I'm sympathetic, RL. You're one of Trump's millions of victims.

That said, it sounds like you've been a government employee for a long time. In most states, employment is exactly as arbitrary and capricious as you describe. What to you is an outrage of violated norms is everyday life in the private sector, where employment is "at will".

Every employee is entitled by law to be paid...if possible. One big advantage you have is that you will get paid, eventually, because the Federal government will still be around after the shutdown. In the private sector, employees of failing companies are usually left holding the bag, when the company folds or goes bankrupt. In bankruptcy, while unpaid wages have a high priority, everything else--retirement, health insurance you didn't have, etc., has the lowest priority after making the capitalists "whole".

This is ugly, RL, and I'm not minimizing your concerns, only pointing out a silver lining. It must be especially galling that Trump is willing to put you and millions of others through hell for nothing more than a childish temper tantrum. That asshole has to go.