Donald Trump made butchering the federal workforce a major issue during his 2024 campaign for President. And since taking office for the second time on January 20, he’s thoroughly made good on it—with relish.     

All of this was entirely predictable—long before Trump re-entered the White House.

And Part Two of my three-part series, “Love Thy Dictator,” published on August 21, 2024, did just that.  From that post: 

Under Project 2025:

• The Department of Homeland Security would be abolished.
• Traditionally independent federal agencies such as the Department of Justice, Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission would be placed under Presidential control.
• The Environmental Protection Agency would be stripped of its authority to protect the air, water and soil.
• States would be prevented from adopting stricter regulations on vehicular emissions, like California, has done. 
• Fossil fuels—the leading cause of global warming—would be favored and environmental regulations to combat climate change abolished. 
• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) which the project calls “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry,” would be abolished.

• Federal funding for all public transit systems across the country would be eliminated.
• The wealthiest 1% would receive massive tax cuts at the expense of the poor and middle class.
• Conception would be designated as the point where life begins.
• Abortion would be outlawed.
• Access to birth control would be sharply restricted, if not banned.
• Christianity would be designated as the official religion of the United States.
• The use of capital punishment would be revived and expanded—and the right of appeals sharply restricted.  

Trump’s declaring all-out war on America’s cherished institutions—such as the Forest Service, Department of Defense, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Food and Drug Administration—is unprecedented in United States history.

It will also prove catastrophic for Trump’s constituencies—as well for those who totally oppose his reign. 

Even billionaires—the constituency Trump cares about most—need reliable weather reports before  setting out on their private jets or yachts.

Eliminating the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will deprive them (as well as millions Trump doesn’t care about) of reliable information on approaching storms and other unsafe weather conditions.

Eliminating the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will expose everyone—billionaires included—to the threats of widespread diseases such as Ebola and typhoid. 

And as of February 25, CBS and other reliable news media have reported a new virus rising out of the Democratic Republic of Congo. In the majority of cases, the interval between the onset of symptoms and death has been just 48 hours.

Firing workers at the Transportation Security Agency—which is responsible for preventing aircraft hijackings—can only result in a repetition of 9/11-style hijackings.

The TSA was born in 2001, just two months after Islamic terrorists slaughtered 3,000 Americans via hijacked planes in New York and Washington, D.C—and signed into law by Republican President George W. Bush.

Firing employees at the Department of Defense will endanger America’s national security by drastically lowering morale as remaining employees must carry out their own duties and those of fired workers.

Firing workers at the Federal Aviation Administration virtually guarantees an increase in airline disasters. Since Trump took office on January 20, there have been 14 aviation disasters, killing a total of 93 people. 

Firing employees at the Food and Drug Administration will result in a return to unsafe food, prescription and over-the-counter drugs, dietary supplements, vaccines, medical devices, cosmetics, electromagnetic radiation emitting devices and veterinary products.

The FDA dates back to 1906 and the administration of Republican President Theodore Roosevelt. Even billionaires—Trump’s preferred constituency—must eat and seek medical care, so they will be as disadvantaged by its demise as ordinary Americans.

Although Trump’s purges—current and continuing—of his own government are unprecedented for the United States, they nevertheless have a historical precedent. 

Unfortunately for Americans, that precedent occurred in the Soviet Union of Joseph Stalin.

The 1930s were a frightening and dangerous time to be alive in the Soviet Union. In 1934, Stalin, seeing imaginary enemies everywhere, ordered a series of purges that lasted right up to the German invasion of 1941.

Joseph Stalin

An example of Stalin’s paranoia occurred one day while the dictator walked through the Kremlin corridors with Admiral Ivan Isakov. Officers of the NKVD (the predecessor to the KGB) stood guard at every corner. 

“Every time I walk down the corridors,” said Stalin, “I think: Which one of them is it? If it’s this one, he will shoot me in the back. But if I turn the corner, the next one can shoot me in the face.”

In 1937-38, the Red Army fell prey to Stalin’s paranoia.

Its victims included:

• Three of five marshals (five-star generals);
• Thirteen of 15 army commanders (three- and four-star generals);
• Fifty of 57 army corps commanders; and
• One hundred fifty-four out of 186 division commanders.

And heading the list of those marked for death was Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky, a major Soviet military leader and theoretician from 1918 to 1937. 

Arrested on May 22, 1937, he was interrogated and tortured. As a result, he “confessed” to being a German agent plotting to overthrow Stalin and seize power.