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Trump Wants to Call Government Shutdown a ‘Strike’ Even Though It’s Not a Strike

BY January 5, 2019


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.

Source: Wikimedia

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:

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