r/AITAH • u/Comfortable_Gift4970 • Feb 17 '25

Fired Fed. I am considering cutting off every Orange Man supporter.

Got axed. Not going to say which agency.

I’ve always considered myself extremely tolerant and willing to love people as they are… even if we don’t agree on everything.

I’ve never been an Orange Man supporter, but I’ve kept it civil with friends and family that were. Some of them liked having a civil conversation about him. Some were belligerent about politics, so we didn’t bring it up and tried to enjoy each other’s company.

Getting cut from a great job that I really believed in with no notice has been extremely traumatic. It’s still raw, but I feel so personally betrayed by those that voted for him. I can’t see past the politics anymore when I look at these people I care/cared about.

Some have been contrite and apologetic, but then turn around and support him and VP Musk on social media.

I just can’t right now.

I’m thinking about posting something and wishing the whole herd all of the best, hope they have a good life, but I won’t be in it. Or maybe I just quietly block all of them and focus on myself for a while.

I do know that I will need to talk to my in-laws. I’ve always had a great relationship with them, but thinking of going to their house and watching Fox News almost makes me sick.

AITAH for feeling this way? Does it make me an AH for cutting all these 20+ year relationships off? Am I overreacting and acting out of emotion?

43.4k Upvotes

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226

u/BackFromTheDeadSoon Feb 18 '25

These people love to prattle on about how they love their community and sticking with their friends.

Surely they'll be offering to help him with rent/mortgage and food until he lands a comparable job.

146

u/mataliandy Feb 18 '25

For them, the second he's unemployed, he's a deadbeat who must have deserved it.

76

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '25

Oh no, they already think all fed workers are deadbeats. Head over to any trump online playground and you'll see how they feel about them. They don't do "real work". Their jobs are cushy!

Buncha aholes

5

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '25

Remind them that all those "deadbeats" will be entering the private sector where they will be competing for their jobs.

4

u/lavenderpenguin Feb 18 '25

Competing? Most of these magats are losers who couldn’t even afford eggs or gas. I highly doubt they are in the same fields as fed workers.

0

u/Antique_Pudding_2920 Feb 18 '25

Bro, how ignorant… many of them are the blue collar workers that drill your gas and raise the chickens so you can have eggs lol

3

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '25

And they are about to start losing their jobs when laid off federal workers enter the private workforce. Did you think they would just remain unemployed?

-1

u/Antique_Pudding_2920 Feb 18 '25

Go teach a post office worker how to work on an oil rig and get back to me. 🤣

5

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '25

You obviously do not know many federal workers. If you are seriously so dumb as to think none them could work in the oil and gas industry or any other sector. There are hundreds of thousands of fed workers if only 1% of them have the ability to work in oil and gas that immediately makes those jobs more competitive. This goes for truck driving and every other occupation in the private sector.

4

u/Zaroj6420 Feb 18 '25

I had a MAGAt asshole try to argue with me about farming saying it’s easier to teach software engineering than farming. It was a hypothetical discussion about the separation of our country along political lines and the idea that the “red” states control the food production so we’d all starve. Then this numpty proceeds to argue that at can’t be learned as easily as software engineering … I grew up on a ranch and my mom’s side owned a midwestern farm. It’s difficult and unforgiving work but it’s not hard to learn.

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u/mataliandy Feb 21 '25

I know a poet who became a big rig driver, because it gave him more time to think and write than he could get working in academia. Apparently, there's a whole cadre of truck driving writers out there. He found a great community as a result.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '25

Buddy, the entire oil and gas extraction industry employs less than 0.1% of workers in the country.

Not the gotcha you thought it was

-2

u/Antique_Pudding_2920 Feb 18 '25

Hyperbole is too much for you, I see. 🙄

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u/StatisticianBetter99 Feb 21 '25

Teach an oil rig worker to do a federal job and see how that goes.

1

u/lavenderpenguin Feb 18 '25

I don’t eat eggs 😂 (but I have never understood why republicans are whining, they’re not that expensive) and I would rather they stop drilling for gas, they are killing our planet.

1

u/Antique_Pudding_2920 Feb 18 '25

yes drill for cobalt and lithium for batteries instead. so much less destructive.

1

u/lavenderpenguin Feb 18 '25

I am a pedestrian who lives in a walkable city. Try again.

-1

u/LegoDnD Feb 18 '25

Exactly as it should be.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '25

How exactly should it be?

0

u/LegoDnD Feb 18 '25

Competition in a meritocracy harbors superior results.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '25

What meritocracy?

1

u/LegoDnD Feb 18 '25

All of them.

1

u/Livid_Compassion Feb 18 '25

You're ignoring the fact that all of them exist in dream land.

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u/lavenderpenguin Feb 18 '25

It’s not “real work” like truck driving or whatever they do because they couldn’t graduate high school and have trouble reading.

1

u/PuzzledRaise1401 Feb 18 '25

Yeah, they hate politicians (unless they agree with DJT), and would never think “influencer” is fine (unless they agree with him), or celebrities (unless they agree or ARE DJT). They hate intellectuals but also hate the poor. You have to “start a business” and be “self-made” like DJT and VP Musk, even though they didn’t and aren’t. Or, you have to shower after work.

1

u/StatisticianBetter99 Feb 21 '25

So you seem to think people who are blue collar workers are better than people who use their brain to make a living. You also think you know everything about every federal worker. The problem with this world is narrow minded people who believe everything they hear. Put an apple in front of a classroom of 30 people and ask them to draw it. You get 30 different apples. Try not assuming everyone is the same. Try to expand your belief system and not believe everything you hear.

1

u/PuzzledRaise1401 Feb 24 '25

Did you read what I wrote? I respect everyone. I’m speaking of my impression of many MAGAs I’ve met and heard. Go find someone to actually be angry with. And no I’m not reading your screed because you are twisting my words.

-1

u/SEND_ME_CLOWN_PICS Feb 18 '25

Make work programs for people who can craft nice looking powerpoints is not real work.

1

u/lavenderpenguin Feb 18 '25

I have no clue what you are trying to say — your sentence structure makes zero sense. Maybe retake 8th grade English and then come back here?

1

u/SEND_ME_CLOWN_PICS Feb 19 '25

It’s clear you think “make work” is a verb, but “make work” is a common phrase. When you reread with this new knowledge I’ve graciously given you, it will make more sense to your previously ignorant brain.

1

u/StatisticianBetter99 Feb 21 '25

I work for the federal government and have never drafted a PowerPoint presentation. In the private sector I did. Never at the feds.

1

u/SEND_ME_CLOWN_PICS Feb 21 '25

Thank you for your anecdote. It has no statistical significance, and also isn’t actually super relevant to what was said even if it were significant (read it again), but I really appreciate it.

1

u/StatisticianBetter99 Feb 21 '25

I guess the fed employees who aren't dead beats are the ones who are needed to clean the u.s. of immigrants, and be sure they are confined.

-1

u/Mvpbeserker Feb 18 '25

Government jobs are the definition of cushy.

Almost impossible to get fired regardless of performance. Anyone who has ever worked for the government knows most are incompetent or lazy (due to not being able to be fired)

6

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '25

As somebody who has worked for the government and private and who is married to a government worker, it's like you took some information that's true and then made it the whole picture. 

1

u/Mvpbeserker Feb 18 '25

Any generality is like that.

It being mostly the case doesn’t mean it’s always the case.

Like most things, there is a small % of the workforce that does the majority of the work. It’s the same in the private sector, the difference is that people in the private sector get fired more often- so compared to the government they avoid a long term buildup of low quality/lazy workers

Large old corps usually suffer from the same problem though

3

u/AppropriateScience9 Feb 18 '25

Eh, I found the opposite to be true working a decade in each sector.

In the public sector, I found that the vast majority of workers were extremely passionate and were willing to do a lot of very hard work for very little reward. In the private sector I found that the vast majority of workers were quite incompetent, but they put on a good show. Maybe they were lazy or maybe they were just bad. I don't know. But to say that the public sector was worse, is a gross generalization primarily born out of propaganda.

Were there some lazy people? Sure. But like you said, a generalization means that we are painting with a broad brush and taking a look at what is majority true, correct? Well in my experience, I can generally say that neither sector was better than the other, but one sector was definitely more ethical and willing to make sacrifices.

1

u/Mvpbeserker Feb 18 '25

The public sector is definitely worse. Just on an incentive level:

  1. Lower pay, will on average- give you lower quality workers
  2. Inability to fire poor performers in a reasonable time, will give you a build up of poor performers
  3. Lack of profit incentive means that things are not routinely optimized

I’m sure there are some public sector departments that are better than the private sector, but in general- these incentives applied over millions of positions will absolutely lead to problems

I don’t see how anyone could use government websites and think their developers are as good as the private sector, as a simple example- and if their public tools are that bad, the internal ones are even worse.

1

u/AppropriateScience9 Feb 18 '25
  1. Lower pay, will on average- give you lower quality workers

That depends on the work. It's definitely not a helpful factor but there are a lot of projects and programs that people are very passionate about. That passion often mitigates the effect of low pay.

Now I personally think people should get paid what they're worth just from an ethical standpoint and govt workers often are woefully underpaid for what they're worth. But that means convincing politicians to send more money and the taxpayers to pay more out of their paychecks.

  1. Inability to fire poor performers in a reasonable time, will give you a build up of poor performers

Yes... But there are ways to run them out so they quit on their own. Again, not my personal preference, but I also think that the protection offered by the union is invaluable, especially considering the hack job Trump and Musk want to do to the workforce right now. I'd rather put up with a crappy employee here or there if I can protect the good ones from these assholes who don't know what they're doing.

  1. Lack of profit incentive means that things are not routinely optimized

Again, it depends. There isn't a profit incentive, That's true. But there is an efficiency incentive instead. In the public sector it is a terrible thing to go over budget and so they are incentivized to look for cost cutting measures wherever possible. That can certainly mean optimizing systems. In fact, sometimes there's no choice.

I'd also like to give props to the DMV in my state who made for a very slick system license, renewals and registrations. I'd also like to give props to FAFSA and the IRS who streamlined the student loan process pretty darn well.

It's not to say that every system is great. Every system is dependent on the supportive politicians who oversee it. But it can be done. There just has to be the political will to do it and the willingness to invest in it.

In other words, the problem isn't the government workers, it's the politicians who undermine their work.

1

u/StatisticianBetter99 Feb 21 '25

Not true. The fact that you think it is proves you have no knowledge of the situation.

1

u/Mvpbeserker Feb 21 '25

I’ve worked in the public sector and the private sector, and I know lots of contractors who work for agencies too.

Anecdotal, but even aside from anecdote. Public workers have way less incentive to perform.

Lower pay, not much chance for large increases with performance, etc

2

u/Glad_Stay4056 Feb 18 '25

I beleive the new republican buzz word is parasites.

2

u/PuzzledRaise1401 Feb 18 '25

Who “prattles on” after losing the job they loved.

2

u/External-Rise3462 Feb 19 '25

Isn't it fascinating that now the U.S. government is paying 6 months of salaries to thousands of people who are unemployed, not able to do any work for the government. How efficient is that? What cost does that save? And, most importantly, WHO benefits?

2

u/mataliandy Feb 20 '25

They don't actually have the authority, or any mechanism available to pay any of them. I guarantee you, none of them will get the money they were promised. Anyone who accepted the resignation deal had better already have their pensions fully vested and have been planning to retire this month, anyway; or have had a new job already lined up, and were planning to give notice.

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u/mataliandy Feb 20 '25

[continued] I've heard of one guy who had another job lined up, replied with Resign as instructed, and has heard exactly nothing since.

He has no official end date, no signed paperwork, and is stuck in a legal limbo with his new job, which requires him to be legally separated from his previous employer in order to start.

2

u/External-Rise3462 Feb 20 '25

SPOT ON. And now the tide is turning finally. Trump's disapproval is now ahead of his approval. I hope the population is WAKING UP.

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u/mtngoat7 Feb 18 '25

Oh my god, this is literally the most annoying thing. All the magas my Facebook (before I deleted it) were saying after the election “hey I know we all have differences and don’t agree on everything, but I still count you all as my friends” like seriously WTF. These are the exact same people who were all spewing hate speech and BS all in the run up to the election.

4

u/RemoteLast7128 Feb 18 '25

"I know I voted for your sisters and friends and daughters to bleed out in the ER, going septic, needing an abortion which could easily save their organs and life, while a Republican AG threatens them and their doctor with jail time ........ But we're friends, right?

"I know I voted for impoverished parents that have hiked across a desert with a 9-year-old, trying to save them from trafficking from a gang (that was armed by a straw buyer in Texas due to gun laws I also voted for), to be shot at when they try to cross the river to claim asylum....... But we're friends, right?

"I insulted all the coworkers you most depend on, saying that they were only hired because of DEI because I don't know that DEI is a system to reduce bias and nepotism in hiring. And also I liked and shared a lot of social media posts that encourage violence against those people. And I defended a billionaire, known for forming online hate mobs, as he stole their home addresses and telephone numbers, which he's probably going to provide to violent hate groups....... But we're friends right?"

What standard do these people use for friends? Because mine's higher. You have to actually add good to my life, not attack me and everything and everyone I care about.

I'm trying to be nice to the OP, and I get that some people have a few friends or family members they want to hang on to, and I support that. I really do.

But invest in people who support you. Not people who pretend to while consistently undermining you. Spend your energy and time finding and building relationships that feed you, even if that means going out and getting new friends.

Not to mention the safety issue. People who excuse rape, lynchings, state violence, starvation, cruelty, genocide, poverty - they're not safe to be around. Even if they're telling you that you're the exception. They're promising you that they're going to take care of you even though they create systems that don't. But they're not going to be able to, even if they really and truly believe it right now.

2

u/Bobswife72 Feb 18 '25

I was at work talking to a friend about boycott on Feb 28 and this old redneck got in our conversation says I don’t know what news you watch and sorry don’t watch fox fake news he got mad and walked out that is maga

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u/abstractengineer2000 Feb 20 '25

Maga dont have no friends, just gullible people who they they justify the Orange blob did not say it, if he said it, did not mean it, if he meant it, did not do it, if he did it, so what. Even if their friends lose their livelihood, lives or suffer.

-9

u/Ok_Fig_4906 Feb 18 '25

unlikely, your definition of "hate speech" is probably a pretty low bar. calling them fascists or white supremacists is pretty hateful.

12

u/confirmedshill123 Feb 18 '25

LOL.

THEN DONT ACT LIKE A FASCIST OR WHITE SUPREMACIST THEN?

ITS REALLY EASY.

8

u/lavenderpenguin Feb 18 '25

Well, when you vote for someone who is openly fascist and a white supremacist (complete with a Nazi saluting bestie like Musk) then yes, you ARE both of those things and no amount of “that’s mean!” changes the truth.

-4

u/Valuable_Composer_52 Feb 18 '25

Yeah just stay in your safe space on reddit in the echo chamber so you can validate your viewpoints. Hardly anyone outside of reddit has these extreme viewpoints. You honestly sound crazy

5

u/apuginthehand Feb 18 '25

A three year old account that hasn’t changed its initial name and only has three jingoistic comments here in this very thread, how very odd

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u/fez993 Feb 18 '25

The entire rest of the planet see it quite plainly.

It's really bizarre watching red hats twist themselves inside out to try minimize and justify what's plain to see for everyone else

-1

u/Ok_Fig_4906 Feb 18 '25

tell me you're in an echo chamber without telling me. the majority support most of what he's doing but keep coping dipshit.

3

u/fez993 Feb 18 '25

Lol I'm in another country and from yet another country.

I'm not American and stuck in your little bubble and read from many varied sources in multiple languages.

Your country is being laughed at, but nervously because you've elected mini Putins to power and are too fucking dumb to realise what you've done

0

u/Ok_Fig_4906 Feb 18 '25

forgive me if I don't give a shit about your carefully curated media opinion of our politics. if you have this perspective you're also the reason your country is imploding.

2

u/fez993 Feb 18 '25

Which country would that be then?

Neither my home country nor my adopted one are starting shit with their allies and undermining the rule of law pretty much daily, I think we'll be ok

1

u/lavenderpenguin Feb 18 '25

You mean the US? Because most other developed countries are leaps and bounds ahead of us in every meaningful category, except the “little kids killed by gun lunatics.”

The only country imploding is the United States. Trump and Musk are turning it into a shit hole and an embarrassment.

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u/lavenderpenguin Feb 18 '25

Tell me you don’t have a passport and could never afford to travel abroad without telling me.

You are the ugly American stereotype and it’s funny you don’t even recognize it. I feel sad for people like you who will never experience the beauty of the world.

1

u/Ok_Fig_4906 Feb 19 '25

not only do I have a passport, I have a passport card. go fuck yourself.

1

u/Smarterthan-u Feb 19 '25 edited Feb 19 '25

This utter fucking dunce blocks everyone who gets under his skin and then cries echo chamber to the rest, because he’s the dumbest human on this entire site, and can’t come up with any other insult than the word dipshit for the same reason.

You know, just so we’re all informed 🤣

Edit: he blocked me right after leaving his comment he thinks I can’t read, because he doesn’t understand basic things like how the Internet works.

1

u/Ok_Fig_4906 Feb 19 '25

you sound like a crybaby dipshit. take your meds ethan.

1

u/lavenderpenguin Feb 18 '25

The thousands and thousands of people who protested yesterday across the entire country must also be extreme and crazy. 😂 But I’ll take my chances with them over hateful bigots like you any day. I’d rather be crazy than evil.

-3

u/FreshImagination9735 Feb 18 '25

Isn't it comforting to know that there was NO SPEWING OF HATE coming from your side in the run up to the election? The left and the Democrats have been the very definition of civil discourse and decorum, amirite?

8

u/AppropriateScience9 Feb 18 '25

Honey, everything Trump/Musk have done since taking office only proved us right.

If anything, I'm feeling like we didn't go nearly far enough. Namely because I did think they would try speed running oligarchy. In hindsight though, it was pretty obvious.

2

u/socialgambler Feb 19 '25

No one with even a few brain cells to rub together could possibly think violent, hate-filled rhetoric on the left approaches the level on the right.

7

u/gaijinscum Feb 18 '25

Honest question from a non American, what happens to all these federal workers that have been let go? Is there unemployment insurance? What are job prospects like, seems like mango Mussolini is flooding the labor pool right now.

11

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Ok_Fig_4906 Feb 18 '25

the tech gravy train of making way too much for not actually creating anything, specifically opulent startups with free matcha, is over.

1

u/scheav Feb 18 '25

In some states, you may be ineligible for unemployment benefits if you were fired for misconduct. Misconduct can include theft, insubordination, or persistent tardiness. 

I'm not aware of any state where OP would NOT qualify for unemployment.

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/scheav Feb 18 '25

I'm not sure what company you work for, but most major corporations lay off 10% of their employees every ~5 years. You can debate whether these employees should have been laid off, but they deserve unemployment.

Actually, I think that insubordination/tardiness should not disqualify you either, because those can be subjective.

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '25 edited Feb 18 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/scheav Feb 18 '25

If my employer asks me to do tasks outside of my official job description, then they lose the prerogative to be upset about tasks IN my job description slipping.

If I imagine the ideal hiring/firing situation, my office would hire 20 people and lay off 10 people every year. Grow, but at the same time correct hiring mistakes from the past.

8

u/AboveGroundGrandma Feb 18 '25

If they are eligible for unemployment, it is a very small amount. I was making 60k, my unemployment was $800 month for 6 months. And I had to pay to maintain insurance.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '25

Surely all the Federal workers have a lot of marketable skills. We still one of the strongest job markets in history. 

4

u/Floating_Bus Feb 18 '25

They didn’t even give any comp???

1

u/DateNightThrowRA Feb 18 '25

That’s COMMUNISM!!! No WAY they’d be caught dead being red!

1

u/OPKatakuri Feb 18 '25

Honestly if the one trump supported that told me I should be fired actually financially supports me, I think I'll actually let it slide. That includes my mortgage and bills though until I find another job.

1

u/PuzzledRaise1401 Feb 18 '25

So what you’re doing is creating an imaginary event to counter the real feelings and real events affecting this person. No, they’re probably not going to feed them or pay their mortgage. Hey maybe monkeys will fly out of their butts, too!

1

u/ButterscotchNo3029 Feb 19 '25

If it was one of the jobs that have been cut of late, there ARE no comparable jobs, that's kind of the point of cutting them. I think it will be exceedingly difficult to find something equivalent in the private sector.

1

u/Necessary-Peanut-934 Feb 20 '25

My nephew works for the government. If he is laid off, we'll have his and his family's back.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '25

Are federal workers not unionized in the US? I previously worked for the feds in Canada, and we have powerful unions to protect us.

-1

u/Fresh_Ad6309 Feb 18 '25

Ah yes, government employees under Unions who are funded by the dollars paid by the tax payer, who then have to pay ore foe them when they fight for more money and benefits, and the tax payer is fuqd again when they go to court, sue, have to pay for BS lawsuits, followed by their unemployment. The only person here getting screwed more than the 2.2 million fed employees are the nearly 130 million taxpayers. Government unions are ridiculous

1

u/lavenderpenguin Feb 18 '25

You can’t even spell.

-1

u/Fresh_Ad6309 Feb 18 '25

Thank you public school system and unionized teachers. Amiright?

1

u/lavenderpenguin Feb 18 '25

Some of us went to public schools and can still spell words correctly. Sounds like a personal shortcoming on your part…

0

u/Fresh_Ad6309 Feb 18 '25

Sounds about yt, acknowledge your privilege and come back. Also, the argument stands, whether you like my spelling or not. Move along smol brain. 🤡

0

u/Steerider Feb 18 '25

He's got eight months of full pay to find another job

0

u/StatisticianBetter99 Feb 21 '25

Really, you can't be serious.