By June, Musk appeared to officially leave DOGE. With him went some key lieutenants: Steve Davis, Musk’s right-hand man during the Twitter takeover and DOGE’s de facto leader; Nicole Hollander, Davis’ partner, who played a key role at the GSA; and Katie Miller, communications lead for DOGE and the wife of White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller. Musk’s send-off had included a friendly press conference with Trump, but that fragile peace was shattered a few days later, when Musk went to war with Trump on X. It seemed like Musk’s ouster from government—and breakup with the president—was complete. “For all the talk that Trump likes teams of rivals, he doesn’t respect people who are nasty, interpersonally … I thought the cabinet secretary fights would be the end. The president was not going to tolerate him going after his cabinet secretaries, publicly or privately … The president just didn’t want that. He’s not going to tolerate that negativity. He likes all these people. These are his people. Marco’s a decade-old friend, at least, and a former competitor [with whom] he has a special comradery who he almost picked as his vice president. Peter Navarro went to jail for the guy. Took a federal charge, was found guilty, and ate it. Scott Bessent is his treasury secretary. Stuff like that was not gonna fly for very long.” —Senior Trump official The era of Musk’s DOGE, the flashy, so-called agency that garnered Fox News specials and had orchestrated the biggest upheaval the modern US government has ever faced, appeared to be over. But the next phase was just beginning, with DOGE’s operatives and its ethos occupying every corner of government. And the toll on federal employees still hasn't stopped. “We are in purgatory—not having enough resources to do our jobs and not knowing what the vision is for the agency moving forward. Leadership by utter neglect.” —GSA employee “I am a clinical psychologist with plenty of lifetime trauma myself, but I had never actually attended therapy or seen a psychiatrist until after the inauguration. I was so upset when I first spoke to the telehealth psychiatrist that I couldn't even speak and almost had to hang up. They said that I was not the first federal employee that they'd talked to. “This was the trauma that they wanted, that they planned, that they promised us. And, for once, they did a great job of delivering.” —CDC employee “I’m terrified for our country and what all this means for the future. I need medication to help regulate me, because [Trump is] not going away anytime soon. And since I'm in HR, I can't get away from it. I live and breathe this during all my awake hours. If I'm not at work fielding questions from terrified employees or working with another team to terminate tons of people, family and friends are calling to see if I have any inside scoop or to check on the status of my own job.” —Federal HR employee “I’m the type of person where, like, if you push me I’ll push back. I don’t like to live in a mindset of despair and negativity. When these people do this shit, it just lights my fire. It makes me more fucking mad. This used to be the best job I’ve ever had, the best environment I’ve ever had, the best culture I’ve ever had—and they fucking ruined it. I will never ever forget how much they ruined it. I’m like, fuck these people. They can’t get me scared. I will not give them what they want. I will not just leave. I’m going to make it as difficult as possible for these fuckheads.” —FEMA employee Let us know what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor at [email protected].