Let’s put politics aside, as if that were possible, and look at how the craziness of the last few days is affecting people.
A week ago, President Donald Trump announced that the 42 million Americans on the SNAP nutrition program would not be getting their benefits — this against the backdrop of a government shutdown that has now reached its 40th day.
This against the backdrop of millions of federal workers who have not been paid while the shutdown drags on — and many of whom live paycheck to paycheck.
This against the backdrop of Trump throwing a lavish, Great Gatsby-themed Mar-a-Lago bash where guests in formal wear watched opera and feasted on blue cheese mousse, sliced beef filet, seared scallops and Trump chocolate cake.
Meanwhile, a federal judge ordered the administration to resume SNAP benefits, which cost $8.5 billion a month, but the Supreme Court gave Trump time to appeal.
And when at least nine states said they would pay for SNAP benefits during the crisis, Trump ordered them to ‘immediately undo’ any effort to provide food stamps to lower-income families — or face financial penalties.
Let’s see: how does this make the president look?
I hate this word, but what are the optics of this determined effort to stop these benefits from reaching hungry families?
After all, when a wealthy donor pal, Timothy Mellon, a banking and railroad heir, offered $130 million to ensure that American troops get paid during the shutdown, Trump seized the opportunity.
After all, the Trump tax cut was tilted toward the wealthy.
After all, Trump has further cut capital gains taxes on home sales that will mostly benefit the affluent and wealthy, enabling many to pay zero, or a reduced rate, on these sales. If you are totally unaware of this, you probably don’t qualify.
After all — this may have been the weirdest thing — Trump said Obamacare is so terrible that he wants to send people $2,000 checks so they can buy their own insurance.
But, where would they buy it, if not from an insurance company? And what would they do if the stock market plunged? There’s a reason that privatization of health insurance has never gone anywhere.
So to come back to politics (inevitably), how does any of this help Trump?
I get the notion that he’s trying to boost the pain level so that Democrats will end the shutdown on his terms.
The Democrats, who have made soaring Obamacare premiums a central part of their pitch — and fear millions will lose coverage unless expiring subsidies are extended — have hung on longer than anyone expected.
For what it’s worth, both sides deserve a ton of blame for failing to keep the lights on during this endless blame game, rather than work out a compromise, which is what we pay them to do.
But don’t Trump and JD Vance, who called the judge’s order ‘absurd,’ look like they don’t particularly care if millions of families go hungry, or are taking food from dumpsters?
Seriously, is there an alternative explanation?
Blaming the other side is fine for the usual political fun and games. But doing it during this kind of self-inflicted crisis?
With the opposition throwing out charges of cruelty, is there some nine — dimensional chess level on which this helps Trump?
Trump says former President Joe Biden ‘went totally crazy’ and handed out food stamps to ‘anybody that would ask.’ So is this liberalism gone wild? I decided to do a little digging.
Turns out there are income limits, and those in the program must meet work requirements. What’s more, the oft-repeated charge that illegal immigrants are getting SNAP benefits is simply untrue, though there are exemptions for children and refugees. (Obviously, you can never completely rule out instances of fraud.)
During the pandemic, when unemployment soared, Congress passed an emergency measure that temporarily suspended a work requirement for adults without dependents who were capable of holding jobs. This happened under … President Trump, in his first term, in 2020.
Under a deal with Republicans in 2023, work requirements for SNAP were increased. That happened under … Biden. Some Republicans, meanwhile, said the measure didn’t go far enough.
By the way, SNAP participation peaked in the fall of 2017, under Trump, which was related to hurricane emergencies.
Sorry for the green-eyeshade stuff, but I thought it was worth more research.
Most people don’t have the time or interest in excavating the details. They just know they aren’t getting the food aid they expected and that neither are millions of other lower-income families. And especially with his dogged determination to block the states from helping out, many are holding Trump accountable.