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TRUMP’S “BUYOUT” OFFER FOR FEDERAL WORKERS IS ALREADY
BACKFIRING  
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Malcolm Ferguson
January 29, 2025
The New Republic
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_ Donald Trump’s ultimatum to federal workers seems to be having
the opposite effect. _

, (Wikimedia Commons)

 

Trump’s ultimatum to federal workers is backfiring—making them vow
to stay in their positions out of sheer spite. 

On Tuesday, the president announced
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he’d be giving federal workers a choice: return to the office
full-time or quit with a buyout and severance pay through September
30. This is part of his effort to revamp the federal bureaucracy in
his own image, and with his own supporters.

“The President required that employees return to in-person work,
restored accountability for employees who have policy-making
authority, restored accountability for senior career executives, and
reformed the federal hiring process to focus on merit,” a mass email
said. “As a result of the above orders, the reform of the federal
workforce will be significant.

“If you resign under this program, you will retain all pay and
benefits regardless of your daily workload and will be exempted from
all applicable in-person work requirements until September 30, 2025
(or earlier if you choose to accelerate your resignation for any
reason),” the email continues.

Federal workers aren’t taking this lying down.

“I’ll be honest, before that email went out, I was looking for any
way to get out of this fresh hell,” said one user in the
popular r/fednews subreddit
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“But now I am fired up to make these goons as frustrated as
possible, RTO be damned.”

These sentiments were echoed throughout the thread.

“I’ll continue to do my job and fight for the position I’ve
earned,” another said. “It took me 10 years of applying and 20
years experience in my field to get here. I will not be pushed out by
two billionaire trust funds babies. I’M NOT LEAVING!”

“I’ve never been more motivated to stay. Before the ‘buyout’
memo, I was ready to go job hunting, but then a revelation hit. I took
an oath under this position to the American people and leaving my job
under the current state would be failing to maintain my oath as civil
servant,” another worker wrote. 

“You can’t buy me off, scare me away, or intimidate me into
resigning. I’m angry, spiteful, and resolute in holding the line and
outlasting anyone trying to destroy the agency whose work I believe in
and a mission I take to heart,” one comment stated. “My colleagues
feel the same way and we’re not leaving, you’ll have to drag us
out. We’ll continue to follow mission we’re charged with executing
and serving the individuals we’re charged with serving.… We will
be here and continue to be here.” The user also noted that he and 12
other co-workers would be wearing “Rebel Alliance” T-shirts under
their work clothes every Friday in the office.

“They just created the imaginary deep state they convinced everyone
they were fighting against, oh the irony,” another user noted.

Federal employees also noticed that the memo announcing the buyouts
was eerily similar to the one Elon Musk
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Twitter employees in 2022.

_Malcolm Ferguson is an associate writer covering breaking news
at The New Republic. His work has also appeared in The
Atlantic and The American Prospect._

* federal employees
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* buyout
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* Resistance to Trump
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