Draining the Swamp
Brent E. Zepke, Esq.
President Elect Donald J. Trump has announced that he will appoint Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to run a new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). If you’ve been following the news, you’ll know that the two have already rolled up their sleeves and are brainstorming together to “Make America Efficient Again” and to accomplish that, they’d need to “Drain the Swamp,” which would require, of course, a substantial reduction in the number of bureaucrats.
In 2015-2016 Trump ran, and was elected, on a similar promise to “drain the swamp.”
What happened?
Well, President Reagan and his team discovered that the creatures who inhabit he swamp are more resilient and resistant than was first imagined.
The nickname the “swamp” refers to Washington, D.C., which was built on swampland. The “swamp” has come to symbolize the proliferation of federal employees in the various federal agencies headquartered in the District of Columbia (D.C.).
And they are mostly Democrats.
The 2024 U.S. Election
Donald Trump received approximately 49.9 % of the votes nationwide, Harris earned 48.3% in the 2024 election.
The estimate is that one in six civilian full-time federal employees live in the DC metro area, which includes Northern Virginia, suburban Maryland and even a touch of West Virginia.
How did they vote?
Washington, D.C.’s Vote
In the center of the swamp, Trump received 6.5% of the vote to 90% for Harris. Independents received 2.2%.
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports that there are 162,161 civilian Federal employees in DC, which is only 68.34 square miles but houses 689,545 residents, or 10,140 people per square mile. For comparison, Santa Barbara’s 86,500 residents live in 43.09 square miles, or 2,011 people per square mile.
As a result, most federal employees live in the parts of Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia, that are closest to DC.
Do these voters reflect the nation where Trump received 49.9%, or for that matter, even the rest of their own states?
Here are the stats:
Virginia
Virginia voted 46.06 % for Trump and 51.82 % for Harris. Compare these to the voting in the counties closest to DC where the GRS reports that there are 144,000 civilian federal employees.
Counties in Virginia for Trump for Harris
Arlington 20% 78%
Fairfax 31% 66%
Prince William 40% 58%
Loudoun 40% 57%
Stafford 49% 49%
The farther you get from DC, as in Stafford, the more votes there are for Trump. Indeed, farther away, in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, Trump received 54%.
Maryland
Maryland voted 34.93% for Trump and 62.30% for Harris. Compare these to the voting in the counties closest to DC where the GRS reports there are 142,685 civilian federal employees.
Counties in Maryland for Trump for Harris
Prince George 12% 86%
Montgomery 23% 74%
Charles 30% 68%
Calvert 36% 61%
Frederick 46% 51%
The farther away from DC, as in Frederick, the more votes for Trump, indicating the influence of the swamp. Indeed, even farther away, in Allegany County, Trump received 69%.
West Virginia
The state of West Virginia voted 70% for Trump and 28% for Harris.
In Jefferson County, which is the only county with a long, but possible, commute to the DC area, Trump received 57%.
Reductions in Force
Eliminating someone’s job is not, nor should it be, easy. Understanding that it is for the good of the remaining employees is helpful, but often inadequate.
I recommend the DOGE team start by deciding which functions are necessary, and to consider the “other” functions, perhaps agencies, as ones we cannot afford.
Within the surviving functions, the DOGE will be dealing with whether government employees are willing to do a job the president’s team deems necessary in the way the team deems necessary.
In the necessary functions, decide who wants their job. Since the Government Services Administration (GSA) estimates post Covid, as few as 7% of federal employees come to work. Allow employees to choose who wants to come to the office five days a week, and who does not.
Within the necessary functions, define the necessary skills, including attitude. Flexibility is key in selecting who will be successful in tomorrow’s jobs. Moving some jobs from DC to, say, Missouri, will help sort out who wants to work as well.
Conclusion
The variance in the voting statistics with the distance from DC is too great to be random.
The DOGE will have to change much more than the top few people at a federal agency to have the agencies enact the policies of the duly elected president of our democracy.
I find it fascinating, listening to people talk about, draining the swamp. It means different things to different people. Matt dropping out of the AG race was a draining the swamp action for me. Who wants a man who thinks it’s OK to buy and screw young women as the attorney general of the United States. A job that demands ethics run by a man who has none? Getting rid of him is draining the swamp.
It’ll be interesting to see how the team Trump is put together trims-government waste. Will they consider waste anything that doesn’t support the elite as they are both part of that class? Do they have the knowledge and expertise to understand the safety issues that some policy has been in place for? Well they listen to people in positions of knowledge, or exert their ignorant egos into the process.
Cutting government waste is long overdue and necessary. I’m a little concerned that they’re going after the most vulnerable population via Medicare and Social Security to save dollars. I haven’t heard anything about the Pentagon that hasn’t passed a budget audit in a decade and has little oversight and lots of hands in the cookie jar.
Time will tell and hopefully not too many Americans will suffer from poorly thought decisions
I saw Ramaswamy proposing a possible way to eliminate half of the workers in the massive bureaucracy. Remember back in the 1970's during a gas "crisis" when to buy gasoline your license plate had to end with an odd or even number on a given day? Well, he said they'd be mired in discrimination lawsuits FOREVER if they didn't do some kind of lottery..... so everyone whose Social Security number ends in an even number, you're fired. Bingo. Now you have a number of workers remaining who can self-select by insisting they must come to work IN the office 40 hours a week. He proposed VERY generous buy-outs, of, say 18 months salary. By doing such a method, his big business brain has come up with a way to begin the process of elimination of the vast number of people who need to retrain to do something useful.