President Donald Trump is already at work purging the executive branch of employees who don’t align with the America First agenda.
“YOU’RE FIRED!” Trump said to several federal appointees in a Truth Social post, referencing his catchphrase from his reality show, “The Apprentice.”
Utah’s Sen. Mike Lee is in full support of Trump’s actions. When asked by the Daily Wire who Trump should fire, the GOP senator responded, “Everyone in the executive branch.”
Lee said that Article II of the Constitution should give the president the power to fire anybody in the executive branch, noting that the vice president is the only exception to this rule. The president doesn’t enjoy the same power over the legislative or judicial branches, he said.
Since Trump was sworn in on Monday, he has fired chef Jose Andres from the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition, and Brian Hook, a top envoy to Iran appointed during his first term. He also fired Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta, from the President’s Export Council, and retired Gen. Mark Milley from the National Infrastructure Advisory Council.
The Trump administration is “actively in the process of identifying and removing” over a 1,000 presidential appointees from the previous administration, he said in a post.
He is also pushing out officials who are part of agencies that are typically expected to be nonpartisan, like the Internal Revenue Service’s Commissioner Danny Werfel, who stepped down ahead of Trump’s inauguration despite his term ending in 2027. In his early resignation letter, he indicated that his decision came after Trump nominated former Missouri congressman Billy Long to serve as the next commissioner, as The Associated Press reported. Former FBI Director Christopher Wray faced a similar situation. He is expected to be replaced by Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee.
The freshly sworn-in president’s plan to shrink the federal government doesn’t end there.
“I’m revoking nearly 80 disruptive, radical executive actions of the previous administration, they’ll all be null and void within about, what, five minutes?” Trump said during the event at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. One of the orders ended the option of remote work for federal employees.
Currently, about 1.1. million, or 46%, of federal civilian employees, were eligible for remote work, according to the Office of Management and Budget.
Trump promised to move up to 100,000 government positions out of Washington as one of the ways to dismantle the “deep state” while campaigning for office. By mandating the end of remote work, the incoming administration hopes to see “a wave of voluntary terminations,” said Elon Musk, the head of the Department of Government Efficiency.
As Forbes noted, he made similar moves during his first term, when he directed the Bureau of Land Management’s headquarters to be moved to Colorado, which led to the departure of 287 employees.
Federal agencies also expect a hiring freeze for 90 days, according to the Federal News Network’s Jason Miller.
“They will submit a plan to reduce the size of the federal workforce, through what they call ‘efficiency improvements and attrition,’” Miller said.
In addition, Trump also ordered the dismantling of federal diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and limited transgender individuals from serving in the military.
