Part of the appeal to President Trump’s supporters is that he is an experienced businessman, and many voters thought he would run the government like a business.
One month into his second term, Trump is trying to deliver on that premise, with the help of top adviser Elon Musk.
The two have moved rapidly to fire workers, cut spending on projects that do not align with their views, restructure or eliminate agencies and issue corporate-like mandates for workers to return to the office and provide their managers with progress reports. There has even been confusing human resources guidance.
It’s all been reminiscent of Musk’s takeover of the social media platform X. When Musk purchased the company, he quickly set about slashing workers and programs he deemed unnecessary, even as it upended certain features and services of the platform.
The approach in this case has led to a flurry of lawsuits and a misstep over the past few days, as other Trump allies advised their departments to ignore a Musk directive that employees list their weekly accomplishments in an email.
Yet the business-minded approach has drawn raves from many supporters and donors.
“This is the way business operates,” said Alfredo Ortiz, CEO of the advocacy group Job Creators Network. “I love the fact he’s looking at this country as a business, and looking at return on investment, efficiency and effectiveness. These are the terms of business.”
Musk, the CEO of Tesla and founder of SpaceX, has been a driving force behind the approach. He and the team at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have gone into agencies seeking to cut spending and deliver ultimatums to workers.
The Trump administration has in its first month offered the equivalent of a buyout to millions of federal workers in an effort to shrink the workforce. They’ve pushed ahead with layoffs of probationary employees and canceled contracts, framing it as a way to get spending under control.
Unions have advised workers not to take the buyout offer amid questions about its legality.
Trump has been publicly supportive of Musk, suggesting over the weekend that his ally could be more aggressive in slashing spending and calling the email to workers asking for five accomplishments “genius.”
But not everyone is happy.
There are thousands of government workers who are suddenly out of a job. There are at-risk communities in the U.S. and abroad who may struggle to get access to key services after the administration dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development. And the economies of Virginia and Maryland may be particularly hard hit given their reliance on government jobs.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), a former businessman, chalked the situation up to Trump having a CEO’s mindset.
“I would suggest that our federal workforce is not at fault here, but the reality is any CEO who steps into a position where there is an organization that has such deep financial challenges is going to have to make change, and therefore I recognize that this change will impact Virginians,” Youngkin said Monday.
Polls have shown a mixed reception to Trump’s early initiative.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll published last week found 42 percent of respondents supported Musk’s efforts to cut spending, compared to 53 percent who opposed them. The same poll found 62 percent of respondents rejected the idea that the president has the right to fire any federal employee who does not agree with them.
A Washington Post/Ipsos poll, also published last week, found nearly 60 percent of respondents opposed laying off large numbers of federal workers.
But polls have also shown Trump with approval ratings stronger than much of his first term, including a Harvard CAPS/Harris survey that found 52 percent of Americans approved of Trump’s first month in office.
Trump allies remain optimistic that the president is delivering on what voters asked for in November.
“Trump’s approach might ruffle some feathers, but if it saves money and delivers on reducing bureaucracy, voters aren’t going to worry about the details,” said Dan Eberhart, a GOP donor and CEO of Canary LLC.
“His approach may be more bull in a china shop than surgical, but they don’t care. Voters are ready to break some things,” Eberhart added. “And if he breaks too much, well that’s why Musk is out front.”
Macron shows the way on Trump
French President Emmanuel Macron may have shown the blueprint on how foreign leaders can deal with Trump as he rapidly shifts his foreign policy.
Macron had a much-discussed “bromance” with Trump during the president’s first term, though their relationship hit some bumps as Trump pressed forward with tariffs and away from Ukraine.
On Monday, Macron showed how he hoped to flatter Trump and embrace him, while picking his spots to gently push his case.
Trump has done a 180 on U.S. policy toward the Russia-Ukraine war, criticizing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, declining to say at times that Russia was the aggressor and pressing forward on peace talks with Moscow.
The French president physically embraced Trump as they sat side by side in the Oval Office, an image that hearkened to their intense handshakes of Trump’s first term. Macron referred to Trump as “dear Donald,” called Trump’s arrival a “game changer” during a Fox News interview and defended Trump’s decision to reengage with Russia.
But Macron also made clear how he and European allies saw the path forward in Ukraine.
He corrected Trump after the U.S. president claimed Europe’s assistance for Ukraine was in the form of a loan. And he insisted on the need for a mechanism to maintain any peace in Ukraine and to avoid a future Russian invasion.
“Peace must not mean a surrender of Ukraine,” Macron said during a joint press conference. “It must not mean a ceasefire without guarantees.”
