Federal employees who lived through the first Trump administration say they are experiencing “PTSD” over the president-elect’s return to the White House, according to a new report.
During an appearance on “CNN News Central,” national correspondent René Marsh said federal employees are “scared” and “anxious” about the possibility Trump will conduct mass firings early into his second term.
“We are in a dystopian hellscape. That is from a federal employee via text message last night and that is the mindset of many of the two million federal workers anticipating Donald Trump’s return to office,” Marsh said.
Trump, on the campaign trail, said that he would reinstate Schedule F, a 2020 executive order that would make tens of thousands of federal workers at-will employees and thus easier to remove.
FILE – Then-Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, in Mint Hill, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
Former Trump appointee Ronald Sanders told CNN that the order could be “problematic” if it is used to enforce and maintain loyalty to the administration.
“The objective is to create space to put loyalists in what were, what are still, career civil service positions,” Sanders told the outlet.
Concerns have permeated across the federal government, with one Energy Department employee telling CNN, “I would say there is a general feeling of dread among everyone.”
“We are absolutely having conversations among ourselves about whether we can stomach a round two,” an employee at the Environmental Protection Agency said.
Marsh claimed that Schedule F would allow Trump to begin mass firings of employees perceived as “disloyal” to the incoming administration.
AMERICANS WANT TO SEE TRUMP ADDRESS ECONOMY, INFLATION UPON RETURN TO WHITE HOUSE
Donald Trump dances on stage after speaking at a campaign rally at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on November 4, 2024. (CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images)
“As you know, Trump has obsessed about the idea of federal workers being agents of the deep state working against him and his agenda. Some of the employees who lived through the first Trump Administration say they are experiencing PTSD,” she continued.
President Biden’s administration implemented a new rule in April to make it more difficult to fire federal workers.
Biden deemed the rule to be “a step toward combatting corruption and partisan interference to ensure civil servants are able to focus on the most important task at hand: delivering for the American people.”
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The Office of Personnel Management, the government’s human resources department, implemented new regulations barring career civil servants from being reclassified as political appointees or as other at-will workers, who are more easily dismissed from their jobs.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump transition team for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Fox News’ Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
