DOGE Staffers Resign, Refusing to ‘Dismantle Critical Public Services’
Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency has spent the first month of President Donald Trump’s second term in office working its way through the federal government like termites. DOGE has fired tens of thousands of employees, hollowing out everything from the Federal Aviation Administration to the Department of Veterans Affairs to the Forest Service. The mass purge has left some the most critical pillars of the nation’s infrastructure in danger — and some DOGE staffers have had enough.
The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that 21 DOGE employees have resigned, writing in a letter that they “swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution across presidential administrations,” but that “it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments” as DOGE continues to “dismantle critical public services.”
The staffers were not part of the rag-tag group of young bros Musk enlisted to join the slash-and-burn effort, but members of the former U.S. Digital Service, which Trump renamed DOGE in an executive order. The staffers who resigned weren’t very fond of the new blood, or how they were interviewing nonpartisan personnel. “Several of these interviewers refused to identify themselves, asked questions about political loyalty, attempted to pit colleagues against each other, and demonstrated limited technical ability,” the staffers wrote in the resignation letter. “This process created significant security risks.”
Musk and DOGE are starting to get on the nerves of Republican lawmakers, as well.
“Congress has to decide whether or not the Department of Education goes away … not the president, not Elon Musk,” Rep. Troy Balderson (R-Ohio) said last Thursday. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) said recently that his “concern” is that “we use a scalpel … and not use a sledgehammer,” per The Washington Post. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) used identical language while speaking with CNN on Tuesday. “We need to do this with a scalpel, not a sledgehammer,” she said, continuing to note the “rash decisions coming out of DOGE.” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) didn’t seem too comfortable about what DOGE is doing, either. “If I were a Senate-confirmed head of a department, and I had somebody from the outside undermining my ability to manage and demonstrate there’s one leader in every department, I’d have a problem with it,” he told CNN on Monday.
The “concern” from Republican lawmakers isn’t likely to lead to action, however, as Trump seems to approve of Musk’s mission. In fact, Trump posted to Truth Social on Saturday not only that Musk is doing a “great job” but that he “would like to see him get more aggressive.”
Later on Saturday, Musk cited Trump in announcing that all federal employees would be required to submit a list of what they accomplished the previous week — or else they would be fired. The directive was met with intense backlash, with multiple agencies helmed by MAGA loyalists telling their employees to ignore Musk’s email. The Office of Personnel Management notified agencies on Monday that responding to the mail was voluntary, before issuing more guidance hours later implying that employees needed to respond. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed the confusion on Monday, insisting, dubiously, that no one was caught off guard by the directive.
Leavitt also noted that Musk — who is an unelected and unconfirmed special White House advisor — will attend a high-level Cabinet meeting with Trump on Wednesday.
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