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Bait & Switch
The buyouts being offered to government employees may not be worth the paper they’re printed on
Hey, have you heard about what’s going on in the Department of Education? So Trumpian!
Let’s start with the leadership. Trump awarded one of his top donors and sycophants, Linda McMahon, the former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO and head of the Small Business Administration in his first administration, to be education secretary.
There is no confirmation hearing scheduled for Ms. McMahon, supposedly because she is still undergoing background checks. But the reality is that Trump and Musk are dismantling the Department of Education.
So there will be nothing for her to be Secretary of. Does that mean she will be a cabinet member with no portfolio?
But it gets better.
The employees at the Department of Education are being offered buyout packages like other government employees, Musk’s way of trimming staff. He’s literally paying them to go away.
Or is he?
Turns out, after you sign on the dotted line, the full terms of the buyout are shown to you. The fine print includes the caveat that the education secretary could rescind the agreement at any time or the government could just stop…