Michael Lewis discusses Blockers, his book on federal workers resisting Trump and Musk

Michael Lewis has discussed his new book Blockers: Rebels in the Deep State, which profiles US federal workers who resisted efforts by Donald Trump and Elon Musk to dismantle government agencies. The book focuses on civil servants whom Musk called blockers.

The interview set out the political backdrop. Trump promised a war on what he called corrupt and wasteful civil servants. After his inauguration, Elon Musk was put in charge of DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, with a remit to slash government jobs. Thousands were sacked within days. USAID was shut down, even though Congress had not given permission. The US Institute of Peace was taken over, renamed the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace, and nearly all its staff were fired. Several board members, including the CEO, were escorted from its Washington headquarters. Its security team initially locked DOGE out of the building.

Lewis said the people Musk called blockers were not trying to stop Trump and Musk from dismantling the deep state. In his view, most readers would see them as people trying not to break the law. He noted that the two million strong civil service workforce takes an oath to the Constitution and was suddenly being asked to take an oath to Donald Trump. The interviewer suggested the effort was less about saving money than about hobbling the American government from within.

Lewis argued that if the aim was saving money, it failed. He said federal debt has risen by three and a half trillion dollars since Trump took office. DOGE's claimed savings, once put at two trillion dollars, were now put at maybe 100 to 150 billion dollars. He said the best independent audits found about 4 per cent of what DOGE claimed was true, meaning 96 per cent was not. He added that layoffs created extra costs because people were paid after losing their jobs, and that the effort had no positive effects, though it had dramatic effects.

On the book's central characters, Lewis described them as ordinary men and women who wanted to go to work and do their job with quiet devotion to the idea of government. He said they were the antithesis of a modern world built around personal brands and Instagram validation. He contrasted them with billionaires and others who have bowed to Trump, arguing that money can shackle people, while those who stood up came from a different value system.

Asked how he felt about them, Lewis said he felt sad and outraged on their behalf. He said people who should be celebrated were being punished and traumatised, and that this was not fair. He accepted that the civil service needs reform, saying it always needs upgrading, moves slowly, struggles with rapid technical change and has rules that make staff too hard to fire and too hard to hire. But he said the Trump administration's approach blew an opportunity. The solution, he argued, did not address the problem. It was like having termites in the basement and burning down the house instead of dealing with the termites. He suggested the damage might at least open the way to a serious discussion about real reform.