DOGE firings smack more of payback than efficiency

My dad was quite the joker. Sometimes, driving past a city or state work crew back in the 1950s, he’d roll down the car window and yell, “Got it made!”

That was his way of reflecting the widespread working-class opinion that any government job, even on a swing blade crew along a broiling hot Alabama highway, offered more security and easier working conditions than an employer like the L&N Railroad. Mostly he was right about this.

Over the years, this sentiment has festered into something far more malignant, producing Americans who are not only envious of those with a better deal but are also bent on a self-defeating version of payback. The way in which the Trump administration is handling the reduction of the federal workforce seems aimed more directly at feeding these resentments than assuring the public that it’s really serious about government efficiency.

Federal employees who’ve done very well on employment reviews are being notified that they are “not fit for continued employment,” that their “performance has not been adequate.” Elon Musk, meanwhile, pranced around on a stage over the weekend, brandishing a chainsaw over his head.

Musk’s email to federal employees demanding that they detail “with approx. 5 bullets” what they did last week turned into a clown show when several members of the Trump cabinet quickly instructed their personnel not to comply. But that seems to be the point, really, to make a public spectacle of bringing the federal workforce to heel.

Prior to this, the administration had to move quickly to rehire some 350 federal employees who work on nuclear weapons after they were laid off by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). In many other cases, it may not be planning to move nearly as quickly. The firings that have occurred so far appear to have been based on which employees, like those still within their hiring probationary period, would be easiest to fire, not whether their jobs were essential or not.

That paves the way for a process like that described in the Project 2025 document. Jobs being targeted now as part of a bloated bureaucracy will suddenly be discovered to be essential again, but the positions will be filled not by dedicated civil servants but by political cronies. There are legal barriers to this, but it remains to be seen if they will hold.

Good government jobs have formed the basis for much of the economic development the South has enjoyed since World War Two, from Columbus to Oak Ridge, Warner Robins to Anniston, and, of course, every state capital with a military base or two. Atlanta, with the Centers For Disease Control, has been a focal point in the early stages, but DOGE still has a lot of territory to traverse.

Those are just the federal jobs we’ve been speaking of. Suppose — and it seems almost inevitable — a second wave of Elon wannabes realizes that state government could also be tempting targets for chainsaw governance.

Whether they are risking their lives, conducting vital research, or loafing on some made-up job, all these people buy groceries and gas and make vital contributions to their communities. They deserve better than to be made the object of political derision as they’re shown the door.

We live today in an economy in which many people have experienced reductions in force and been offered and accepted buyouts. They know if they’ve been treated fairly or vindictively. They no longer expect to hold the same job forever, but generally they have a better understanding of their rights on the job. These things will have a lot to do with how voters ultimately come down on DOGE.