Republican leaders in Congress and the White House are sending very different signals regarding the value of federal workers amid the ongoing government shutdown.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and other GOP leaders are lionizing federal employees as a crucial piece of the nation's inner workings, while bashing Democrats for idling “valiant” public servants who help make the country run. They often sound like Democrats in previous shutdowns.

From the White House, President Trump and his top officials are hammering federal workers as a source of deficit bloat while celebrating the “unprecedented opportunity” the shutdown has provided to fire those employees by the thousands.

Instead of venerating the federal workforce, Trump is elevating the stature of Russell Vought, the White House budget chief who's orchestrating the mass firings — and embracing his Grim Reaper persona — with an outward show of exuberance.

The clashing tones have created a split screen of Republican shutdown messaging, where congressional leaders are extolling federal workers as the lifeblood of a functioning government; Trump is cheering on his........

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