On Thursday, FEMA Chief of Staff Scott Curtis shared how he was misled, betrayed, and abruptly FIRED after taking Trump’s “deferred resignation” deal.
UPDATE: On Friday, after this interview was posted, he was rehired. Read more coverage from The Bulwark here.
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Did I hear correctly that 4 hours after this podcast aired, Scott received a call offering him the resignation package??
I don't know what Scott's politics are, but the fact that he has empathy for others is a step in the right direction for a potential run for office.
Russ Vought explicitly stated that he wanted federal employees to be traumatized. And that is why this stuff is being done this way and why Trump and the GOP is fine with how Musk is doing things.
The lack of respect for individuals as human beings by Trump and Musk is despicable. Firing qualified people for no reason with no warning from positions serving our country is thoughtless and shortsighted. But locking employees out of their workplace like they are some kind of criminal is so disrespectful. Scott Curtis is much calmer about all this than I would be. I attribute both his courage to speak out and his willingness to be abused by his “superiors” to his long Military career.
As others have said, thank you Scott for your service and you did not deserve to be treated this way. To the clowns at DOGE and the tRUMP administration, shame on you and as a very old saying goes, what goes around comes around. You will at the end of the day pay for your disgraceful behavior.
Thank you, Scott, for your bravery. Please keep sharing your story! We need heroes!
Scott, Thank you for speaking out and for your service to the country. What a travesty. Wishing you the very best in your next chapter.
Brilliant!
I thank Scott Curtis for speaking so frankly and Sam for arranging such a professional, compassionate interview.
When I left a job on Capitol Hill in the 1990s to go to the private sector I doubled my salary and worked about 1/4 fewer hours. On the Hill I routinely worked weekends but in the private sector it was rare. Many of these fired workers will find better jobs and it will be our country’s loss. This wrecking ball show is just a cover up for Musk’s desire for lawlessness when it comes to his companies. A sad, mean, and stupid time in America.
The fact is that these firings by the executive are unconstitutional according to Article II, Section 2:
"he [the executive] may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices"
This is the fundamental fact that should underlie every discussion about what happened to these federal employees because the GOP has broken their oath to defend the constitution and are thus traitors. The constitution is clear about this.
This interview puts a face to who is being let go. Well spoken, intelligent, thoughtful.......he probably represents the majority of our civil service employees.
It doesn't matter to Musk. Read the book Musk by Walter Isaacson and you will quickly learn that Musk always cuts out people and materials until the product fails and then he adds back the minimum of people or material to get the product to work. Musk cut the number of nails to hold his solar panel shingles to ONE. Only after putting on a roof using one nail per shingle and seeing it failed did he agree to use more nails. He has zero empathy. It is my opinion his ultimate goal is to disable the agency having oversight on his SpaceX and Tesla self driving companies. I believe he wants unencumbered ability to do whatever he wants with his products with zero interference, read that as government oversight. He Will never meet the current requirements.
I showed this to my husband, who was a bubblehead nuclear operator before going to college at Iowa State. So many similarities with Scott Curtis. Putting faces and stories to names makes this real and important in ways it wasn't before the video.
I wish all the best to Scott and his wife.
Thank you for your service. My husband has been AD Navy with a connection to nuclear power as well for over 20 years. I really resonate with the military ethos of taking care of one's people. I'm so sorry you were screwed over by this admin. Extremely unfair, wrong, and I thank you for speaking out.
I spent nearly 40 years as a lawyer with the U.S. Department of Justice. I saw many hardworking dedicated people who cared a great deal about service to the people. I normally worked 9 to 10 hour days. If I was in trial I worked 10 to 12 hour days, 7 days a week without being paid overtime. My colleagues did the same. I am proud of my service to the country and felt rewarded that I was able to do service to the country. The MAGAs who I see on social media belittling federal employees will not like it when government services which they demand and have gotten used to are not there to do their jobs.
As a therapist here in DC with a caseload filled with civil servants, I have no patience for the ignorance of my fellow citizens whining about things they know absolutely nothing about.
Light is the best disinfectant! I’m glad to support The Bulwark!
Me too--EXACT same thought!
As we might have expected!