Federal Workforce downsizing is built on a foundation of lies

Trump shamelessly peddles the outrageous delusion that a mere 6% of federal employees actually show up to work full time in their offices. This is nothing but a blatant falsehood! Let’s not mince words here—it’s an outright LIE!

According to an August 2024 study by the Office of Management and Budget, a whopping 54% of federal employees were actually required to physically show up at their offices every day. Only 10% were lucky enough to work from home exclusively, while those with hybrid schedules spent an average of 60% of their time in the office.

PolitiFact took a look at the claim that only 1% of federal workers show up to work daily and promptly labeled it as “pants on fire,” their lowest rating for a statement that is completely off the mark.

In comparison to the historical population of the United States, the size of the federal workforce has significantly decreased as a percentage. This means that while the absolute number of federal employees has increased, the proportion of the population employed by the federal government has decreased considerably. 

Trump boldly declared that federal workers should be in the office like the rest of us, insinuating that they were all just lounging around playing tennis or golf. The irony of this statement was not lost on many, considering Trump himself had spent a good chunk of his first month in office on the golf course.

It’s abundantly clear that Trump and Musk are using this fabricated narrative to justify their reckless approach to slashing the federal workforce. All this talk of downsizing is built on a foundation of lies.