Federal government employees checking their work email on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025, may have noticed an ultimatum in their inboxes: Either return to the office full-time, or accept severance pay through Sept. 30, 2025, as part of a buyout.
The administration’s goal in offering these buyouts is to cajole nonpartisan bureaucrats into leaving their positions so President Donald Trump can fill those spots with loyalists. But if posts on Reddit are to be believed, these incentives seem to have backfired, with some posters stating they’re more motivated than ever to stick it out at work.
Amanda Litman, President of the progressive political organization Run For Something, posted screenshots on X, writing “A Reddit thread from federal govt employees that has me in my feelings first thing in the morning.”
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The screenshots all feature anecdotes from self-proclaimed government workers who say they’ve been radicalized by the memo into deciding to remain in their positions.
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On Reddit, @Few-Drag9758 calls for employees to “hold the line!” writing, “I’ll be honest, before that email went out, I was looking for any way to get out of this fresh hell. But now I am fired up to make these goons as frustrated as possible, RTO be damned.”
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Another says the memo is making them dig their heels in “out of spite.” @Ok-Abalone3678 writes, “I’m a big time hater and being petty is my favorite thing to do.” And @dst_corgi adds “It’s wild how quickly things have pivoted from despair to burning motivation.”
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Inside Washington, Trump’s buyout proposal was also met with skepticism from lawmakers. Virginia Senator Tim Kaine warned employees against accepting the offer, stating that the President had neither the authority, nor the funds, necessary to pay people for not showing up for work.
“He’s tricked hundreds of people with that offer. If you accept that offer and resign, he’ll stiff you just like he stiffed the contractors,” said Kaine in a clip posted by C-SPAN. “Do not be fooled by this guy.”
Andrew Yang, who competed in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, disagreed. He wrote on X “Trump is offering 8 months of pay through September for federal employees who want to leave / not return to the office. That is actually a very generous offer relative to private sector standards.”
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But both online users and journalists have noticed similarities between Trump’s proposed buyout and a similar one offered by Elon Musk at X (formerly Twitter) when he took the company over in 2022.
“Elon didn’t pay his people at X who took the buyout,” writes X user @Brunette Bohemian. “They won’t pay the federal workers who take the buyout.” @Angry_Staffer says, “Trump has no authority to offer that, and there’s no budgetary means to actually pay for it. Unless Congress passes a bill authorizing pay, anyone taking this buyout will get screwed.”
Buyout aside, it might be worth looking into resentment as a prospective source of renewable energy. As @a_tired_mom states, “I can do all things through spite, it strengthens me.”
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