Trump lauds federal employees as 'great patriots,' promises to 'win big' on border wall
Source: USA Today
President Donald Trump, one month into the federal government shutdown, took to Twitter to thank federal employees who are working without pay.
The nation's 800,000 federal workers will miss their second paycheck this week. About half of them, however, are considered "essential" and are working anyway.
"To all of the great people who are working so hard for your Country and not getting paid I say, THANK YOU - YOU ARE GREAT PATRIOTS!" Trump tweeted late Sunday. "We must now work together, after decades of abuse, to finally fix the Humanitarian, Criminal & Drug Crisis at our Border. WE WILL WIN BIG!"
Not everyone scheduled to work is showing up, however. The Transportation Security Administration said Monday that its rate of unscheduled absences was creeping higher. About 10 percent of employees took unscheduled absences Saturday, up from 3 percent on the same date a year ago.
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/01/21/border-wall-trump-thanks-working-federal-employees-vows-big-win/2635815002/
I guess Trump and his supporters are convinced that federal employees are totally backing his shutdown, so he feels obligated to win big on the wall. I guess he thinks that he can end it, since hundreds of thousands of federal employees want him to keep going. Who knew?
Or, is Trump just trolling them and trying to get under their skin, because he thinks they are all Democrats?
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Why shouldn't he be.
They keep showing up without getting paid.
I can't imagine Trump interpreting that any other way.
TomCADem
(17,390 posts)Still, it is not like Trump cares for facts...
https://www.govexec.com/pay-benefits/2019/01/poll-nearly-three-quarters-federal-workers-oppose-shutdown-majority-oppose-wall/154183/
Federal employees remain overwhelmingly opposed to the partial government shutdown, according to a new poll by Government Business Council and GovExec.com, with 72 percent against it and just 21 percent supporting it.
The results vary little from the last GBC/GovExec survey, conducted during the first week of agencies closing their doors, when 71 percent of federal workers said they opposed the shutdown. Now in its 25th day, federal employees appear cemented in their shutdown views.
Just 34 percent of federal employees support President Trumps request for funding a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, while 56 percent oppose it. Of those against the wall, more than four out of five are strongly opposed to it. One in 10 respondents said they were neither for nor against Trumps push for the wall.
Those working at shuttered agencies, which includes more than 800,000 employees who are not currently receiving pay, generally reflect the opinions of the federal workforce at large. Employees at closed agencies were only more opposed to the shutdown than their colleagues at fully funded agencies by 3 percentage points. Employees who are currently workingeither at shuttered agencies without pay or at funded agencieswere slightly more opposed to the shutdown than their furloughed colleagues.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Proving once again that 21% of just about anyone is happy to punch themselves in the nuts.
IronLionZion
(45,528 posts)some agencies are fully funded: Defense, VA, HHS, postal service,
keithbvadu2
(36,906 posts)Trump now claims most furloughed workers "are Democrats"
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-now-claims-most-furloughed-workers-are-democrats-n952236
Plus
Trump Claims Most Furloughed Federal Workers Are Rooting For Him On Wall Funding
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-shutdown-furloughed-workers_us_5c2fc50ce4b0bcb4c25bab28
flibbitygiblets
(7,220 posts)Good fucking god, when will his nightmare of a "human being" just die already?
NotHardly
(1,062 posts)If they are directed to show up and do not, they can be fired ... also known as a "rock and hard place".
keithbvadu2
(36,906 posts)bluestarone
(17,030 posts)Like the farmers are winning big!! BULLSHT!!!!
slumcamper
(1,606 posts)Right.
Now they are "great patriots"? Seriously?
BULL SHIT.
After nearly 4 decades of the Republican Party and its media cronies harping about "big gubmint," seeking to drown it in a bathtub or, most recently, "deconstruct the administrative state," this ain't gonna fly.
(except for the uncritical MAGA cult)
WVlaserguy
(44 posts)In my humble opinion, the only way out of this is to shut the country down. If ALL of us just stop for one day, we could shake this thing up.
Don't spend a penny, don't work unless it's for something vital, slow down everything, whatever we need to get that crazy old man in the White House to realize we mean business.
50 Shades Of Blue
(10,043 posts)JDC
(10,133 posts)He is such a clown.
LastLiberal in PalmSprings
(12,592 posts)Soon, there will be a market for t-shirts saying, "Trump Took Away My Paycheck and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt."
BTW, the $5.7 billion isn't for the wall. It's for a down payment on the wall. The whole thing is estimated to cost in excess of $25 billion to complete (if it ever is completed). Once that first concrete is poured, though, the rest of the wall HAS to be finished because, "We've already built the first 300 feet."
The same logic was used to keep sending cannon fodder to Iraq. "Not sending more soldiers to die dishonors the sacrifice of those who have already died."
keithbvadu2
(36,906 posts)Can't pay your bills? Tough.
SKKY
(11,821 posts)...they care about the fact that this Friday will be the 2nd missed pay period. Bullshit is what this is.