RUSH: Eight-hundred thousand government employees are missing their paychecks for the first time in the history of shutdowns because Democrats in Washington won’t fork over a measly $5 billion for border security.

Meanwhile, 650,000 kids are missing school, because Democrats in Los Angeles are on strike. Well, Democrats run the teachers union, don’t they — and Democrats love “the children,” don’t they?

You see, LA is the second largest school district in America. The district offered to hire over a thousand more teachers, reduce class size, and give the teachers a 6% raise over the next two years.

But that’s not enough! The Democrat union wants a bigger raise, and they want it retroactive to 2017. So they’re on strike until they win. Screw the parents, screw the children, screw everybody who stands in their way.

It’s the same message from Democrats in Washington: Screw the federal employees, screw American citizens, screw everybody who stands in their way — and get out of the way and let the illegals have the run of the place.

Now, nobody knows how long this “teachers’ shutdown” is going to go on. Ask the Democrats. Nobody knows how long the federal government shutdown is going to go on. Ask the Democrats! They’re the people holding everybody hostage.