Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
#DonaldTrump campaigned on a promise to eliminate the U.S. #departmentofeducation, an agency that #Republicans say is too wasteful and too woke. Through a series of layoffs and buyouts, the Trump administration has reduced the agency’s work force by roughly half. The broader goal, administration officials say, is to return more power to the states and to cut down on #governmentwaste. But the cuts have left many people concerned about the department’s capacity to carry out its vital functions, like enforcing civil-rights laws. The great purge at the agency has spread fear among employees, upended hundreds of lives, and left some to conclude that the whole point of this operation has been to intimidate and control government workers.
Guests:
Anthony Badial-Luna, management and program analyst at the Education Department
Kaitlyn Vitez, higher-education liaison at the Education Department
Christopher Madaio, former director of the Investigations Group in the Education Department’s enforcement unit; senior adviser at The Institute for College Access & Success
Elizabeth Morrow, a deputy director at the Office of Public Engagement for Non-Discrimination in the Office for Civil Rights
#DonaldTrump campaigned on a promise to eliminate the U.S. #departmentofeducation, an agency that #Republicans say is too wasteful and too woke. Through a series of layoffs and buyouts, the Trump administration has reduced the agency’s work force by roughly half. The broader goal, administration officials say, is to return more power to the states and to cut down on #governmentwaste. But the cuts have left many people concerned about the department’s capacity to carry out its vital functions, like enforcing civil-rights laws. The great purge at the agency has spread fear among employees, upended hundreds of lives, and left some to conclude that the whole point of this operation has been to intimidate and control government workers.
Guests:
Anthony Badial-Luna, management and program analyst at the Education Department
Kaitlyn Vitez, higher-education liaison at the Education Department
Christopher Madaio, former director of the Investigations Group in the Education Department’s enforcement unit; senior adviser at The Institute for College Access & Success
Elizabeth Morrow, a deputy director at the Office of Public Engagement for Non-Discrimination in the Office for Civil Rights
