Deep State Fights Back Against Trump

Donald Trump went into the presidential election vowing to dismantle what he calls the “deep state.” Now the deep state is (politely) fighting back.

Multiple federal government employees, all but one of them speaking on condition of anonymity to protect their jobs, have told Newsweek that they are living in fear but will ignore any instructions from the White House they deem unlawful—and they are determined not to sacrifice their jobs simply because of the pressure.

They said morale had cratered since Trump was inaugurated on January 20, ushering in a wave of policies such as a bid to end remote work and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. One described the atmosphere as “demoralizing and chaotic.”

Nor is Trump their only target. Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla CEO who leads the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), was also singled out for driving what the employees see as a threatening and counterproductive agenda.

It is not known how many employees have joined this informal movement. But many have turned to the 278,000-strong r/fednews Reddit page, described as a safe space for federal employees, to express anger, dismay and sadness over the administration’s policies.

They shun traditional symbols of resistance. Instead they unite around a more unlikely flag, emblazoned with an image of a star, a stapler and the motto “Come and take it”—a play on right-wing campaigns against gun control. Another widely shared slogan proclaims: “Hold the line. Do not resign.” One popular post repeated that slogan and noted that “we made an oath to protect the constitution from threats, both foreign and domestic.”

Trump and his supporters say the deep state consists of progressive-leaning federal government employees who continue to wield substantial power regardless of who controls the White House and Congress. They say that spending is too high and federal agencies need to be more responsive to the public’s needs to restore trust in government.

Among such supporters is Senator Jim Banks, a Republican from Indiana.

“The American people overwhelmingly voted for President Trump in part because of his promise to root out government waste and bring common sense back to the White House,” Banks told NBC News. “With a $36 trillion national debt, I welcome his administration working to ensure every tax dollar is spent responsibly on the agenda he promised.”

Newsweek contacted the White House press office for comment via email.

Donald Trump Vs the Deep State

During Trump’s first term in office it was widely reported that some federal employees were seeking to undermine his agenda by slow walking or outright ignoring White House dictates. A report by the conservative America First Policy Institute published last month concluded that a “significant minority” of federal employees actively sought to undermine Trump’s agenda during this time, using tactics such as failing to inform political appointees about key developments and producing “legally unusable” policy drafts.

Following Trump’s inauguration on January 20, the White House wrote to government agencies instructing them to “take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements,” while many federal workers were offered eight months’ pay if they agreed to resign from their jobs by February 6. Trump also said he would purge over 1,000 Biden appointees from the federal government “who are not aligned with our vision to Make America Great Again.”

Musk has indicated he would like to cut federal spending by “at least $2 trillion.”

Such pronouncements have not been well received by the federal employees who spoke to Newsweek.

One, who said they’d worked for the Interior Department and its bureaus for nearly 30 years, described morale as “the worst I’ve ever seen in the federal government.”

“I can say that 98 percent of all the federal employees are hardworking people who really do care about their work and their service to the public. The ‘lazy’ government workers are few and far between,” they said.

“I can also add that the level of terror and paranoia is incredibly extreme. For example, many of my colleagues have spent most of the week scrubbing websites for ANY mention of DEI programs.

“Even the word ‘equity’ is being removed from all internal and external digital platforms (this is an order from the highest levels of my department). These workers are so scared that even one word that doesn’t align with the Trump administration will result in firing.”

Another federal worker, employed by the Department of Health & Human Services in the Midwest, echoed such sentiments.

“The general mood is one of anxiety, distrust, and siege,” they said.

“We’ve always felt undervalued, sometimes thankless, but now, I’d say it’s shifted to being targeted. The Elon Fork in the Road email seems to be a quasi legal coercion or warning for an empty, unbanked promise… Remote work has increased efficiency. It’s saved the government millions of dollars in electricity, bandwidth usage, etc.”

“A Fork in the Road” was the title of an email sent to over 2 million federal workers by the Office of Personnel Management. It gave them the chance to resign in exchange for about eight months’ pay. The administration expected 5 to 10 percent of employees to accept the offer.

Part of federal workers’ resistance to Trump is simply to stay in their jobs despite the pressure.

Matt Wilson, a 20-year federal employee who works as a social security analyst in Baltimore and was the only employee willing to be identified by Newsweek, said he didn’t know anyone who was planning to accept it.

“I haven’t talked to a single person who is interested in taking up the deferred retirement offer,” he said. “Our service ethos is strong, and we remain committed to doing the important work the American people expect from us, now and into the future.”

However, a Department of Defense employee based out of Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine said they expect “more people to leave if telework goes away,” adding: “Older workers may stay because they are vested in retirement. Younger workers will go.”

The Office of Personnel Management has rejected criticism of the offer.

“This is a rare, generous opportunity — one that was thoroughly vetted and intentionally designed to support employees through restructuring,” spokesperson McLaurine Pinover said in a statement reported by NPR. “Instead of spreading misinformation and using workers as political pawns, they should be making sure federal employees have the facts and freedom to make the best decision for themselves and their families.”

‘Demoralizing and Chaotic’

One Veterans Health Administration employee from the southeast described morale as “very low” adding: “We are being told we are lazy and incompetent, and Trump is turning the general public against us, even though we are regular people with jobs just like them. It’s demoralizing and chaotic, which I fear is exactly what he wants.”

A Veterans Affairs (VA) Department employee, who specializes in mental health, said: “The current administration’s targeting of federal employees is causing high levels of stress and making it harder for us to focus on doing our job, which is to take care of veterans. We help veterans struggling with mental health issues, including suicidal thoughts, PTSD, anxiety, and depression.”

They added: “I am passionate about my job and hoped to dedicate my entire career to the VA, but I’m increasingly worried about whether our work will be sustainable under the current pressures… Public servants aren’t the enemy and it’s extremely discouraging to see us scapegoated as such.

“If the administration’s aim was to demoralize us, I would say that has backfired. My colleagues and I are fired up, angry, and even more determined to hold on to our jobs, challenge the nonsense, and keep doing good work to serve veterans.”

Work in federal agencies can be relatively well paid, as Trump’s supporters have pointed out. The average salary in the U.S. is $66,622, according to the Social Security Administration. A Newsweek analysis last year found many federal agencies have average salaries in the six figures.

Leading these is the Securities and Exchange Commission, tasked with regulating the financial industry, which has an average salary at $213,844, according to the personnel office. It employees just under 5,000 people.

Department of Agriculture employees are the lowest paid of major federal agencies. Its more than 92,000 workers make an average of $86,425 per year.

‘Disobey Unlawful Orders’

Pay isn’t everything, federal workers indicated to Newsweek. Several said that their first duty was to the Constitution, and suggested they would ignore orders they believe are unlawful.

One employee working for a federal agency in New England said: “Federal employees have the right to disobey unlawful orders because we have to uphold the Constitution…We take our oaths serious. The same oath Congress takes. We love our country. We believe in our missions.”

They added: “The people demonizing us have never served anyone other than themselves. They have never made an honest living. They have never punched a clock. They have never taken a reduction in pay for the opportunity to serve their country. Gainfully employed adults are being harassed and bullied by a convicted felon.”

A United States Citizenship and Immigration Services employee, based out of Maryland, said: “I swore an oath to the Constitution, not the President. As Lincoln stated, this government is ‘of the people, by the people, for the people.’ This Administration needs to be reminded of that. We serve the American people, not the President.”

‘Sense of Solidarity’

Another Department of Defense worker said they were “dealing with a lot of stress” because they are transgender and “definitely pissed off at the new administration.” However, they said: “There’s a pretty strong sense of solidarity among federal workers, and that extends up and down the chain of command.”

The Trump administration has worked quickly to reverse protections for transgender people nationwide. This includes an executive order designed to cut federal support for gender transitions for individuals under the age of 19.

He has also instructed the Pentagon to review policies likely to lead to barring transgender individuals from military service, and signed another order to define sex strictly as male or female.

Targeting transgender rights proved to be one of the most successful tactics of Trump’s election campaign.

Campaign ads often included a clip of Vice President Kamala Harris saying during her 2020 presidential campaign that she supported gender-affirming medical treatment for transgender people in prison, with the tagline: “Kamala is for ‘they/them.’ President Trump is for you.”

A civil service physician, who works with a range of federal agencies including the Bureau of Prisons and the Indian Health Service, struck a defiant tone, without referencing transgender rights specifically. “We’re used to politicians lying about the civil service and the excellent and necessary work we do,” they said. “We are always here long after they are gone.”

Government Waste

Senior Trump administration officials continue to insist radical federal government reform is needed. Following Trump’s election victory in November, Musk took to his X social media platform with a typically forthright view.

“The sheer magnitude of government waste is staggering to behold!” he said.

The number of federal employees has been steadily growing since the summer of 2022, though it peaked in 1990, when there were more than 3.4 million, according to the St. Louis Fed.

According to Treasury Department figures, in the 2022 fiscal year the federal government spent a total of $6.75 trillion. Thus achieving Musk’s desired £2 trillion spending reduction will require radical cuts, leading to further tension between the Trump administration and critics in the federal government.

The stapler memes are likely just the start.