You know when Donald Trump was first inaugurated, and we watched him sit there signing order after order, bringing America to its knees? Well, only one of those orders really got any media coverage, because it took over all the news outlets in the world for a good couple of weeks. When the Muslim travel ban was getting all the media attention, Kellyanne Conway complained that the reporters should be covering his other big executive order. So, Seth Meyers of “Late Night” decided to take a look at the other order on his show, and it wasn’t pretty.
Trump put a freeze on federal hiring that had a knock-on effect
Trump’s other big executive order when he first became President was to immediately freeze all federal hiring, which led to devastating repercussions for war veterans, because they couldn’t work. Trump ordered that no unfilled job positions could be filled and no new positions could be created. Sure, there were exceptions, but very few of them.
These positions that could no longer be filled are usually filled by military personnel, and their jobs are typically regarded as “necessary to meet national security or public safety responsibilities.” Now, as Meyers pointed out on his show, the main reason the VA resorts to fraud and provides subpar healthcare is because it is severely understaffed, a problem that is not solved by freezing all hiring of new employees, which is what Trump thought was a good idea (for some reason).
Trump is putting veterans out of work
The Washington Post reports that veterans make up 31% of the federal workforce, and now, thanks to Trump, a lot of them are out of work and can’t find jobs for their skillset. These jobs also help them to reintegrate back into civilian life, which is another thing Trump is depriving them of.
So, when Trump was on the campaign trail, saying things like, “I’ve worked hard for the vets,” and “Oh, those vets. I love those vets. We’re going to take care of those vets,” and, strangely, “There’s nobody bigger or better at the military than I am,” he was just pandering to the vets in order to get their votes, only to screw them once he actually got in.
Fair enough, Trump donated $1 million towards constructing a memorial to the veterans of the Vietnam War in New York City, so he did that for them, but he also blagged his way out of serving in that very same war because he “had a foot thing.” Hmm.
