. If you are on the right (correct) side of the plane you have a brief glimpse of the Capitol Mall from the river, past the Washington Monument, and all the way to the Capitol Dome.
Thanatos may not get the credit/blame for this disaster. I only flew into that airport once. That was one time too many. You need a bigger death wish than I have to book a repeat landing there. As I recall Doug, you had a bit of a rough landing close to there, some years ago. A few scars but you survived.
You should try a landing at Chicago Midway it's is surrounded by buildings or houses on all four sides and it's longest runway is just over a mile long. It's drop and stop. When I was an engineer before I retired I did alot of work there I talked to pilots, facility managers etc. they all expressed how insane and dangerous it was to take off and land there.
"Employees are costs" is a truism of American business education. Layoffs need to be carefully managed and structured, so you don't harm to core business (be it actual business or government operations). So Musk isn't *especially* stupid in seeing employees as costs-only – he's just especially stupid in carrying out that truism of business.
(And, obviously, it's true you don't want deadwood in your business – but a smart businessperson knows how to find the deadwood. A clown like Musk doesn't.)