White House says refusing to pay 800,000 Americans is just a 'glitch'

Some 800,000 federal workers who haven’t been paid and are in the middle of a major economic and social disaster of Trump’s making are merely a “glitch,” according to Trump’s senior economic adviser.

Larry Kudlow, who serves as Trump’s Director of the National Economic Council, made the remark to a group of reporters.

“The moment, the nanosecond the government is … reopened all these glitches will go away.” Kudlow said. Discussing the household survey of jobless claims and how the shutdown would affect the data, Kudlow declared, “You may see bigger glitches in the household survey.”

“Yes, soon as this thing goes, the switch will be turned on, the payments will be made, we’ll go back to normal, this is just a glitch.”

A glitch is an unforeseen error or disturbance. The shutdown is happening because Trump has demanded that billions of tax dollars be wasted on an unnecessary, racist border wall.

Trump and his inner circle are largely millionaires and billionaires with little to no understanding of the paycheck-to-paycheck lives of many Americans, particularly those working for the government.

Just a little before Kudlow’s derisive remark, Trump Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told a reporter he just didn’t understand why furloughed federal workers have to seek food from homeless shelters. Instead he suggested they take out loans against their future income.

Both men are reflecting the message from their boss, Trump, who said his wall serves a “higher purpose than next week’s pay” for federal workers.

They’re all wrong. Workers deserve to be paid, especially those who are keeping the country and its food supply safe.

Refusing to pay them has created a domestic and international mess. It isn’t merely a “glitch” and trying to minimize it with such language is a massive betrayal.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.