Letter: 'No American Will Be Untouched by This Shutdown'

[babylonsister]

https://www.theatlantic.com/letters/archive/2019/01/reader-responds-how-trumps-shutdown-impacts-federal-agents/579994/

Letter: ‘No American Will Be Untouched by This Shutdown’
A former Trump supporter explains how the government shutdown is affecting her one-income family—and why she no longer supports the president.
3:30 PM ET

Since the enactment of the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947, Russell Berman wrote on Wednesday, federal employees have been legally prohibited from striking—which means that during a government shutdown, hundreds of thousands of federal workers who are not on furlough must continue working without pay, indefinitely.

My husband is a senior federal corrections officer at United States Penitentiary, Hazelton, in West Virginia. He has been working up to 18-hour days. He is a dedicated officer. The inmates respect him, he does his job well. With this shutdown, he still has to go to work, but with no paycheck. Still he works extreme overtime.

We are terrified about what the future may hold. We are a one-income household. I have had some health problems and stay home and support him while he works. Yet we have had to have the frightening discussion, What will we do if this shutdown lasts beyond February?

If he has to leave the [Federal Bureau of Prisons], we lose 12 years of retirement and a decent income. We would have to move in with his mother and try to get jobs to survive. We would never be able to retire.

We really were supporters of the Trump administration, but Trump’s lack of concern for the American people, people just like us, has caused us to feel that the sooner he leaves the White House, the better off America will be.

In truth, no American will be untouched by this shutdown, and for some, it will change their lives forever.

Tanya Louise Allen
Morgantown, W.Va.

[FirstLight]

1. I've been thinking about the ripple effect of this crapshow

...what about the markets? this affects housing, food, health, ALL aspects of society...whether you work for the Govt or not.

I guess a Depression and people starving and homeless could bring them into the streets?

[Achilleaze]

2. Wake up republican voters

It's way past late. If you haven't been screwed, lied to, cheated, or offended yet, then you are next.

[Comatose Sphagetti]

3. I wrote this on fb a month or two before the '16 election...

"Before blowing something up, be it a building demolition or political system, always ensure the debris from the explosion won't come back to hit you and yours in the ass."

Hard to be sympathetic. Shocked, SHOCKED! that they're the ones being hurt. It's OK if it was "those other people."

[lunatica]

25. Yeah, I noticed that too.

I don’t have much sympathy, but I feel sorry for her. Even though I know she would feel happy to see me suffer in her place.

[Comatose Sphagetti]

32. I feel sorry for her, too.

nt.

[guillaumeb]

4. So now that this GOP voter is personally affected by the consequences of her own vote,

she has a change of heart?

Sad, but uninformed votes have consequences.

And will she vote for GOP candidates in 2020?

[peggysue2]

8. That's the real question, isn't it?

And will she vote for GOP candidates in 2020?

Or will she and former Trump supporters suffer total amnesia, forgetting or failing to acknowledge that Trumpski is the end product of Republican propaganda and failed ideology?

As for the rest of us? Never forget, never forgive.

[guillaumeb]

11. I choose the "total amnesia" option.

Well said.

[durablend]

21. She was hoping "someone else" would be hurt by this.

You know, those "other" people.

[Hugin]

24. Interesting she has realized that she has more in common with those she has been told to hate...

Than with those who tell her to hate them.

Nonetheless, I doubt it will stick. She'll be out there yelling for the blood (or emails) of them come 2020.

I see no change in this aberration.

[Delmette2.0]

30. Excellent response.

she has more in common with those she has been told to hate...
Than with those who tell her to hate them.

This should be shared far and wide.

[guillaumeb]

31. Agreed.

And her hate backfired on her.

[trev]

37. This is the way it is with Republicans.

Nothing matters unless it affects them personally.

[guillaumeb]

39. True, and the non-rich GOP voters will always be affected by GOP policies. eom

[Brawndo]

5. Brought it on themselves

Anyone who voted for or supports tRump deserves far more hardship then the effects of the shut down will bring. They sided with evil, now suffer.

[mnhtnbb]

6. Typical Republican behavior

that only recognizes concern when personally affected. But, this also signifies cracks coming in 45's base. That is significant.

Turtle boy might want to stick his head out and pay attention.

[Solly Mack]

7. Mea - this-man-is-causing-me-problems-now-so-he's-got-to-go - culpas

are always just so heartfelt.

But let the shutdown end and their paychecks get deposited and the day after they'll go back to attacking all those brown people streaming across the border to take their jobs.

[Autumn]

9. I'm sorry for your bad luck and choices.

You got what you voted for.

[Hassler]

10. +1000

[Cal Carpenter]

14. I'm sorry that you can post something like that on DU

and get people to agree with you and it's considered just fine, whereas if I reply to tell you that this sentiment is fucking disgusting and anti-democratic I'll probably get alerted on and maybe even deleted...

[Autumn]

15. Alert on it then. They got just what they fucking voted for, I have no sympathy for them .

Had Trump pretended to be a normal fucking human being is one thing but he was clear what he was and they supported and voted for him. They just expected "brown people" to fucking get hurt. Not themselves. He was a racist motherfucking piece of shit and they were happy with him as long as none of the vile filth he spewed didn't apply to them.

The alert button is in the bottom left corner. Have at it.

[Cal Carpenter]

16. Indulge me for a second

Do you think it is okay, in a democracy, to punish people for who they voted for?

Do you think that rights only apply to people who voted a certain way?

To be clear I have no desire to alert on your post, nor do I have doubt that many people who voted for Trump are racist pieces of shit just like he is.

[Brawndo]

17. Okay...

During the campaign the following occurred:
Mocked a disabled reporter, called for the targeted assassination of innocent women and children as US policy, intimated a 2nd amendment solution for Hillary Clinton, boasted about shooting people and not losing support, mocked gold star families, dissed POWs, stated he wouldn't respect the results of the election if he lost, bragged about repeated sexual assault, I could go on and on. All of this was public knowledge on display. There should be consequences for throwing support behind such an obvious monster, economic hardship is getting off easy for such a betrayal of American values. Stupid should hurt.

[Autumn]

18. I'm not punishing them, I just have no sympathy for them.

An American can vote for whomever they wish, I have no problem with anyone voting for anyone they chose. But when a candidate is open about being a rabid, racist piece of shit and they vote for and support him when he turns around and bites them in the ass I got no sympathy. None. They were fine with his hate until his actions harmed them. They are fine with children being separated from their parents, they are fine when people seeking asylum are turned away but damn, it is harming their comfortable little lives so NOW they aren't going to support him! I believe they can find sympathy in the dictionary, they won't get it from me.

[912gdm]

26. None of us are punishing trump supporters because of their vote.

No one on this board has the power to punish someone's economic security because they voted for Trump. However, Trump IS vicariously punishing ALL of us because he isn't getting his wall.

What is happening in this thread, and others, are people expressing their lack of concern or pity for people who voted for Trump.


And im totally with them. Im reserving my concern and pity for myself and my-own who could potentially suffer from the effects that Trump and his supports have wrought.

To put it another way:

[lunatica]

27. The poster said nothing about punishing anyone

[PJMcK]

29. Trump's voters are getting what they voted for

It is not Democrats who are punishing Trump's voters. It's Trump's policies.

It's not Democrats who are attacking peoples' rights, it's Trump's administration.

Your rhetorical questions are straw man arguments. That fact is, Trump is hurting a great many Americans with his actions in office. If his voters are just now waking up to learning how awful he is, then that is their problem.

Trump has been a criminal for decades and Americans were too willing to believe his TV persona was real. The expression, "Elections have consequences" has never seemed more appropriate for those who voted for the conman and are now negatively affected by their choice.

[Blue_true]

33. I didn't see that the desire was to punish them.

The point made was that voting for a horrible person, or not voting or writing in someone or voting for a candidate that can't possibly win has consequences. The point was that lady is living the consequences of her vote.

I tend to feel that once her husband is getting paid again and getting paid overtime and they are not down to their last month of savings, she will go right back to voting for the type of people that made her suffering possible. When I read her letter it was sad, she has health issues and is likely close to or over middle age, her husband about the same place. Good luck to him for finding a job that pays as well as the federal job. One thing that I see with conservatives is they never think about a broader picture, they have a narrow focus of their fears and dislikes, that tendency comes back to haunt them more often than not.

[Charlotte Little]

38. I don't know

Why don't you go ask Trump these questions?

He's doing the punishing. It's just coincidental that now many more of his MAGAts are feeling the pain. Whereas before, it was mostly just the black and brown folks and libtards he hates and doesn't consider to be Americans who were suffering.

And he most definitely thinks that rights only apply to his voters - his 1% rich voters and oligarchs, that is.

So, yeah. Go ask him. But lecturing members on this forum for their comments is .

[SMC22307]

19. I wish these people would have listened to the warnings...

warnings that date back to the f'ing '70s. But I'm pretty sure they don't care about AAs being discriminated against in the NY housing market or the Central Park Five. You think maybe they'd get a clue about the contractors and workers shafted by Fat Nixon in Jersey, but maybe they listen to so much FUX and right-wing radio they're not even aware of it...

[Autumn]

20. They didn't care. Anyone who listened to even just one of his rallies and

voted for him knew exactly what they were getting.

[lunatica]

28. The reason they voted for him is because

they voted to get it. It wasn’t a passive act. They hate us libruls and they are hateful racists.

Evidently they didn’t think they’d get splashed with all the blood they wanted.

[Blue_true]

34. Perfect synopsis. nt

[grantcart]

12. As a defacto federal subcontractor we lost our business and are now camped out with a

a friend. The problem isn't just this shutdown but all the other ones that preceded it and all of the threats of a shutdown which has adverse difficulties.

Even though we have been hit hard I hope that there is no negotiation, he will only do it again in a few months.

[ooky]

13. So, Tanya, these hardships you are worrying about, losing retirement, moving, getting jobs,

are what the asshole you voted for calls "adjustments".

[Blue_true]

35. My guess at her and her husband's age, and her health condition.

The federal job is the best they will see, unless they hit a goldmine business idea and avoid having someone rip it off from them.

The husband had the federal job and most likely fat overtime money every week. They likely have a decent home and toys like a boat and other stuff. Had maybe 2-3 months savings in the bank. I see republican voters like that all the time where I live. They don't have empathy until life knocks them down real hard and stomps on them, but even then their first response is to feel sorry for only themselves.

[durablend]

22. Me thinks Tanya needs to take some "personal responsibility"

You got what you wished for.

[Blue_true]

36. Republican voters that hit a rough patch never do that.

My red county is highly dependent on federal, state and local government jobs. During the 2007-2008 downturn that was inspired by Bush, the place became a ghost town, businesses closed, lots of people were out of work. President Obama came in and started getting things back to running again, the people here rewarded that with Rubio and Scott. Fast forward to 2016, the place is now bustling again, businesses reopening or opened for the last 6+ years. What did the people here do? Voted for Trump by like 10-15% over Hillary. When you see stuff like that enough times, you stop having sympathy for people that are blind when things are going good for them.

[Bluesaph]

23. Womp womp thoughts and prayers

!