It turns out that DOGE is less of a waste-reduction project and more of a wrecking ball that is cutting vital services. Like USDA folks working on bird flu, whoops!
And it’s also cutting workers, like Iowans, who will likely move out of our state because of their job loss.
By now, you may have seen the viral post from Brian Gibbs, an Iowan whose National Park Service job at Effigy Mounds was one of tens of thousands (and counting) eliminated by Elon Musk’s careless and not-well-thought-out rampage through our country’s institutions.
“I am absolutely heartbroken and completely devastated to have lost my dream job of an Education Park Ranger with the National Park Service this Valentine’s Day,” Gibbs wrote on Feb. 14 in a post that had been shared more than 227,000 times as of this writing.
Gibbs’ story was picked up by national media as well, held up as an example of what at least 75,000 workers throughout the federal government have faced in the last month because of Musk’s actions (with the blessing of President Donald Trump).
Sure, there’s a feeling of schadenfreude that can permeate your mind at stories like these, seeing the brunt of not only DOGE’s mass firings but also the federal funding freezes hitting Trump-voting states like ours the hardest.
But I’m gonna try to call you in from that line of thinking.
When you think there’s a certain segment of the population that has to feel this pain—because you think that will mean folks will start waking up to what their Trump vote actually meant—it doesn’t make you any different from those who are cheering on DOGE’s rampage, or those who don’t care at all.
It means you will allow all of this to continue unabated.
Instead, think of Brian Gibbs and his family. Think of your neighbor’s fear of being arrested or deported. Think of your fellow workers who are in fear for their jobs because they are Black and bear the brunt of the “anti-DEI” racists’ fury. Think of the college teachers and university staff who have to decide between quitting or removing references to LGBTQ+ people to please the administrators who are unabashedly bowing down in the face of fascism.
And start standing up for them—and all of us—instead.
