The Trump Administration and the US Federal Government Workforce, One Year in

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26686/pq.v22i1.10497

Keywords:

federal workforce, career civil service, federal bureaucracy, Trump cuts, Trump downsizing

Abstract

Donald Trump’s attacks on the federal bureaucracy in 2025 sorely tested the American system’s civil and constitutional guard rails. Although he made significant advances on this front in the first year of his second term, he has some distance to go before achieving his goal of transforming the civil service into an instrument of his personal will.

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Author Biography

Karen J. Baehler, American University

Karen Baehler is scholar-in-residence in American University’s School of Public Affairs, Washington, DC. She was a faculty member of Victoria University of Wellington’s School of Government, 1999–2009, with a simultaneous adjunct appointment in the Australia and New Zealand School of Government

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Published

2026-02-20

Issue

Vol. 22 No. 1 (2026): Policy Quarterly

Section

Articles

License

Permission: In the interest of promoting debate and wider dissemination, the IGPS encourages use of all or part of the articles appearing in PQ, where there is no element of commercial gain. Appropriate acknowledgement of both author and source should be made in all cases. Please direct requests for permission to reprint articles from this publication to Policy-Quarterly@vuw.ac.nz.