Federal Employees at Not Explicitly Racist Agencies Describe the Personal Hell of Working Under Trump

Working for the Trump administration is preventing people from getting laid and also tearing families apart, according to an extremely gossipy and depressing report from Politico.

Politico interviewed dozens of current and former federal employees of various political ideologies from various departments within the administration; the conclusion: being at the employ of the Trump has had a significant impact on their lives, mostly negative.

Trump’s distrust of the so-called deep-state and tendency to appoint unqualified wingnuts as departmental heads has taken a huge hit on morale for career government employees and civil servants who once prided themselves on their jobs. Many are opting to keep their heads down and stay out of the constant stream of drama than pursue promotions as they watch years of work—on environmental protections, education reform, etc—collapse before them.

One Health and Human Services employee is experiencing a huge hit to their social life, resulting from people finding out they work for the Trump administration:

“There is a palpable feeling of disgust for people working for the administration around town,” said the HHS employee.

“I’ve quit going on dates that I meet on Hinge or the other dating apps because the four that I have been on the past month have all gotten upset I ‘work for Trump,’” the person added.

This Energy Department employee’s marriage is on the rocks:

“My own personal coping mechanism is a lot of denial,” said one Energy Department employee. “That has caused marital stress, since [my spouse] does not appreciate or respect my state of denial. That has caused an issue, although we would not be the only couple in the United States that has struggled with the Trump effect. I’m the frog in the pot that’s boiling along.”

The Environmental Protection Agency continues to atrophy.

“Morale has been terrible for years and has only gotten worse, and this on top of everything else. You’ve got people biding their time until retirement, you’ve got people biding their time toward public service loan forgiveness, but folks are looking for an exit,” said one EPA staffer.

And Secretary of Department of Education Betsy DeVos’s disdain toward public education made one Department of Education fellow ditch the admin to teach at a public school.

“I wanted to work in a school again. I wanted to work in a public school in particular and I wanted to work in a place that had a record of success,” the former Education Department fellow added. “Part of a narrative that was coming from this administration is that public schools are failing and that things haven’t gotten better in 50 years. And I disagree with that, strongly.”

Unsurprisingly, the only people having the time of their lives right now are those working for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE employees finally feel heard under the Trump administration:

We’re walking on air,” said one U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement employee. “We’re actually getting someone who supports our mission. We’re getting the respect we deserve for all the crap we have to deal with.”

Now they can get around to detaining pregnant immigrants en masse without interference of propriety. Nice.