Andy Kroll

And he sees this pocket rescission, kind of like a pocket veto, but again, specifically targeting funding and programs as a way that he can erase government funding, whether Congress likes it or not.

I don't think you can take in the full sweep of what this administration has done in less than a year and not come away with thinking that chaos is a goal and certainly an outcome that serves Vogt and his team's larger agenda of

putting cracks in the federal government, shaking the stability of this typically rock-solid, steady institution that is the federal bureaucracy.

I talked to dozens of people who have worked with Vogt, who have observed him closely, talked with a lot of federal workers who have been affected by the funding freezes, affected by the mass layoffs, affected by all the different maneuvers that Vogt has attempted so far.

One thing that really stuck with me, and it came out of one of these conversations with a former civil servant, was how much...

This administration and really votes efforts have shattered this idea of public service, at least at the federal level, as a reliable, stable way to not just find employment, but to serve a greater good, to serve your country, to be a part of this larger economy.

You know, the people who work in the federal government are doing it because the pay is great.

They're not toiling away at the education department or the FBI.

because it's going to make them famous or they're going to achieve viral influencer status.

They do it because they believe in this larger mission.

And they're willing to work under Democratic and Republican presidents.

But there is this larger notion of public service, this ideal that drives them.

That idea has really taken a beating in this administration to the point that former federal workers I talked to have said, things are so chaotic, things are so uncertain.

I don't know if I would want to work for the federal government again, because I don't want to have to go through what I've already gone through this year.

I have to think that that is the intended outcome.

And I think this comes back to the line of votes that set me down this path, this year-long path of reporting, which were these comments about wanting to put civil servants in trauma.

I went back and looked at his social media footprint.

He doesn't have a major presence online.

He is not

a Pete Hegseth or a Kash Patel who sees himself as this kind of public influencer type figure.