Trump and Musk Are Going to War Against Military Veterans
Donald Trump’s new executive order, titled “Implementing the President’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Workforce Optimization Initiative,” outlines exactly how Trump and Elon Musk plan to dismantle the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and strip transitioning military veterans and their families overseas of the generous federal hiring incentives they rely on.
This executive order seeks to impose severe hiring restrictions and would disproportionately harm veterans, who make up one-third of the federal workforce. Requiring agencies to hire only one new employee for every four who leave will drastically reduce VA staffing levels. At a time when the veteran population is aging and the VA’s mission has expanded under Joe Biden, this policy will lead to massive delays and outright denials in health care, benefits processing, and disability claims — the essential services veterans depend on to survive.
The order also forces agencies to implement immediate reductions in force, prioritizing cuts to positions not explicitly mandated by law. In practice, this means slashing administrative staff, veteran outreach programs, and transition assistance. Many of these programs help veterans adjust to civilian life, with federal employment serving as a stable career path for thousands. Active-duty military members stationed overseas also rely on these programs for critical support, from child care to helping their spouses secure employment in foreign countries where they may lack language skills or legal work status.
What’s worse, this executive order makes hiring at VA more bureaucratic and politicized. Each new hire must be approved by a DOGE “team lead,” creating unnecessary hurdles in filling critical positions. As we have learned over the past few weeks, these “team leads” can be 19-year-old kids who go by names like “bigballs,” or 25-year-old men who have recently gone on racist tirades about how we should “Normalize Indian Hate.”
The VA is already grappling with severe workforce shortages, particularly in medical and benefits processing roles. This new hiring bottleneck guarantees growing backlogs, delayed care, and increased suffering for veterans. But that may be the goal. If Musk and DOGE aim to dismantle the government, they achieve two objectives at once — denying care to veterans while making the VA so dysfunctional that veterans either forgo medical treatment or are forced into the private sector.
For years, politicians have promised to fix the VA and take care of veterans. But this Trump executive order does the opposite — it throws veterans under the bus and a few other fast moving objects. First, by cutting veteran federal workers who make up a huge part of the workforce; second, by slashing the very services those same veterans need; third, by denying our military service members and their families adequate support overseas and here at home; and finally, doing anything but making sure veterans have a stable place and support system to build a life post-service.
Trump couldn’t care less about veterans — he never served and doesn’t understand or respect those who do. It’s not clear whether Musk has taken an oath to the U.S. Constitution. Neither man can begin to grasp the sacrifices military members and their families make every day to keep Americans safe. Their reward? A callous system run by billionaires who claim to want to slash government spending — except when it comes to the White House budget or the tens of billions Musk’s companies receive from U.S. taxpayers. Right now, Trump and Musk are scrambling to find revenue to fund their mass deportation schemes and extend the trillions in tax cuts Trump passed in 2017, which are set to expire. Those cuts primarily benefited corporations and the wealthiest Americans.
Musk and Trump have claimed that he’s saving the U.S. government lots of money; no one can give a real number. What we do know is that number is getting smaller as the State Department is poised to spend $400 million to buy “armored” Teslas. Like naming a government agency after a crypto meme coin (DOGE), or launching a new crypto meme coin, Musk and Trump are just getting started with their giant grift.
As for our veterans and military service members, their message is clear: Good luck, you’re on your own.
Michael Embrich is a veteran, former member of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs’ Advisory Committee on the Readjustment of Veterans, and former congressional staffer.
More from Rolling Stone
Best of Rolling Stone
Sign up for RollingStone's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.