Hannah Rosen

I'm Hannah Rosen.

This is Radio Atlantic.

And this week, one year since Donald Trump was re-inaugurated, we're talking about the federal government workforce that was.

Last April, Hip and Steel accepted a voluntary resignation package.

He joined a mass exodus of federal workers.

In Trump's first year back, over 300,000 Americans left the government.

Many forced out or fired.

Pressured to unceremoniously leave.

Careers ended in capricious, even cruel ways.

Today, we're looking back at those careers to take stock of who and what we've lost.

This is Atlantic staff writer Franklin Foer.

Frank spent months tapping into the network.

He called one fired worker, who led him to another worker, felt pressure to resign, and so on, until the bigger picture became clearer.

Frank's interviews are compiled in the February issue of the magazine.

You'll hear some of their voices throughout the episode.

You talked to how many people?

So you talked to 75-80 people.

I'm sure there were themes that emerged.

So that's not a cliché.

I actually think that there's nothing more patriotic that you can do but to work in public service, whether that's truly I thought I was going to retire from this job.