President Donald Trump finally drove the teeth of his MAGA buzzsaw into the government on Monday, moving to lay off “thousands” of White House employees he accused of being disloyal to his administration.
In an overnight announcement on social media, the 47th president held up the scalps of four individuals he cut loose and warned thousands more that they are at risk of suffering the same fate if they flinch in the face of his relentless agenda to obliterate the past four years of the Biden-Harris administration.
“Our first day in the White House is not over yet! My Presidential Personnel Office is actively in the process of identifying and removing over a thousand Presidential Appointees from the previous Administration, who are not aligned with our vision to Make America Great Again,” he wrote on Truth Social shortly after midnight on Tuesday.
“Let this serve as Official Notice of Dismissal for these 4 individuals, with many more, coming soon. Jose Andres from the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition, Mark Milley from the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, Brian Hook from the Wilson Center for Scholars, and Keisha Lance Bottoms from the President’s Export Council – YOU’RE FIRED!”
General Milley, a former Trump military advisor who later headed the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was summarily pardoned by former President Joe Biden during his final minutes in office as the Democrat attempted to shield members of his administration from reprisal by Trump. Milley formerly advised Trump before declaring him a “total fascist” after he left office.
Together, the four firings represent Trump’s first move to make good on his promise to “clean out the deep state” as soon as possible. Hook, the president’s former special envoy to Iran, was the only other member of those fired who previously worked for Trump in some capacity.
The cleaning out also signals President Trump’s intent to fundamentally replace the U.S. diplomatic corps in his own image. On Monday the Washington Post reported that Trump administration officials have asked John Bass, the agency’s acting undersecretary for political affairs, to step aside, as well as many others in the State Department’s upper layers of leadership.
Insiders told the Daily Mail that the purge would include nearly all officials at the undersecretary and assistant secretary levels, which would effectively hollow out the department’s top two floors.
Career diplomats generally enjoy a carryover between administrations, but the White House indicated on Monday that Trump will firmly break away from that past policy. “Under the President’s direction, the State Department will have an America-First foreign policy,” a statement read.
Shortly after he was sworn in, President Trump gained the first member of his cabinet, Marco Rubio, who will head the State Department. At his Senate hearing, the former Florida senator promised to give career department officials a louder voice in the agency’s direction and greater access to his office. The firings suggest Trump’s feelings are at odds with those sentiments.
Other departing diplomats noted by the outlet include Geoffrey Pyatt, a seasoned official with more than three decades of experience, and Daniel Kritenbrink, the department’s top Asia expert. Both served Republican and Democratic administrations.
Lisa Kenna, a former executive secretary under Mike Pompeo during Trump’s first term, will replace Bass.
Democrats expressed outrage at the midnight firings on Tuesday.
“These non-partisan public servants have decades of experience under both Republican and Democratic administrations. They are critical to U.S. national security,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), who is up for reelection in 2026, wrote on social media.
