the enablers

Russ Vought

Director of the Office of Management and Budget

In a private speech

“We want to put them in trauma.”

Russ Vought is the chief author of Project 2025 and the man who said he wanted federal workers “traumatically affected.” As Trump’s budget director he has moved to withhold money Congress appropriated, a power the nonpartisan GAO already found his office broke the law to seize, and has pushed more than 200,000 career civil servants out of their jobs.

What he said he wanted

In a private speech

We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected. We want to put them in trauma.

On federal workers, in remarks later obtained by ProPublica · 2023

Before he returned to power, he told a private conservative audience that he wanted federal workers so demoralized that "when they wake up in the morning, they don't want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains." The remarks were caught on video. As budget director he has since pushed more than 200,000 career civil servants out of their jobs.

Sources: ProPublica / HuffPost

What he is doing with the office

The power of the purse

In my time at OMB, we followed the law consistently.

To the Senate, on withholding funds Congress appropriated · 2025

He is the architect of the administration's impoundment strategy, holding back money Congress appropriated. The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office found that the budget office under his direction broke the Impoundment Control Act during Trump's first term, forcing Congress to reappropriate the funds. He has also described the United States as a "post-Constitutional" country.

Sources: The Hill