For a couple days now, I've been asking you to give me a call.

Hi, Mary. It is a long-time listener. I think I've heard every episode of what next over the years.

My question was simple. I wanted to understand what Donald Trump and Elon Musk are doing to this country, up close.

Hey, I'm an environmental planner in South Carolina.

Hi, this is Sarah.

I am a federal health care contract worker.

My name is Meg from Washington, D.C. I own a pet care company,

and I figured out how many of our clients were USAID workers. My name's Zane. I live in North Carolina.

I work in carbon capture research, and we get federal grants to do research.

So it's just a lot of uncertainty, and I think, you know, that's the whole point.

When I hear about federal workers being fired, or tariffs or contracts being cut short,

I always think there's some person on the other end of this decision.

How are they doing?

Not great, it turns out.

My wife has worked for the Department of Agriculture just short of 20 years.

She spends every day worrying about her job.

You know, everybody just wakes up every day, you know, in fear that they're going to lose their job.

I would say that we are under a lot of stress right now, and particularly with the uncertainty around what's being funded, who's getting money, and where it's going.

You'll probably get 100 calls like this, but, you know, I just want to know that there are really good, hardworking people out there who this is affecting.

Our whole show today is going to be about making Washington funding cuts a little more visible, because it isn't just government workers being impacted.

And I think the hardest part for me is just, it seemed like a game, you know.

Take Hannah Smith Brewbaker.

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