Starving Children Just to Make a Point

Morning Dispatch

A food bank for furloughed federal employees—enough said. [Photo Credit: Brendan Smialowski, Getty Images]

Donald Trump’s leadership style has always been a toxic combination of sadism, greed, corruption, and incompetence. Now, because of him, a lot of the people in the world’s richest country might be going hungry. ABC News reports that the Department of Agriculture will halt food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program known as SNAP. SNAP feeds roughly 1 in 8 Americans and the program is funded only through October. The government shutdown is now in its fourth week, and if Congress doesn’t reach a deal soon, millions of households could lose food aid on November 1st. On its website that contained the lies, pettiness, and partisanship we have now come to expect from the Trump regime, the Department of Agriculture announced:

Senate Democrats have now voted 12 times not to fund the food stamp program. Bottom line, the well is run dry at this time. There will be no benefits issued on November 1st. We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats. They can continue to hold out for healthcare for illegal aliens and gender mutilation procedures, or reopen the government so mothers, babies, and the most vulnerable among us can receive critical nutrition assistance.

A USDA memo that leaked Friday, however, shows that the Trump regime rejected using $5 billion in contingency funds to extend food aid during the shutdown. Let’s get something completely straight here: The reason we’re in the shutdown is because the Republicans control every single branch of government and they did not want to extend Obamacare subsidies. Those subsidies would help millions of Americans continue to have affordable healthcare. There are no undocumented workers in this country signed up for Obamacare. None of that money is going to pay for gender-affirming care. Republicans are choosing to keep the government closed in order to make their ridiculous culture war talking points stick with their easily manipulated base and increasingly cruel base. I am sick to death of these people pretending that everything is the Democrat’s fault when it’s they who are destroying this country piecemeal, even if that means starving children in order to punish Democrats.

Newsweek recently posted a map highlighting which states citizens are most dependent on SNAP benefits. Not surprisingly, many states that voted for Donald have high percentages of people who rely on food aid, including Florida, Texas, New Mexico, and Georgia. In other words, Donald is perfectly happy to starve his own voters and their children in order to make himself look tough. That is who he is.

The New York Times reports that the government shutdown is already devastating federal workers. Over 1.4 million government employees have gone without pay for almost a month. Roughly half of them are still working without compensation. In order to make ends meet, many are selling their belongings, taking side gigs, and lining up at food banks. In cities like Seattle, food pantries serving federal workers are running out of supplies within hours.

While Americans are struggling to feed themselves and their families Donald is taking hundreds of millions of dollars in corporate bribes to build a new ballroom in place of the destroyed East Wing of the White House. We were initially told the price tag would be $200 million. Since, it has increased to $250 million, and then $300 million, and now it’s up to $350 million. Where is all of that money going? What is it for? Who is going to benefit? I think we will find that it has something to do with a quid pro quo.

Just as they did during the COVID pandemic, blue state governors are stepping up to fill the leadership vacuum created by the monster currently in the Oval Office and his sycophants in Congress. California recently announced local measures to feed state residents in the absence of SNAP.

Governor Gavin Newsom will deploy the California National Guard and California volunteers on a humanitarian mission to support food banks as the federal government shutdown delays food benefits for millions of California families. In addition, Newsom is fast tracking upwards of $80 million in state support ahead of funding delays triggered by the shutdown.

First of all, that is the kind of mission the National Guard was designed for—helping American citizens in a time of need, not policing them. Secondly, California is making $80 million available to feed people because the federal government is withholding money that would normally used for that purpose. Here’s the thing, though: Governor Newsom is able to make up this shortfall because California is an extremely wealthy state. In fact, if California were a country, it would have the fifth largest GDP in the world.

I applaud blue state governors for standing up against the Trump regime and for stepping up to help their citizens being harmed by retaliatory Trump regime policies.

But here’s another idea: I wish they would stop sending tax dollars to the federal government. Stop funding so-called welfare states in the South that don’t seem the federal government is making it increasingly difficult for Americans to feed their children. I am heartily sick of funding these monsters, so let’s stop funding their ability to keep harming the American people.