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Welcome to The Logoff. Today we’re focusing on Donald Trump’s (and Elon Musk’s) plan to purge the federal workforce, which has major implications for everyone — even if you don’t work in government.
What’s the latest? The Trump administration last night emailed almost all federal employees with something between an invitation and a threat. The email gave them two options:
Why are they doing this? Trump’s team wants to thin the ranks of career employees and replace some of them with political appointees, shrinking government and giving the president more control of what remains.
If you don’t work in government, why should you care? Because the Trump administration is conducting a giant national experiment, and we’re all the subjects. Career employees bring longstanding expertise and continuity to the countless functions our government performs — everything from keeping airplanes in the sky to reviewing medication to enforcing laws to tracking national security threats.
Driving civil service members out of government en masse is a bet that these workers were never necessary to begin with. Many experts have warned that poses great risks for keeping the government functioning. If the purge is successful, we’ll all find out if they’re right.
And with that, it’s time to log off …
Another day of space content? Yes, another day of space content! But can you blame me? Scientists just announced they’ve found, and I quote, “the basic building blocks for life” on an asteroid. No, it’s not aliens. But it’s still pretty cool.