Michael Embrich writes:

The mass purge of federal workers under Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) plan is more than just an attack on the government bureaucracy — it’s a direct assault on the veterans who make up nearly 30 percent of the federal workforce.

In a decision that will be remembered as a betrayal of the veteran community and the broader federal workforce, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued an email Tuesday similar in wording to the one Musk used to gut Twitter. The message, which arrived under the subject line, “Fork in the Road,” presented federal employees with a false choice: agree to resign now with temporary pay or risk termination later.

Musk made a similar offer to Twitter employees, along with promises about severance that were apparently never honored — a precedent that raises serious concerns about the integrity of this so-called “deferred resignation” plan. Musk’s fingerprints on this scheme introduce major legal questions, as he is neither a government advisor nor a federal employee. This raises the alarming possibility that the offer itself may not even be legally valid, opening a new legal and constitutional battle over the authority behind this directive.

The administration’s forced resignation scheme, disguised as a voluntary buyout offer, is nothing more than a coercive tactic — not an act of good faith. Federal workers, many of them veterans, are being pressured to resign by February 6 in exchange for eight months of pay. The alternative? Facing reclassification, forced return-to-office mandates, or outright termination. These threats are designed to create panic, rather than reflect actual likelihood. [Continue reading…]