The DOJ is getting hammered hard, but this is merely part of what is shaping up to be Trump's efforts to purge the federal government of employees who do anything but fight wars and deport migrants. It started with firing "DEI" workers and instructions to everyone else to rat out coworkers for harboring the forbidden pro-diversity views. Seventeen inspectors general were also illegally fired. There were escalating announcements of illegal funding halts, culminating in an outrageous effort to stop most federal grants and loans, which was such a disaster Trump was forced to walk it back. Then federal workers got an email, clearly copied from billionaire Elon Musk's similar malicious campaign against Twitter employees, pressuring them to resign and implying they could be fired if they don't. 

This is all being spun by the Trump administration as an effort to save money and reduce government "waste," but no one should be fooled. The sadism of these efforts belies the psychological damage motivating people like Musk and Russ Vought, the Project 2025 author Trump nominated to run the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). MAGA is certainly a racist and sexist movement, but it's crucially also a movement of bullies lashing out at people whose skills and talents remind MAGA folks of their own insecurities. Nowhere is this more evident than in the unhinged MAGA hatred of federal workers, a group largely known for being humble and hard-working, reminding MAGA leaders of their own lack of basic virtues. 

-Amanda Marcotte in Salon.com