What is it *really* like to work for the Trump administration?
Hear from 18 civil servants, in their own words
The federal government is comprised of career staff and political appointees. Political appointees are those people who come in to work for a short period of time for a particular administration, and usually have some kind of connection to the president or the party in power. (Think Betsy DeVos + Ben Carson.)
Career staff, or civil servants, are the oft-unsung heroes of our federal government, those who make the wheels spin on all sorts of important government functions, and who do so no matter which party is in power. We don’t often hear about them, except for when the government shuts down like it did earlier this year. Only then do we start to recall all the many things we depend on these bureaucrats for, and usually take for granted.
I embarked on a really tough but fascinating project in December + January, seeking to interview a wide range of career staffers about what it feels like to go to work for the federal government every day under the Trump administration, and learn what’s changed, what’s stayed the same, what’s hard, what’s surprising. Finding people willing to talk candidly about their experiences, even anonymously, is never easy — and I’m grateful for my friends, family and colleagues who helped me identify some civil servants willing to participate in this.
Everyone I interviewed for this story has worked for the federal government since at least under Obama, and some since under Bush.
The result, which is in the new issue of Washingtonian magazine, features federal workers from 18 different agencies — ranging from the State Department, Department of Justice and NASA, to the Department of Labor and the National Institute of Health.
Hear from these civil servants, in their words.