According to Trump yesterday, he is giving 800,000 unpaid federal employees a Christmas gift this year — the wall.
"Many of those workers have said to me, communicated — stay out until you get the funding for the wall," he said to reporters in the Oval Office. "These federal workers want the wall."
Said one delighted worker, who cleans restrooms on the job and cares for her 15-year-old great-grandson and 5-year-old great-grandson: "It’s just putting me in a bind. I am going to have to juggle my bills around. My part-time job at the Agriculture Department helps me make ends meet."
Said another wall-thrilled employee of the Food and Drug Administration: "It’s definitely going to start to get rough. It’s definitely an inconvenience, especially when the reason the government is shut down, I think most people agree, is ridiculous, because we don’t want to spend $5 billion on an electrified wall with flaming arrows."
And, with two children and a mortgage, the wife of a couple who work for the U.S. Forest Service in Oregon said: "We’re going to lose both of our incomes right now. If we don’t get back pay, that will be a significant impact. Health care, insurance all comes out of that check. That’s really scary. I just don’t know what’s going on anymore. None of us do." The couple are contract employees, who, notes the Washington Post, "typically don’t win congressional approval to recoup lost wages once the government reopens."
So, as you slide into bankruptcy, so much for a merry Christmas, folks. Nonetheless, we know you'll have a happy New Year, because, as the president assured us, you want the wall.