Trump adviser insults veterans as not 'fit to have a job.' It's disgraceful. | Opinion
Alina Habba, counsel to President Trump, suggested veterans working federal jobs might not be 'fit to have a job.' That takes some nerve.
Just when you thought the Trump administration’s denigration of the federal workers it's sending to unemployment lines couldn’t get worse, one official decided to demean the many veterans who work in government offices.
Alina Habba, counsel to President Donald Trump, was talking about the Elon Musk-led firing of federal employees Tuesday – hours before Trump was scheduled to address a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night – when she suggested some workers who are veterans might not be “fit to have a job.”
Veterans make up about 30% of the federal workforce. In 2021, according to data from the Office of Personnel Management, 53% of those workers were disabled veterans.
Trump official suggests veterans are not 'people that actually work'
Habba was asked about the thousands of veterans who’ve lost their jobs in the recent federal purge and “what the administration can do to at least help salvage their lives.”
She responded: “We have a fiscal responsibility to use taxpayer dollars to pay people that actually work. That doesn’t mean that we forget our veterans by any means. We are going to care for them in the right way, but perhaps they’re not fit to have a job at this moment, or not willing to come to work.”
Not fit to have a job? Not willing to come to work?
This is the administration Republicans wanted. So I assume they're going to stand behind this insult to veterans?
Habba is the epitome of being unfit for a job
First off, if you don’t know Habba, she was one of Trump’s attorneys during the defamation case brought by writer E. Jean Carroll – the one Trump lost and was then ordered to pay Carroll more than $80 million.
During that trial, the judge stopped Habba repeatedly to correct mistakes and explain basic legal matters and at one point threatened to jail her for constantly interrupting him.
She’s now counsel to the president of the United States of America, so I’m not sure fitness for one’s job is a topic she should be addressing out loud.
Trump and Musk mock federal workers amid mass firings
Trump recently mocked federal workers who are losing their livelihood by posting a SpongeBob SquarePants meme that showed SpongeBob looking at a list titled “Got Done Last Week.” The list included these items: Cried about Trump; Cried about Elon; Made it into the office for once; Read some emails; Cried about Trump and Elon some more.
Real classy stuff, considering that tens of thousands of Americans and their families are having their lives upended by a way-too-online president and his reckless billionaire rocket-boy, neither of whom appears to have a shred of human decency.
Not to mention the many federal workers living in limbo, unsure if they have job security under this wackadoodle regime.
And then Habba ambles off the White House to suggest the veterans working federal jobs are just a bunch of lazy bums who aren’t “fit to have a job.”
Veterans deserve an apology from Trump administration
The message Trump and Co. have sent to all but the wealthiest of Americans thus far is simple and clear: We don’t care about you, whoever you are, you incompetent slobs.
Federal workers don’t deserve such dismissive treatment. And veterans absolutely don’t deserve demeaning comments from a two-bit lawyer who happened to fail up.
Veterans who work (or worked) in the federal government deserve an apology, one I’m sure will not come. Republican lawmakers – already too afraid to do town-hall meetings with constituents – should get an earful from them, and from anyone who knows damn well our veterans are abundantly “fit” to do whatever is asked of them.
Follow Paste BN columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @rexhuppke.bsky.social and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk