\n Jonas, a program analyst at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was on the job for five days before Hurricane Harvey flattened homes along the Texas coast in 2017. He said he couldn\u2019t be prouder of his work for survivors during his deployment.\n <\/p>\n
\n But after more than eight years of devout civil service, Jonas lost that fulfilling federal job. He was rehired six months later, but while his income was on hiatus, Jonas was forced to dip into savings and ask family for help to pay for doctors\u2019 appointments to address his disability.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThere\u2019s not too much to celebrate on the Fourth. It\u2019s a disappointment, and just a sadness \u2013 a really big one \u2013 because all the happiness and all the good times in this job feel like they\u2019re over.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Jonas, FEMA program analyst\n <\/p>\n
\n These employees, who make up a historically nonpartisan<\/a> federal workforce, have been swept up by partisan politics as Trump worked to aggressively implement his second-term agenda.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cMy whole life until recently I was very proud of our country. Every federal worker, from the janitor on up the chain, swore an oath to defend and protect the Constitution,\u201d said Edward. \u201cNow, I don\u2019t even want anything to do with the Fourth. I\u2019m angry and ashamed.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n CNN has used pseudonyms for some government employees and granted anonymity to others in this article over privacy and retaliation concerns.\n <\/p>\n \n 2025 was punctuated by dramatic downsizing<\/a>, partisan firings<\/a>, early retirements<\/a> and incentivized resignations<\/a> of government workers. The federal workforce shrunk by more than 278,000 under Trump. Some agencies are in the process<\/a> of being dismantled; others were shut down<\/a> altogether.\n <\/p>\n \n Edward said he watched beloved colleagues, some suddenly struggling to cover mortgages and childcare, step away last year from jobs they had expected to hold for decades.\n <\/p>\n \n Now every reminder of America\u2019s 250th birthday \u2013 a grocery store display, a banner hanging in Edward\u2019s subdivision, a television commercial \u2013 makes the 30-year military veteran shudder, each one a reminder of the colleagues he says were wronged.\n <\/p>\n \n More than two million federal workers are deeply entrenched in every corner of the United States, and the destruction rippled across the country<\/a> when Trump brought the hammer down on the workforce last year. Over 85% of federal employees live outside of the Washington, DC, beltway, with states like Florida, Texas and California hubs for more than 100,000 workers each, government data shows<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Left in the wake were surviving employees forced to take on extra responsibilities and keep their heads down as they worked to dodge more reductions in force<\/a> and devastating government shutdowns<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe\u2019re exhausted, you know, from being jerked around. I am seven months out from my retirement and it hurts to say, but it\u2019s going to be a lot less hard to leave now.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Edward, career military serviceman\n <\/p>\n \n Despite the burnout, Edward says he has no party plans for the federal holiday.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI feel perfectly comfortable staying in,\u201d he said. \u201cThere won\u2019t be a flag out front, decorations on the mantel. It bothers me because I am so proud of (America\u2019s) past, but I can\u2019t be proud of our present.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n This year, the usual backyard cookouts and fireworks are being eclipsed by once-in-a-generation celebrations<\/a> marking the nation\u2019s 250th birthday.\n <\/p>\n \n In New York City, a flotilla of tall ships and military vessels will offer parade sails, tours of the ships and more over the July 4 weekend. Edward, who has spent his lifelong federal career at a military base in New York, has little interest in driving to Niagara Falls for its days-long fireworks display, let alone traveling to New York City for its sprawling maritime celebration.\n <\/p>\n \n At one Social Security field office in South Texas, workers used to look forward to a festive lunch before the Fourth of July. Last year, they gathered together for a barbecue meal at the job.\n <\/p>\n \n But this year, many of the staffers aren\u2019t in the mood to celebrate, one longtime employee, who asked that her name not be used for fear of retaliation, told CNN. Morale is low after the agency lost several thousand workers<\/a> under the Trump administration, employees were reassigned to answer Social Security\u2019s 800-number<\/a> and the workload grew, she said.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe government is piling so much on employees, all we want to do is check out.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Social Security Administration worker in Texas\n <\/p>\n \n While she typically enjoys setting off fireworks and watching local towns\u2019 displays for the holiday, she doesn\u2019t feel like doing much this year. Independence Day, which she viewed as celebrating the diversity of Americans who have come together as a unified nation, has lost its purpose under Trump, she said.\n <\/p>\n \n Within her agency, she has seen the administration attack union rights and diversity efforts, which she feels are taking steps backwards. She scoffed at the July 4th holiday baskets of pretzels Commissioner Frank Bisignano<\/a> sent to employees thanking them for their work. (The pretzel company is owned by Bisignano\u2019s daughter, according to The New Yorker<\/a>.)\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt\u2019s just hard and disheartening when you hit 250 years and all you give your government employees is just more work and stress and pretzels,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n \n Some Transportation Security Administration employees, who went without pay for weeks<\/a> during a record-long partial government shutdown<\/a> earlier this year, are feeling particularly bitter.\n <\/p>\n \n All the spending on the national events angers one supervisor at a Florida airport. Even though she received all her back pay, she is still dealing with fees and interest<\/a> on bills she delayed paying during the shutdown.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt\u2019s like a slap in the face,\u201d said the staffer, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation. \u201cThey have money for everything else, except to pay us.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Federal Independence Day events have played to Trump\u2019s cultural tastes<\/a> and given conservative groups a platform to shape the narrative around the celebrations \u2014 all to \u201crenew national pride.\u201d At Trump\u2019s Great American State Fair<\/a>, those in Washington will get to decide between riding the towering, 110 foot-Ferris wheel looming over the National Mall, visiting booths representing each state and territory, or taking a picture in front of a plywood and vinyl replica of Trump\u2019s triumphal arch.\n <\/p>\n \n In the supervisor\u2019s opinion, the Trump administration should use the funds it is spending on the celebrations to support food stamps, scientific research and other priorities. She has family and friends who rely on food stamps and have medical conditions that would benefit from more research to find cures.\n <\/p>\n \n Jonas, the FEMA program analyst, visited Washington, DC, for the first time during a deployment in 2017.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI bought my mom a sweatshirt. I was like, I was so enthralled by it. I\u2019m like, \u2018Wow, this is amazing, I love this job, I found my calling and I\u2019m helping people,\u2019\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n \n But as he drove to the nation\u2019s capital this summer to get his equipment from the FEMA headquarters after being rehired, he said didn\u2019t recognize the city \u2013 or the Ferris wheel in the middle of it \u2013 remarking that it\u2019s in \u201cthe shadow of its former glory.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt has changed the demeanor at the office, too,\u201d he said. \u201cMy colleagues, they\u2019re really trying to continue pushing forward, but it seems like it\u2019s like a little harder each and every day.\u201d\n <\/p>\n![\"Members](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/gettyimages-2283454722-10001.jpg\")
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