Fear and firings in Washington

President Donald Trump is fulfilling his campaign promise to aggressively disrupt the federal government and bend it to his personal world view. So far, he's been quite successful at it — often, distressingly so. 

Crucial tests await of the legality of his dismantling of the bureaucracy. Many of Trump's key executive orders and all of Elon Musk's rampage through federal departments and agencies by a shadow operation called the Department of Government Efficiency are likely illegal. There's a reason federal judges appointed under Article 3 of the Constitution have lifetime appointments — so they can serve as the unbeholden guardrails of the republic.

Yet it will take time for many of those cases to wind through the system. As of Friday, at least 50 lawsuits had been filed on an array of executive orders and DOGE actions. Some temporary rulings blocked actions pending more information or arguments from both sides.

So far federal judges have: 

• Struck down Trump's executive order to end the constitutional right to birthright citizenship
• Postponed the deadline for federal employees to accept a buyout or risk being fired later. Having to choose between leaving with the iffy promise of a few months' pay or being fired has real consequences for many of the Long Islanders employed by the federal government of whom there were nearly 17,000 last June.
• Stopped access by DOGE to the Treasury Department's central payment system containing sensitive personal data, including Social Security numbers, bank records, and health data for almost all Americans.
• Blocked an executive order from the Office of Management and Budget to temporarily pause all grants and loans to myriad federal programs such as Head Start and Meals on Wheels.
• Halted the attempt to put 2,200 employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development on leave. 

What happens in these cases will become widely known. Equal focus, however, is warranted on the often-quieter ways the administration is upending established rules, norms and processes that have served the world's oldest democracy well. 

TRUMP PUSHES LIMITS

Trump's well-honed strategy of pushing any limits or boundaries on his behavior has delivered results throughout his career, regardless of how the courts ruled later. Some of these brazen moves — such as firing federal agency internal watchdogs known as inspector generals, who hold officials accountable — are within his power.

And certainly, he is vindicating voters who want him to win the culture wars. Not only are all DEI policies being eliminated, the individual words "diversity," "equity" and "inclusion" are being scrubbed regardless of their context. These well-publicized purges, along with new Attorney General Pam Bondi seeking to launch dubious "criminal investigations" of corporate DEI programs, are making the private sector reconsider its policies — even the mighty NFL. For the first time since 2021, "End Racism" will not be painted in either end zone for Sunday’s Super Bowl, which Trump plans to attend.

Even if Trump's buyout plan for federal employees eventually is ruled illegal, it's already been made clear that other efforts will be made to purge those not considered loyal to the cause. Russell Vought, a mastermind of the Project 2025 road map for Trump's second term, was confirmed Thursday as head of the Office of Management and Budget. He has never wavered from the view that federal workers are the enemy and that Civil Service protections should be gutted. 

"I want federal employees to be traumatized. I want to put them in trauma. I want them ... to not come to work — because they know that they are increasingly viewed as the villain," Vought once said in a speech. Job offers from the federal government which were already accepted are being rescinded, internships canceled, and probationary workers with fewer protections are being scrutinized.

FEAR AND LOYALTY

It is governance by fear and intimidation with a message that is crystal clear: Loyalty to the movement is the top requirement for a job.

High-ranking and long-serving career officials, those with deep knowledge of their agencies who have given nonpartisan advice to political appointees for many administrations, are being reassigned or pushed out. George Toscas, who began with the Justice Department's National Security Division when President George W. Bush created it after the 9/11 attacks, was told he had to move to an immigration task force or leave. A political appointee will now determine who should be prosecuted as foreign or domestic terrorists without anyone in the ranks having the stature to say no. 

Two weeks ago, career officers at the FBI were sent a 3-page questionnaire requiring them or their supervisors to fill out forms seeking to determine who had any role investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol rioters. FBI agents feared they would be fired or demoted and their identities made public.

Two lawsuits were filed and on Friday, the Trump administration agreed to not release for now the names of any of the 5,000 agents and other personnel targeted. The FBI agents, members of the nation's preeminent law enforcement agency, were so fearful of the president and for the safety of themselves and their families that they filed the lawsuits anonymously.

 "The very act of compiling lists of persons who worked on matters that upset Donald Trump is retaliatory in nature, intended to intimidate FBI agents and other personnel, and to discourage them from reporting any future malfeasance and by Donald Trump and his agents," the lawsuit alleges. 

Yes, it has been an ominously good first few weeks for the new president.