Late Friday, with the government shutdown in its 10th day, a reporter asked Donald Trump how many layoffs he’d authorized of federal employees. “A lot,” the president quickly replied, adding, “It will be Democrat-oriented. … They should be Democrat-oriented.”
The comments were odd, though not altogether surprising since he’d made similar vows before. Indeed, to hear the president tell it, it’s possible to divide up federal priorities, agencies and programs into “red” and “blue” categories — and his White House only intended to target the latter.
As for what that meant in practical terms, the answer came into focus soon after. Roll Call reported on Friday night:
The Trump administration plans to lay off more than 4,100 federal workers from seven departments in response to the partial government shutdown, according to a court filing submitted Friday. The administration filing, on behalf of the Office of Management and Budget, came in response to a court order stemming from a lawsuit filed Sept. 30 by the American Federation of Government Employees and other unions challenging the administration’s authority to conduct mass firings during a shutdown.
The Department of Health and Human Services was hit especially hard, with sweeping cuts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including the ouster of the top CDC officials leading the federal measles response team and those working to contain Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The New York Times reported a day later, “The Trump administration on Saturday raced to rescind layoffs of hundreds of scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who were mistakenly fired on Friday night in what appeared to be a substantial procedural lapse.”
Yes, White House officials accidentally gutted what’s left of the CDC, before realizing that they didn’t mean to do that. (Vice President JD Vance said the chaos within the Trump administration was Democrats’ fault, which obviously didn’t make any sense.)
Among the key elements of these developments, aside from rampant White House incompetence, is the fact that these firings — without precedent in a country that has had plenty of government shutdowns in recent decades — might very well be illegal.
Indeed, The Washington Post reported earlier this month that senior federal officials had “quietly counseled several agencies against firing employees while the government is shut down,” precisely because such a move would likely “violate appropriations law.”
Trump and OMB Director Russ Vought proceeded with their plans anyway, though one can expect a robust court fight.
But as that process unfolds, I find myself stuck on Trump’s vision of “Democrat-oriented” layoffs.
Hundreds of Education Department employees, for example, were fired, presumably because Democrats care about schools. Hundreds of employees at the Department of Housing and Urban Development were ousted, presumably because Democrats care about affordable homes. Hundreds of HHS workers received pink slips, presumably because Democrats care about health care. But whether the White House appreciates this or not, many of the Americans who benefit these departments and the work these federal employees do live in Republican states — and even cast Republican ballots. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in response to the reduction-in-force notices, “Let’s be blunt: nobody’s forcing Trump and Vought to do this. … They’re callously choosing to hurt people — the workers who protect our country, inspect our food, respond when disasters strike. This is deliberate chaos.” The New York Democrat added, “Here’s what’s worse: Republicans would rather see thousands of Americans lose their jobs than sit down and negotiate with Democrats to reopen the government.” The shutdown has now reached Day 13, and there’s no reason to be optimistic that the standoff will end anytime soon. Watch this space.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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