Setting Themselves on Fire

Donald Trump came prepared for war. 

It’s not the kind of war that Democrats like to start. No guns. No deaths. Nobody will get maimed, at least not by Trump’s forces. But a war nonetheless. 

The federal bureaucracy, which has been the most powerful and misunderstood force in our government for decades, is in revolt against the second Trump administration as they were in the first, but Trump isn’t using diplomacy this time to quell the conflict. 

‼️Nicholas Gottlieb, the @USAID official who tried to cancel the Trump administration’s decision to put 60 career officials on admin leave (an by doing so also was placed on leave), repeatedly clashed with Trump appointees during the first term, knowledgable sources tell…

— Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) January 31, 2025

I know that many federal employees were confident that they would be shielded from consequences for their #resistance because they have told me so. Civil Service protections would give them free rein to fight back. For all the talk of terrified bureaucrats–and no doubt many are terrified–a core group in management was sure that they could beat back the Trumpists. 

Not this time. Trump and his people are taking extraordinary action, and at least in the short run, it is working. 

Resistance to Trump is everywhere. Bureaucrats are scrambling to put roadblocks to reform, renaming DEI positions to generic “executive,” outright defying the president, and scheming on Reddit to fight back. 

But we are already at the self-immolation phase. So far, when Trump makes a move and encounters resistance, he goes in for the kill. People are losing their jobs, which is the ultimate sanction. You will find the occasional extremist who is willing to set himself on fire to take a stand, but by doing so he has made Trump’s job so much easier. 

Those civil service protections still exist, and the malefactors are being put on leave, but as heads roll, the message is clear. Your career is at risk, and suspension with pay is not as attractive as it sounds. What if, after the inevitable legal tussle, you lose? Will you ever get another good job? There are only so many places the left can put somebody whose life led them to become the Assistant to the Assistant to the Useless Assistant Secretary of Doing Nothing. 

Washington may be The Swamp, but the Civil Service is the ecosystem of The Swamp. Politicians come and go, but the bureaucracy is forever and controls much of what the government does on a daily basis. 

Full story from WaPo’s @JStein_WaPo @JaxAlemany @iarnsdorf https://t.co/hja6B2pbJH

— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) January 31, 2025

Trump’s strategy is clear: provoke the managers who are blocking his reforms into self-immolation. Either they #resist, in which case he has the cause to fire them, or they don’t and Trump can neutralize them. 

As with all wars, there will be casualties on both sides and the cost to achieve victory will be high, but this is the war we cannot afford to lose. The government is broken. The bureaucracy is a greater obstacle to our long-term survival as a Republic than any politician or foreign enemy. 

They don’t see it that way, obviously, but their blindness is part of the problem. They believe they know better as technocrats. 

The transnational elite see the path to maintaining power is technocracy. Destroying technocracy will be the greatest challenge Trump faces.

Baiting them into self-destruction is a great strategy.