I'm not sure exactly what point you are arguing. The issue in this subthread is whether or not cruelty to federal employees is "the point" of the recent actions. I claim that it's not the objective, but a side effect. I claim that the Trump administration's main objective is to dissolve these agencies, not specifically to inflict harm on employees. All of the agency de-fundings and dissolutions can be much better explained as serving some other goal: either industry profit, or to make it easier for his party (or Trump himself!) to win in 2028, or to undo some perceived left-leaning agenda.

I am hardly advocating for destruction of the USA simply because I disagree with that pithy quotable, "The cruelty is the point."