Inside the Federal Work Force That Trump Has Promised to Eviscerate NYT | Top Stories Robert Draper, Michael Crowley and Zach Montague 9 November 2024 at 07:53 President-elect Donald J. Trump and his allies have pledged to strike fear in the heart of what they term “the deep state.” They have already succeeded. © Maxar TechnologiesThe federal work force is made up of 2.8 million mostly anonymous employees in the Washington area.