Cannon Fodder

It wouldn't be Right Wingnut without dissying anyone who gets paid by the Damn Gummint. Never mind that at least 80% of those folks live outside the DC metroplex. Exact figures are hard to come by, but here's a few attempts.

From 2013

With so many government jobs tied to Defense Department operations, there's a clear "federal employment belt" running through the South and West. "At the end of the day," Florida writes, "it is America's red states that appear more heavily tied to the levels of federal employment than their blue state counterparts, setting up a fundamental irony about the locations of the most ardent 'starve-the-beast' supporters of smaller government."

Well, of course there is.

From 2015

The highest concentrations of public sector jobs are frequently found in states with relatively large rural populations. Eight of the 10 states with the highest concentrations of public sector jobs were less densely populated than the national population density of 87.4 people per square mile. On the other hand, eight of the 10 states with the smallest public sectors were twice as densely populated as the nation as a whole.

Those are all levels of Damn Gummint employment, but still... AKA, empty shitkicker country.

From 2018

Although the Washington area has the highest number of federal workers, government employees make up large shares of the workforce in many other areas, often near military bases. Federal civilians are 15 percent of the workforce in the small metropolitan area near Robins Air Force Base south of Macon, Ga. Similarly, federal civilian workers are 13 percent of the workforce in the Bremerton-Silverdale metropolitan area near Seattle. Federal workers are 16 percent of the workforce near the Patuxent Naval Air Station in Southern Maryland.

There's a map of where these folks live.

Another from 2018

Outside Washington D.C., several Midwestern and rural states have the highest share of their workforces employed by federal agencies affected by the shutdown.
...
60% of the federal workforce has at least a bachelor\u2019s, compared with 35% in the private sector.

Again, detailed maps.

From 2019. Anecdotal information.

Many of the affected federal workers — including 10,000 people in Utah, 6,200 in West Virginia and 5,500 in Alabama — have salaries far below the average $85,000 for government employees. But those paychecks drive local economies, and workers are starting to make tough choices about how to spend them — eating out less, limiting travel and shopping at food pantries instead of grocery stores — creating a ripple effect through the neighborhoods and towns where they live.

I wonder? Will these Trumpsters ever figure out that they've been conned?