Trump is waging war against his own government

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

67% : "The organizing idea behind what they're doing is that Trump wants to be king," Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said.
53% : This person "told me that, if [they] were in my shoes, the best thing for me to do would be to lay low, keep my head down, and just do my work," the Forestry Service employee said.
51% : "President Trump received a resounding mandate to streamline our gargantuan government to better serve the needs of the American people," Desai said.
50% : "What President Trump is seeking to do is to maximize efficiency and outcomes for the American taxpayer and their tax dollars that are spent to support our society with security and essential services," Moore said.
49% : Trump has empowered billionaire Elon Musk, the volunteer head of the Department of Government Efficiency, and his allies to offer "buyouts" that would pay federal civil servants through September in exchange for their resignations.
45% : Primarily using two little-known agencies -- the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management -- Trump has tried to choke off funding for a wide array of domestic and foreign assistance programs, made it easier to fire tens of thousands of federal workers, and launched a campaign to pressure more to resign from their posts.
45% : " It all amounts to a high-stakes bet that the public will reward Trump and Republicans for a slash-and-burn approach to re-forming the federal government, even if it takes money out of the pockets of voters or state and local government functions they rely on.
43% : Nearly 60 employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development were placed on administrative leave after Trump issued an order freezing funding for global aid programs, and his aides are in active discussions about unilaterally folding the agency into the State Department -- a move that critics say cannot be done without Congress enacting a law.
39% : Two federal judges have blocked the domestic spending freeze, and, in the face of public outcry, Trump rescinded an OMB memo implementing it this week -- but the underlying executive order remains in place, with the federal workers responsible for enacting it left to choose between mandates from the courts and from the president.
37% : At a time when Americans' trust in government has been eroding for decades -- the vast majority say they do not trust that Washington will do the right thing always or most of the time in Gallup polling -- Trump is putting into action long-standing Republican views on how to shrink and restructure the federal footprint.
35% : On Wednesday, Environmental Protection Agency employees were reminded in an email that they can be fired at any time if they have worked for the government for less than a year.
33% : [and] current incumbents to defend the actions of this administration if there is backlash in the future." In some cases, Trump is not waiting for attrition.
33% : " Whether Trump can hobble the federal workforce and cut trillions of dollars from the budget without harming his own voters -- and the Republicans who represent them in Congress -- remains to be seen. Kush Desai, a White House spokesperson, told NBC News that Trump will be able to do just that.
32% : Federal workers have been advised that they face "adverse consequences" if they don't report on colleagues whose work touches on "diversity, equity and inclusion" -- and, citing "common sense" rather than evidence, Trump blamed a fatal mid-air collision between a commercial regional jet and a military helicopter on "DEI" hires at the Federal Aviation Administration.
30% : The person who faces the least risk is Trump, who is not constitutionally eligible to run for re-election, the president's allies say.
29% : "The American people overwhelmingly voted for President Trump in part because of his promise to root out government waste and bring common sense back to the White House," Banks said in a statement to NBC News.
29% : Trump pardoned most of the people convicted of Jan. 6-related crimes and commuted the sentences of others.
19% : But the operative said they harbored "some concern" about the Friday dismissal of the top six FBI officials -- suggesting that may be more problematic for Trump and his administration on the outside than within government.

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