Americans furious after seeing White House ‘joke’ as US government is shut down

The White House social media team are at it again - and this time, their latest post has sparked a wave of backlash amid the US government shutdown.

From posting a cartoon of a 'Deported Edition Labubu' to an AI poster of Donald Trump as Superman, the account has certainly caused controversy in recent months.

And now, it's prompted outrage from Americans once again after poking fun at the government shutdown, which is expected to result in around 750,000 federal workers being furloughed.

For those not in the loop, the US government went into shutdown on Wednesday (October 1), after Congress failed to strike an agreement to keep government programmes and services running by the deadline.

Essentially, Republicans and Democrats couldn't agree on policies, which meant the Senate was unable to pass a spending bill that would have kept the US government funded.

The two sides failed to agree on a new spending plan, with neither side seemingly wanting to budge.

The White House social media team posted the above graphic yesterday (Instagram/whitehouse)

This has meant workers deemed non-essential have been furloughed, while those who are needed to keep the country running will be asked to remain in work, but reportedly won't be paid until the shutdown ends.

Those still working include TSA staff, the FBI, CIA, border protection, in-hospital medical care, law enforcement, air-traffic control, the armed forces, and the National Weather Service.

Meanwhile, federally-funded things like food assistance programmes, pre-schools, the issuing of student loans, food inspections, and operations at national parks will stop, and staff won't be able to work.

Many offices will be shuttered, potentially permanently, as Trump vowed to 'do things that are irreversible, that are bad' as retribution against Democrats, who he blames for the shutdown.

And now, seemingly joking about the whole thing, the official White House Instagram account has, of course, shared a meme joking about their social media manager being furloughed.

Creating a purposely bad graphic, the photo read: "our social media manager was furloughed but make America great again".

While the caption read: "Our social media manager was furloughed, but making America great again isn’t."

Understandably, this has not gone down too well with some Americans, who are struggling due to the ramifications of the shutdown.

The shutdown has left thousands of people furloughed (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

One person commented: "Families won’t receive a paycheck, but let’s joke about it… Leadership at its finest.."

While a second added: "Families of gov’t workers: 'How are we going to pay bills and put food on the table during this shutdown?' The Official White House IG Account: 'LOL this is hilarious hyuk hyuk!'"

And a third bewildered user questioned: "Y’all really treat this s**t like a joke huh?"

A fourth agreed: "Joking about people not getting a paycheck is not a good look."

Meanwhile, others chimed in with: "and WHAT makes this so funny??" and, "Extremely insensitive this".

Someone else wrote: "What a way to say 'I don’t care about all the federal employees, under my leadership, that are working but not getting paid.'"

And another penned: "People losing their livelihoods and Republicans joke about it. Mid-terms are coming up fast, people."

Abigail Jackson WH spokeswoman said: "Who’s joking? Because the Democrats decided to shut down the government over their demands to give free health care to illegal aliens, many Americans have been furloughed – including White House staff."

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