But the government needs reform, not demolition. A lthough the plight of America’s 2.2 million federal bureaucrats seldom elicits public sympathy, spare a charitable thought for their future. Not since the congressional elections of 1882 has civil-service reform received so much political attention.

The incoming Trump administration’s solution to government spending is a new Department of Government Efficiency led by co-department chiefs: the world’s richest man and Trump’s former political opponent.