Federal employees who lived through the first Trump administration say they are experiencing “PTSD” as the president-elect returns to the White House. According to a new report.
National correspondent Rene Marsh said on CNN News Central that federal employees are “fearful” and “anxious” about the possibility of mass layoffs by President Trump early in his second term. said.
“We are in a dystopian hellscape. This is what I received in a text message from a federal employee last night. That’s the mindset of a lot of our staff,” Marsh said.
On the campaign trail, President Trump said he would reinstate Schedule F, a 2020 executive order that made tens of thousands of federal employees at-will employees and made it easier to fire them.
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FILE – Former President Donald Trump, then Republican presidential candidate, speaks at a campaign event in Mint Hill, North Carolina, Wednesday, September 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
Former Trump appointee Ronald Sanders told CNN that the order could be “problematic” if it were used to enforce and maintain loyalty to the administration.
“The goal was, and is, to create space for allies across the civil service ranks,” Sanders told the outlet.
Concerns are widespread across the federal government, with one Department of Energy official telling CNN: “I would say there's a general sense of fear from everyone.”
“We're absolutely talking among ourselves about whether we can get past the second round,” an Environmental Protection Agency official said.
Marsh argued that Schedule F would allow President Trump to begin mass firings of employees deemed “disloyal” to the incoming administration.
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Donald Trump dances on stage after speaking at a campaign rally at PPG Paints Arena on November 4, 2024 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Charlie Tribarrow/AFP via Getty Images)
“As you know, Mr. Trump is obsessed with the idea that federal employees are agents of the deep state who oppose him and his policies. Some employees who lived through the first Trump administration suffered from PTSD. Some people say they are experiencing it,” she continued.
President Biden's administration implemented new rules in April that make it more difficult to fire federal employees.
Biden saw the rule as “a step toward combating corruption and partisan interference so that public officials can focus on their most important job at hand: serving the American people.”
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The government's human resources arm, the Office of Personnel Management, has introduced new regulations that prohibit career civil servants from being reclassified as political appointees or other at-will workers. These workers are more easily fired from their jobs.
Fox News Digital reached out to Trump's transition team for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.
FOX News' Daniel Wallace contributed to this report.
