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Trump Admin Cuts 1,300 State Dept. Jobs Amid Protests and Partisan Fury

More than 1,300 employees were let go Friday in a dramatic effort to rein in the administrative state—sparking protests, union outrage, and ideological meltdowns.
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[State Department, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons]
Walt RasingerBy
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The State Department issued termination notices to more than 1,300 employees on Friday, triggering protests, partisan recriminations, and renewed debate over the role and loyalty of the federal workforce. The mass layoffs—1,107 civil servants and 246 Foreign Service officers—mark one of the largest bureaucratic reductions in recent memory and reflect President Donald Trump’s continued drive to shrink the administrative state.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the move as a long-overdue correction to what he called “government bloat,” pointing to cumbersome internal procedures—like one policy memo that required 40 signatures—as evidence of systemic dysfunction. “That’s ridiculous,” Rubio told lawmakers in May. “If any one of those boxes didn’t get checked, the memo didn’t move. That can’t continue,” according to The New York Post. A department briefing paper reiterated the rationale, asserting that the cuts are designed to “focus the Department’s resources on policy priorities and eliminate redundant functions in order to better deliver for American taxpayers.”

However, the reaction inside Foggy Bottom has bordered on hysteria, revealing a diplomatic corps that has become less professionalized and views itself as a sacred aristocracy. Employees theatrically wept as they packed up their offices and bid farewell under the watch of security agents. Inside the building, supporters clapped for departing staff, going so far as to create a kindergarten-like atmosphere for their departures.

Others, however, posted placards in the bathroom calling for “resistance,” a left-wing rallying cry that revealed their commitment is less to American democracy or election results and more towards personal politics and ideologies.

If this is how the State Department handles itself, it’s no wonder that former USAID employees believe they can “overthrow” Donald Trump’s presidency.

The American Foreign Service Association, the union for foreign service employees, of course, sharply criticized the layoffs, characterizing them as haphazard and politically motivated. “They target diplomats not for how they’ve served or the skills they have, but for where they happen to be assigned. That is not reform,” the group said. Former staff echoed that view, noting the disruption to pressing humanitarian missions.

The loss of 1,300 members will result in the union losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in dues.

The layoffs came just days after a Supreme Court ruling lifted a legal constraint requiring congressional input on large-scale federal terminations. That ruling cleared the way for mass firings across 19 agencies, intensifying fears of political purges cloaked in bureaucratic reform.

While Deputy Secretary Michael Rigas expressed gratitude to those departing—“We want to thank them for their dedication and service to the United States”—others within the department were less charitable. One 20-year veteran, terminated while on parental leave, seemed to reveal why she deserved to lose her job and how identity obsessives had taken over the State Department, claiming that “the idea that they’ve been hiring the best and the brightest is laughable,” she said anonymously. “They’re bringing in young and often mediocre white men.”

The outrageous theatrics from the fired did not garner the sympathy they expected.

With these people in charge of running operations in the State Department, is it any wonder why America’s diplomacy has weakened over the past few decades?

[Read More: Bongino Offers Trump A Choice]

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