This week I talk with writer and former Capitol Hill staffer — and my old co-worker — Evelyn Quartz about the strange afterlife of political work: how two people who once believed in “hope and change” ended up disillusioned with the system they helped run. We trade stories about burnout, ideology, and how a job that’s supposed to “change the world” can quietly drain your sense of meaning. Evelyn traces her path from congressional communications director to Substack essayist, and we get into money in politics, media grift, the post-2024 hangover, Tucker Carlson’s odd influence, and what it means to live an honest life after leaving Washington.

Follow Evelyn's Substack here: https://quartzevelyn.substack.com/

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Onefjef is produced, edited & hosted by Jef Taylor.