Summary
Recently terminated federal workers face not only unemployment challenges but also hurtful reactions from family members who support the government cuts.
Luke Tobin, fired from the Forest Service, and Kristin Jenn, whose Park Service job was frozen, describe relatives celebrating their job losses as necessary to “make the government great again.”
Former Park Service employee Riley Rackliffe encountered social media comments calling him a “glorified pool boy” despite his Ph.D.
Some workers report family members unfriending them on social media or dismissing their positions as “waste.”
The most incredible trick the GOP has managed to pull is to convince working Americans to hate each other.
A little stress, a little money problems, super easy to manufacture. Give them a common enemy. The people below them, the people that look different. They band together. Education is attacked. Now any propaganda works. Even the most stupid shit gets the conspiracy theorists wet. They evangelise. This is their circle of trust. Family not in the circle will not convert, they are seen as pompous and corrupt. They are promised that the people responsible will be hurt.
It’s not magic or impressive. People are easily programmed. The evolutionary traits that gave us advantages hundreds of generations ago are easy strings to grasp.
To be fair the kgb were the ones pulling the strings