Remember back when candidate Donald Trump said there'd be a bloodbath in the American auto industry if Joe Biden were reelected? The media turned an out-of-context clip into a week-long news cycle about how Trump had promised a "bloodbath" if he lost. See, he's inciting his supporters to violence.
The Bulwark's Sam Stein is bringing back "bloodbath" in reporting on mass layoffs at the FDA, CDC, and other U.S. health agencies.
Absolute BLOODBATH at HHS/NIH/CDC this morning. Generation of scientists, health care officials being wiped out pic.twitter.com/ikJjcOiqhp
— Sam Stein (@samstein) April 1, 2025
Stein's not the first to go with this take. The Daily Mail reported on the "bloodbath" at USAID back in February."Traumatized USAID worker who survived DOGE bloodbath describes horror of watching everyone get fired," they wrote.
Reuters reports:
The Trump administration began mass layoffs of 10,000 staffers at U.S. health agencies on Tuesday, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation, with security guards barring entry to some employees just hours after they received dismissal notices.
The cuts, which affect several high-profile agencies under the Department of Health and Human Services, including the FDA, CDC and National Institutes of Health, are part of a broad plan by President Donald Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk to shrink the federal government and slash spending.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has described the cuts, which combined with other recent departures will reduce total headcount to 62,000 from 82,000, as essential to streamlining a bloated bureaucracy.
However, they have included the ouster of top scientists overseeing public health, cancer research and vaccine and drug approvals, raising concerns about how the U.S. will respond to health emergencies, such as the ongoing measles outbreak and spreading bird flu.
"Top scientists." Stein writes, "Multiple officials who work in the department told The Bulwark that entire offices were being eliminated. Much of the focus appeared to be on the administrative side of things."
“scientists” 🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/8MVKbpCtj6
— Hans Mahncke (@HansMahncke) April 1, 2025
The highlighted part of that story says that the department's leadership targeted "positions in human resources, procurement, finance, and information technology."
The same HHS/NIH/CDC that kept my kids out of school for almost 2 years? The same scientists who said we couldn't go to church but that BLM riots don't spread covid? Those people?
— 𝔻𝕠𝕔𝕥𝕠𝕣 𝔽𝕒𝕥𝕖 (@georg3) April 1, 2025
HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA pic.twitter.com/xgk7x1IKPr
This is absolutely satisfying. These people locked us down, closed our churches, businesses and schools. They terrified their brainwashed cult members so much that they called for us to be put in prison & our children taken bc we had the nerve to question them. Celebrate this! pic.twitter.com/6FMXI2B0eu
— Savannah (@BasedSavannah) April 1, 2025
It's a good start.
— AwakenedOutlaw⚒️ (@AwakenedOutlaw) April 1, 2025
They were grossly ineffective. I hope they do better in their next career.
— Mateo (@_MATH_YOU) April 1, 2025
— 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗠𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 (@txsalth2o) April 1, 2025
They can go work in *actual* jobs.
— DK 🌽🇺🇸🐂 (@toottootchoo) April 1, 2025
Oh, no. They might not create another pandemic, how awful.
— AmishDude (@TheAmishDude) April 1, 2025
This is exactly what I voted for
— Sensurround (@ShamashAran) April 1, 2025
Democrats and the Never Trumpers at The Bulwark will tell you the federal government is too large, but they also seem to think that once hired, a federal employee is employed for life at the taxpayer's expense.
Best news I've heard all week, great reporting Sam. Keep it up.
— Simon Trent (@saintsimon1472) April 1, 2025
* administrators
— Tom (@MIwolverine10) April 1, 2025
The example the screenshot gives of a “scientist” is an Acting Deputy Director.
That’s amazing! Thank you President Trump and RFK for getting rid of these bureaucrat losers.
— Daily Trite 🇺🇸 (@realDailyTrite) April 1, 2025
They're not being killed, you dolt. They can work somewhere in the private sector where companies that have to balance their books deem worthy of the cost of their labor.
— Turkleton (@Turkleton_Cat) April 1, 2025
You mean it's not literally a bloodbath? Is it only when Trump says it?
"That today happened to be April Fools was treated as a nice little sadistic touch," Stein adds. It's like that National Park Ranger who lost his dream job on Valentine's Day.
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