It's Not About Saving Money
Why we need to stand with federal workers
USDA staff at the Scott County Service Center in August 2024.
We’re only in the fourth week of the four years of the second Trump Administration, and I’m exhausted.
My fatigue and frustration is nothing compared to what federal public servants are feeling in the face of the Trump Administration’s intentional effort to traumatize them.
Since Inauguration Day, the personal assaults on these dedicated public servants has escalated. Thursday night, emails went to hundreds of thousands of federal employees hired in the past year or two. They were still on probation. The email informed them that they were being terminated. Most would have received the message when they got to work on Valentine’s Day. Nothing says I love you and appreciate you like an arbitrary firing.
The first day of the Trump-Vance Administration was my last day in the Biden-Harris Administration. I anticipated a major shift with the change in presidents. I did not anticipate the speed and volume of change. I knew President Trump would push the envelope on executive power. I’m struggling to comprehend that on day 27, we’re on the brink of a constitutional crisis as there is open speculation as to whether the Trump team will follow or ignore the courts.
I’ve been writing, trying to follow the news, calling Iowa’s congressional delegation, and fielding calls from the media.
Republicans have taken a sledgehammer to the federal government. Actually, that’s too precise of a tool to describe the full on assault to every aspect of federal service to the public. It’s been an escalating series of IEDs (improvised explosive devices). The goal is to break the federal government by firing as many federal employees as they can, and controlling through fear the public servants who remain.
Last week I did an interview with ABC News about how farmers were responding to Trump tariffs and a repeat of trade war saber rattling. I pointed out that these aren’t just Trump tariffs, these are Republican tariffs. All six of Iowa’s members of congress have either remained silent, or actually cheered these and other radical moves. It felt like governing by chaos.
This week it’s been all about Republicans stopping the regular flow of payments from all corners of the federal government. For farmers and rural communities, that pause in funding is hitting us hard.
Chris Clayton at DTN lays out three different examples of money not flowing to rural America and the consequences of the stoppage. Clayton is doing some of the best journalism in the country to cover the impacts of funding freezes to farmers and those who serve them. Impacts include funding freezes to Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities, Renewable Energy for America Program, and Farm Conservation Programs.
All the chaos is exhausting. It’s hard to focus. It’s hard to believe this is happening and Republicans are cheering it on. But watching what Trump and Musk are doing to federal employees, it’s becoming clear this isn’t governing by chaos. This is governing by trauma. This is governing by maximum violence.
The trauma being intentionally leveled at Americans serving their country is starting to extend to so many other Americans including those at universities and non-profits. The horrors happening because of funding freezes at USAID are beyond comprehension.
On Wednesday I learned that Conservation Districts of Iowa (CDI) laid off 38 people because they are waiting on reimbursements from USDA. CDI has done the work, paid the employees for that work, and is waiting for USDA to provide payment per the contract for work already done. With no word as to when that reimbursement will arrive or if it will, CDI can’t continue to pay their employees. CDI hopes the layoffs are temporary, short term, and that people will be able to come back when and if the reimbursement happens.
Twenty four of these jobs were staff to support work at the Iowa county USDA service centers. These 100 county offices are where the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS), and local Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCD) work together to help farmers put conservation on their land. Some additional partnering organizations like Pheasants Forever also help out.
I watched CDI fill these new support positions. From 2021 through inauguration day 2025, all the government agencies in Iowa serving farmers were hiring. This included FSA, NRCS, IDALS, SWCDs, and other partner organizations. There’s been a lot of work to do as Americans have increased our investments in supporting our farmers and ranchers to solve many 21st century challenges, including helping to solve the climate crisis.
The entire agriculture community was all in on investing in conservation by American farmers. Rural America had support from farm groups, agribusiness, bi-partisan members of congress, universities, and rural communities to hire people interested in helping farmers and ranchers put more conservation on the land.
Most of these jobs were in rural Iowa. Many were entry level jobs for people who want to live and work in county seat towns and nearby smaller communities. People were excited to be part of the movement to invest in farmers and improve water quality, soil health, and wildlife habitat.
As Republicans take a chainsaw to the federal government, the cost of “saving money” is becoming enormous. We’re kicking farmers, communities, and those who want to live and work in Rural America in the teeth. Republicans, in their own words, are hell bent on traumatizing federal employees. That trauma is spilling over to impact other Americans committed to careers in serving farmers with now paused or canceled support from federal investments.
I get there are those who are philosophically opposed to government investments beyond defense and a few very narrow other priorities. In agriculture and rural development, that’s not the case. Rural America gets a tremendous amount of public investment through historically bi-partisan support.
That has all changed with the second Trump administration with apparently full support from congressional Republicans. This pause in funding and firing federal employees is a tremendous attack on rural America.
I’ve heard reports that farmers in other states speaking to Republican House members have been told that “Trump has a plan. We just need to let it play out.”
Well it’s playing out and rural Americans are losing their jobs. Our Land Grant universities are shutting down research projects. Farmers and ranchers are waiting on payments. Markets are disappearing. Food is being wasted. And people committed to serving American farmers, to living in rural America, and committed to advancing American agricultural leadership are being discarded like trash.
This is intentional violence to gain complete control of the entirety of the United States of America. Dangerous ideologues are using trauma and violence to gain greater power. Their desire for power has no limits. They are breaking everything that could potentially stand in their way.
Pay attention to the trauma being waged against the bureaucrats. It’s spilling over into all of rural America. I know it because I’m rural. I’ve worked closely with those losing their jobs.
But it’s not just rural America. This is happening to scientists, to public health, to education, to urban communities. Blue states and red states. The labor movement. Immigrants. The trauma is strategic. The violence is intentional. The goal is control of every aspect of American life and full unchecked power over the United States government.
This is all so exhausting. It’s so much easier not to pay attention. But the trauma, the violence is coming for all of us unless we make a stand while we still have the power to make that stand.
Call your members of congress. If you’re from Iowa, the list is below.
Right now we need to stand with federal employees and all the other Americans who are being threatened with economic violence by losing their job, losing their health care, losing their house, losing their farm.
Stand up for your fellow Americans now, because there won’t be anyone left to stand up for you when the violence comes directly at you and your family.
Matt,
I have shared this idea for different issues and on other substacks. Your substack and reputation reminded me to offer this idea.
You and other leaders in the conservation community could partner with local elected officials, including inviting federal delegations and legislators to make political messages more impactful through localization and personal stories. Photo ops at the local and regional offices of your old agency would be a start. You could show the way for other groups with different focuses to do the same.
The key problem with DC protests is they can feel distant and abstract to many Americans. All Americans see are US Senators being locked out of federal office buildings. We can do better here in Iowa. Here's why:
In addition to ag programs and local offices, state leaders and officials (invite D’s and R’s) visiting federally-funded sites in Iowa could:
Make it tangible and local:
*Visit VA hospitals and talk directly with veterans about their care
*Meet with families at children's hospitals treating cancer patients
*Tour senior centers that rely on federal funding
*Visit conservation projects on Iowa farms that depend on federal support
Document specific impacts:
*Gather real stories of how budget decisions affect actual Iowans
*Get concrete numbers on how many local jobs and services depend on federal funding
*Show exactly how cuts would impact specific communities and programs
Ask pointed questions of federal representatives:
*Why aren't they fighting harder for their constituents' interests?
*How do they justify prioritizing tax cuts over essential services?
*What's their response to specific stories of impacted Iowans?
The GOP has been working to build distrust of government for decades. I'm old enough to remember Ronald Reagan joking (or not) that the most frightening words in the English language are "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help." Since then, Republicans have regularly underfunded public service agencies and then when those agencies are unable to provide those services due to lack of money the GOP says, "See! We told you government doesn't work." My point is that many Americans have been conditioned to distrust government, and it's going to take time to correct that. That said, I am appalled by the silence of my reps and senators on this and other issues. Trump's actions are blatantly unconstitutional, and I do not believe the statement that we should trust the president because "Trump has a plan." Thank you for letting me rant.