President Trump’s widespread firings of federal employees has reached every level of government, but critics say his selection of who to axe is hardly arbitrary.

In just a few weeks on the job, President Trump has fired numerous inspectors general, forced out top FBI officials and overseen a purge of federal employees.

Some of the removals have targeted a series of officials sure to conduct oversight of Trump’s actions.

Other firings have been described by critics as retribution against agencies and institutions Trump has feuded with. Many have targeted the Democratic leaders of boards designed to handle employee complaints or protect consumer interests.

And then there is Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which have sought to shrink the entire government with broad workforce reductions.

Critics see an effort by Trump to stifle his opponents and go after bureaucrats he’s long decried as the Deep State.

“What we're seeing is an effort by Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and DOGE and their cronies to purge what they wrongly perceive as their adversaries among federal employees from the treetops to the grassroots,” said Norm Eisen, whose group State Democracy Defenders Action has brought a flurry of litigation on behalf of fired employees.

Eisen called the firings the “cutting edge of the autocratic takeover.”

The Trump administration has defended its actions.

“There are a number of bureaucrats who are resistant to the democratic process and mandate delivered by the American people. President Trump is only interested in the best and most qualified people who are also willing to implement his America First Agenda on behalf of the American people,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

“It’s not for everyone, and that’s okay.”

The oversight apparatus

Trump within his first week in office fired 17 inspectors general in what critics called a midnight massacre, and he has forged ahead in firing the leaders of other oversight boards.

“It is more about taking out in advance those who would otherwise be in a position to cause Trump 2.0 problems and instead, either replace them with loyalists where possible, or simply have someone in an acting capacity who is now intimidated,” said Mark Zaid, who is among the lawyers helping fired employees launch lawsuits against the administration.

“It is an anticipatory, preemptive move to ensure those agencies, entities and individuals cannot cause him problems.”

Trump fired the head of the Office of the Special Counsel, which helps protect employees from wrongful termination, including reprisals against whistleblowers, and also enforces Hatch Act prohibitions on electioneering.

The head of the office, Hampton Dellinger, scored an early court victory and was reinstated after arguing he was entitled to serve his full five-year term. The Trump administration has aggressively fought the case, even asking the Supreme Court to intervene, but the high court declined to step in at this juncture.

Trump similarly fired David Huitema, the head of the Office of Government Ethics, which plays a role in establishing standards of conduct and financial disclosure requirements for executive branch officials and monitors their complaints with ethics guidelines.

“It really speaks [to], I think, an effort to kind of dismantle all of the institutions across the government that are set up to serve as kind of an independent voice for integrity and for accountability,” Huitema said during an appearance on CBS News.

The number of inspectors general fired by Trump has also ticked up to 18 after the president fired the inspector general of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) after a critical report.

Inspectors general are intended to be an independent voice within each agency to review accusations of wrongdoing and misuse of government funds.

Chioma Chukwu, executive director of the watchdog group American Oversight, said the action “defies logic.”

“The administration fired more than a dozen watchdog officials who are........

© The Hill