Idiots of Chaos

First, I am a retired U.S. Federal employee. I worked in retirement and benefits for years, then moved on to become a technical expert on the applicant hiring system and the security manager for information.

Federal employees are dedicated workers who take their jobs seriously and are evaluated regularly. In the 1990s, an initiative was implemented by the Federal government to save emissions from vehicles and commute time and give a better home-work-life balance with less commute time and fewer vehicles on the road.  (In DC, many employees have a 2-3 hour commute ONE WAY daily.) Supervisors approved employees to have an alternative schedule with core hours during the day and for workers to work from home. Some jobs did not allow for working from home. An employee had to be trustworthy and productive for these privileges, which were measurable and tracked. It was not a helter-skelter workforce of goons. All were dedicated, and results showed that those at home were more productive, with fewer interruptions.

This 2nd term of the convicted felon Trump has decided to ruin Federal employees' lives at the whim of Elon Musk, a South African with more money than we can imagine, who used much of it to get Trump re-elected. Why? So, his businesses won't be regulated.

Federal employees have health benefits, sick leave, and annual leave. Rather than looking top-down to find waste and fraud, they indiscriminately began with probationary employees. Let me be clear – whoever at the Office of Personnel Management said that the probationary period is still part of the interview and hiring process is wrong. They are hired on different periods of probation. If their performance or work ethic is not up to what is expected, then they can be easily let go during this time. Elon decided that since those folks have few employment rights, he could start with them.

First, Trump ordered the Inspectors General to be fired – those who conduct audits. They audit all sorts of things – budgets or processes, but they inspect and oversee. He didn't want oversight of DOGE and their willy-nilly takeovers of offices.

Firing people with one day's notice in the middle of a pay period ensures they are shell-shocked and don't get paid for the annual leave they accrued in the last pay period. Firing them with a bogus claim of bad performance was an error because many had exceptional performance reviews they could produce to counter the claim.

The 'fork in the road' email sent out was almost exactly the one Elon sent to Twitter employees when he bought that company (which is now a disaster). OPM sent out emails with the 'fork' and a Frequently Asked Question (FAQ), which I reviewed. They added in regulatory code citations, so I read each and it usually had nothing to do with the clause where they put it (it's called CYA, folks, covering your ass). Then day after day, more emails came with an attached FAQ that showed newly-ADDED FAQs because they didn't fully parse out the bullshit email they originally sent. Twenty-year-old hackers are purging workers, yelling, screaming at them, calling workers stupid. Who is stupid? Those who didn't know how to inform workers and provide detailed information had to keep returning with more.

• Why isn't Congress cutting their staff and their budgets? That would save money.
• Why do 77 million Americans think Elon and Trump are fixing the government, while Trump rolls around in his armored vehicle on the Daytona 500 racetrack, which was a cost to American taxpayers?
• He flew to the Super Bowl with the Secret Service and family members on taxpayer dollars. That seems funny and entertaining, right? America is the new reality television show.

In the meantime, federal workers are indiscriminately fired without a project plan for the overall ramifications. With a day's notice, those fired try to figure out how to pay their mortgage and manage their family's health, now without health benefits.

30th full days since inauguration

Copyright © 2/19/2025 by Andrea O. Corwin

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