Democrats Cry As Trump Makes It Easier to Fire Federal Workers

If there’s one thing about government that we all know, it’s that it tends to expand — relentlessly.

As of December 2025, there were approximately 2.9 million federal workers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In other words, the bureaucracy is a behemoth.

Now, President Trump is making it easier to fire some of them:

The Trump administration is planning to make it easier to discipline—and potentially fire—career officials in senior positions across the government, a move that would affect roughly 50,000 federal workers.
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, which oversees the federal workforce, issued a final rule on Thursday that creates a category of worker for high-ranking career employees whose work focuses on executing the administration’s policies. Workers who fall into that category would no longer be subject to rules that for decades have set a high bar for firing federal employees.

Naturally, many federal workers are strongly opposed to the move, as is the leftist mainstream media. CNN has its knickers in a twist because the move would “weaken” the workforce. Oh, the horror.

In its latest effort to weaken the federal workforce, the Trump administration issued a rule on Thursday that would shift an estimated 50,000 senior career staffers into a new category that would make them easier to fire. https://t.co/9OGMauVJG6 pic.twitter.com/1DdQBw77CC
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) February 5, 2026

Trump has made it a priority to slim down the government, cut waste, abuse, and fraud, and get rid of people working for him who oppose his agenda.

The change is part of a far-reaching effort by the administration to overhaul federal agencies and reduce the size of the government’s workforce. Senior political appointees, spurred on by President Trump’s longstanding contention that a “deep state” is undermining his agenda, have shut down government programs, fired thousands of employees and offered others voluntary separation agreements.

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As you’d expect, views are strongly divergent along party lines. Here’s conservative author Janie Johnson:

So much WINNING!

Fire them all!

The only way to have less corruption - is less government! Limited government! https://t.co/Ag55v7XNni
— Janie Johnson - America is Exceptional (@jjauthor) February 5, 2026

But Democrat Senator Angela Alsobrooks (MD) laments the “witch hunt”:

The witch hunt for federal workers continues.

The American people will suffer thanks to this Administration's callous treatment of the very people who make sure our seniors get their Social Security, that our food and water are safe, and more. https://t.co/MGIEjWQGbZ
— Senator Angela Alsobrooks (@Sen_Alsobrooks) February 5, 2026

The Trump team, however, characterizes the move as one that gives the executive branch the ability to better shape the bureaucracy to help serve its agenda, instead of allowing it to clandestinely thwart it:

The administration has been clear that the goal of the rule is to more easily fire workers they argue are hindering Trump policies — a nod to the president’s claims of a “Deep State” within the federal government trying to undermine him.
“This is not about people’s views or ideas. This is about whether they are refusing to actually affect their duties on behalf of the American people consistent with the objectives of this administration,” said Scott Kupor, director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which promulgated the rule.

Question: Is this what we voted for? Answer: Yes.