Trump Wants to Call Government Shutdown a ‘Strike’ Even Though It’s Not a Strike
As the government shutdown enters its 14th day, making it the third longest shutdown in US history, there are few signs of an end in sight.

Yesterday the President met with members of Congress who are trying to figure out a way to end the shutdown and start paying the 800,000 Americans who are not being paid. According to a source who attended the meeting and spoke to The Daily Beast on the condition of anonymity, things did not go well.
Despite the president telling reporters in the Rose Garden that the meeting was “very productive,” Democrats called it “contentious,” and one source claimed that the President used the f-word three times. In another puzzling turn of events, the same source claims that Mr. Trump didn’t want to call the partial government shutdown a “shutdown,” instead opting to use the word “strike” to describe it.
The word ‘strike’ would seemingly shift blame from the president and Congress to those working without pay. The irony in all of this though is that the shutdown is actually the opposite of a strike. During a strike, a body of employees organize and stop working in order to attempt to gain concessions from their employers. In this case, the government is forcing employees to either stop working, or work without pay until the government reopens.
Twitter users lashed out at Trump’s rhetoric this morning, seeing it as an attempt to blame the very employees who are facing the actual hardships during this shutdown, rather than the politicians who caused it:
This is infuriating and insulting to veterans.
A third of the Federal workforce are veterans.
They’re NOT on strike. They’re increasingly getting furloughed because Donald Trump refuses to reopen the government.#TrumpShutdown https://t.co/gPKjmHpaah
— VoteVets (@votevets) January 5, 2019
People on strike against receiving their paychecks… ???????????? https://t.co/Y932X9KX6o
— Joe Lindsey ?? (@JoeLindseyDC) January 5, 2019
It is *SO* telling that Trump referred to his shutdown as a “strike” today. Blaming the people harmed by his actions for that harm is built into his cognitive OS, which is degrading in front of our eyes. It’s horrifying. https://t.co/oI11HRkLTo
— Steve Silberman (@stevesilberman) January 5, 2019