WASHINGTON — He has talked about the need for “protection” along the country’s southern border. He has said he is willing to keep the government shut down indefinitely to ensure the funding of the wall he says will provide that protection. And he has complained about spending the holidays alone in the White House, with no one around with whom he could negotiate.
The one thing President Trump has not talked about publicly during 13 days of the partial government shutdown is the 800,000 federal workers who are not being paid because of it.
Mr. Trump’s apparent indifference to the Transportation Security Administration agents, correctional officers, scientists and other federal employees caught in the cross hairs of a political standoff presents a remarkable contrast with how other presidents have made a point of trying to demonstrate their empathy during other shutdowns. In 2013, for instance, President Barack Obama wrote an open letter to the workers affected when the government was closed.
“None of this is fair to you,” he wrote, adding, “You and your families remain at the front of my mind.”
