Elon Musk's lambasting of the civil service in February from the Oval Office recalls, among other things, his taking the stage at February's Conservative Political Action Conference to yell "Chainsaw for bureaucracy!", and the not-joking statement from now-OMB head Russell Vought in 2023--"We want to put them in trauma" (meaning "bureaucrats")--both escalations of open cruelty toward the civil service.

Created by Douglas Lucas in mid-May 2025 as a footnote for his [add date here] article at [add news outlet name here], "[add article title here and link]".