Week 14 saw Trump implementing mass layoffs at various federal agencies, making it more difficult for probationary employees to gain full employment status, ceding influence to China, and threatening America’s democracy with his Trump 2028 merchandise.
In a move that raises a lot of questions about the Constitution and direction of this country, Trump started selling Trump 2028 hats on his official Trump store website weeks after he insisted he was not joking about running for the third term.
According to the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.”
In addition to undermining our democracy, Trump’s trade war is weakening the economy. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted that the U.S. economic growth will be just 1.8% this year, a full percentage point below 2024.
The American people took notice of the damage he has caused since being in office for only three months. According to new Fox News poll numbers of his first 100 days in office:
Trump was not the only one facing people’s wrath. Co-President Elon Musk is being driven out of Washington after Tesla’s profit dropped 71% in the first three months of 2025 due to his role destroying people’s lives. Tesla stock also tanked with investors saying the damage is done.
People’s power works! Besides Tesla, Target is being punished for discontinuing its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs after Trump took office. A string of consumer boycotts has resulted in a drop in Target’s foot traffic for 11th straight week. Rival Costco, which maintains its DEI initiatives, saw a surge in foot traffic.
AFGE is also fighting back.
Meanwhile, the president and his allies are pushing women to have more kids, another out-of-touch move considering the fact that one third of U.S. counties do not have OBGYN care or hospitals that deliver babies, partly because of conservatives’ attacks on reproductive rights and women’s health care. This is in addition to Trump’s anti-woman, anti-family policies like cuts and attacks on public schools, public health, medical research, workplace safety, Medicaid, food assistance programs, DEI programs, and mass layoffs of federal workers that make America a better place for everyone.
Here’s a quick recap of Trump’s attacks in his 14th week in office and how these actions hurt federal workers and the American people they serve:
April 24: Trump is once again targeting probationary employees and deterring people from joining public service. He issued an executive order making it more difficult for probationary employees to gain full employment status and job protections. Under the executive order, these employees can attain full status only after their managers actively certify that their positions advance the public interest.
“An employee on a probationary or trial period bears the burden of demonstrating why their continuation in employment through the finalization of their appointment to the Federal service is in the public interest,” states the EO.
April 24: Trump continued his war against transgender troops as it asked the Supreme Court to allow its ban on transgender people in the military to take effect while legal challenges move forward. During his first term, Trump prohibited transgender people from serving in the military, but the policy was rescinded by Joe Biden. Thousands of transgender people serve in the military.
April 24: Defying the Constitution, Trump’s official store began selling Trump 2028 merchandise, making it clear he intends to stay in power beyond his second term.
April 24: A federal judge ruled that Trump must stop his efforts to ban DEI in K-12 public schools for now.
April 23: Trump’s reckless layoffs continued to hurt the American people as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is halting its quality control program for testing milk due to staffing cuts. The Department of Health and Human Services, which houses the FDA, is down 20,000 employees.
April 23: Trump is shutting down the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), an agency that helps fund infrastructure in developing countries, essentially the U.S. response to China’s Belt and Road initiative. By dismantling the MCC, along with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and other international assistance programs, Trump is ceding U.S. influence and soft power to China, which has been trying to expand its political and economic influence around the globe.
April 23: In another alarming move, Trump’s Department of Veterans Affairs is asking employees to report anti-Christian bias to be investigated by a task force being established for that purpose.
April 22: Trump’s Social Security Administration (SSA) is reclassifying entire SSA offices as Schedule F, now known as Schedule Policy/Career, which is supposed to be for people involved in policy making. Employees being converted include those making as little as $40,000 per year.
April 22: The top producer of 60 Minutes announced he would resign from the show saying he’s lost freedom to make independent decisions. Trump has been assaulting the media, including 60 Minutes. Last year he sued CBS for $20 billion alleging the news program edited Kamala Harris’ interview to make her look good.
April 22: The State Department revealed its plan to reduce staff by 15% while closing more than 100 bureaus around the world. This will create uncertainty and make the world more unstable.
April 22: A federal judge ruled Trump can’t dismantle Voice of America, saying the move was illegal. The judge ordered the administration to restore VOA’s operations while the lawsuits are ongoing.
April 22: Harvard University, the country’s oldest and wealthiest university, sued the Trump administration for freezing more than $2 billion in grants after it rejected Trump’s demands seeking to control the university and curb academic freedom.
April 21: Trump is slashing the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the same place that investigates firefighter deaths to determine what went wrong and identify how to avoid similar accidents in the future.
April 21: Trump’s war on the marginalized intensified with his plan to shut down the Office of Environmental Justice within the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This office makes sure that no one is subjected to an unsafe environment simply because of their zip code. In announcing the layoff, which will take effect July 31, Trump’s EPA continued to gaslight the American people that dismantling this important office is a good thing.
“This is not just a ‘reduction in force.’ This is a reduction in our ability to keep Americans safe. Many Americans who are impacted most by environmental dangers live in lower-income areas, where they face higher exposure to air pollution and environmental contaminants,” said Joyce Howell, executive vice president of AFGE Council 238 representing over 8,400 EPA workers nationwide. Eliminating jobs that ensure these communities get the same access to clean air and clean drinking water afforded to others goes to show this administration has no interest in protecting the American people.”
April 21: Trump’s Office of Special Counsel dropped the cases of thousands of probationary employees who appealed their improper removals. The previous special counsel, who was fired by Trump, ruled that the mass firings were likely illegal and ordered reinstatement of the wrongly fired employees.
In a major victory for AFGE and allies, a district court judge May 9 issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) blocking President Trump’s unconstitutional reorganization of the federal government.
Read More
House Republicans are pursuing at least $50 billion in cuts to Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) benefits to help pay for a $4.5 trillion package of tax cuts that would primarily benefit the rich and large corporations, a priority for President Trump.
Read More
Week 16 saw Trump laying off thousands of workers at Interior and Labor and planning to let go 80,000 VA employees taking care of veterans.
Read More
