Will Trump Shut Down the Government?

So, the effort by Trump to shut down certain federal agencies is now beginning to take effect, with several thousand probationers in HHS and the FDA getting notices that they have been fired.

Trump can’t go after the permanent employees in these agencies yet because they have civil service protection and until Trump can figure out a way to take apart the federal civil service he can only fire employees who just started working for federal agencies and therefore aren’t covered by civil service rules.

Of course, the termination notices sent to these federal workers will no doubt result in a lot of legal noise on both sides, with everyone assuming that Trump’s gang of five or six on the Supreme Court will protect his fat ass and let the firings stand.

But as crazy as it may sound, I not only hope that these newly laid off federal employees have to go out and find other, non-government jobs. In fact, I’m hoping that Trump will ultimately be allowed to dismember the civil service and entirely wipe out the federal agencies he doesn’t like.

Imagine if every federal employee who didn’t vote for Trump decided to stay home. How about half the hospitals in the country having to post signs saying that they wouldn’t accept any patients because Medicare and Medicaid payments didn’t arrive?