People Are Sharing Heartbreaking Government Shutdown Stories On Twitter


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The holidays are, ideally, a time for a break; the melancholic “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” promises our “troubles will be out of sight.” But in the Trump era, we can’t even take the holidays off. Our president wants his Border Wall, and he wants it so bad that he was willing to partially shut down the government, thereby stiffing thousands of employees during a time that should be relaxing. He even agreed to take the blame for it — until he flip-flopped, possibly upon realizing it wouldn’t be warmly received.

There have been heartwarming stories about epic gregariousness. But there are also plenty of heartbreaking stories, of people whose lives have been put in jeopardy, or worse. Some of those have been shared by the news. Luckily, for those who haven’t, there’s many public forums on which to air their grievances. Some have taken to Twitter to tell their stories, using the hashtag “#ShutDownStories.

Some are worried about their families.

https://twitter.com/TaylorFutch1/status/1077049606293409792

Some have had unexpected setbacks that are now snowballing.

https://twitter.com/eskimita01/status/1077105137242365953

Some are trying to joke about it, if even just a little.

Some are scared by a bureaucratic nightmare that just somehow got worse.

https://twitter.com/DaSilva_7/status/1077254867947872256

Some are just hurting.

https://twitter.com/chirony/status/1077199815421747203

https://twitter.com/Athena7151/status/1077202635730575360

Some feel compelled to do their job anyway, hoping to be paid back.

Some have non-government jobs that are still affected:

https://twitter.com/DrNikkiMartinez/status/1077095943726604288

Here’s a good idea.

Meanwhile, the president was complaining about not being able to go to Florida.

Best of luck to all these people. Hopefully this will all be over soon.