President Trump ordered all federal workers to get an almost 2% raise.  Two percent, what's the big deal?  Well, it's a big deal because federal salaries and benefits are already grossly inflated.

The Trump administration, after announcing plans to slash spending across much of the government, will recommend a 1.9 percent raise for federal workers to take effect in January, according to a budget document and a senior budget official.

The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly, said agencies have been told by the White House to build a 1.9 percent pay raise for civilian employees into their spending plans for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.

Here's the problem: the average federal worker makes over $86,000.  Eighty-six thousand dollars is a lot, and that's just an average.  The average private-sector worker makes only $58,000.

The gap only gets worse when you add in benefits.  Average total compensation for federal workers is about $123,000, almost double the private-sector total of $69,000.

Why should bureaucrats making the equivalent of $123,000 a year, or even more in many cases, be entitled to any raises?  They should have their pay cut, not increased!

What makes it even worse is that not only do many "federal workers" not perform productive jobs, but the work they do is actually counterproductive, hurting the private sector.

Now, it is true that the president wants to cut some jobs at the EPA and the State Department, and that's great news.  But why should other civilian workers (except the military) have an increase of any kind?

Furthermore, 2% may not sound like a lot, but President Trump is actually raising salaries more than Obama did in many years!

After three years of frozen pay rates from 2011 to 2013, federal workers received raises of 1, 1, 1.3 and 2.1 percent from 2014 through 2017. 

If President Trump wanted to truly "drain the swamp," he would cut their salaries to match those in the private sector.  Instead, he's giving them an unwarranted raise.

President Trump isn't draining the swamp; he's filling it.

Ed Straker is the senior writer at NewsMachete.com.