In my mundane job I have been a Fed for 20years now. We survived last time and we are hoping to survive this time too. The most frustrating part is last time and this time you have an administration that actively doesn't like the people who do the jobs of keeping the country going day to day. The directors of various agencies are people who actively dislike and want to destroy the agencies they are in charge of. One of the things that keeps things from collapsing into utter chaos, is the civil service corps. Every agency is staffed by people who want to do a good job. They like the work they do. Not necessarily all of the regulations and rules, but we, on the whole, see how to do things that generally benefit the US citizens and keep things working. Surprisingly, sometimes when a conman and grifter is put in charge of an agency, the people under him or her will demonstrate the value of getting things done, and done for the benefit of the citizens and not for the enrichment of a few. There is an old joke in government circles, "how can you tell the difference between an appointee and a career civil servant? The appointee has money to spend on a nice car, tailored suit, and lives in a house they just bought within the Beltway. The career civil servant drives an old car, wears off the rack, and lives in an apartment or in the suburbs because it is all they can afford." Bottom line, a government employee who is wealthy, is not an government employee. I apologize for the rant. Hopefully conmen and grifters don't do too much damage to our country this time.