Hungry Americans losing SNAP need to suck it up. Trump has a ballroom to build. | Opinion

As 42 million Americans who struggle to put food on the table prepare to lose their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, I have one humble request: Please don’t let your hunger distract President Donald Trump from his important work designing a White House ballroom and posting AI-generated poop videoson social media.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Oct. 27 that SNAP benefits, which help low-income Americans put food on the table, will not be distributed Nov. 1 because of the government shutdown, forcing millions of Americans to turn to food pantries already stretched thin by federal cuts and high food prices.

I realize some out there will say, “Wait, Republicans are in charge of both houses of Congress and the White House, and President Trump promised to lower food prices on Day 1 of his presidency. Surely they won’t let American families go hungry, right?”

To which I say: What a rude question. The president has been extremely busy helping all Americans by razing the East Wing of the White House and building a $300 million ballroom, AND he has been having a great time posting important things on social media, like the recent artificial intelligence video that showed him wearing a crown and flying a fighter that dumps poop on American protesters. Do you really think proper nutrition is more important than that?

Loss of SNAP benefits is a 'man-made disaster'

In Congress, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has been patriotically refusing to bring the House of Representatives back into session because he wants to avoid a vote on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files. Isn’t that worth missing a few meals over?

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Gina Plata-Nino, interim director for SNAP at the nonprofit Food Research & Action Center, told Time magazine: “It's a tough time for Americans at the moment, and when the administration has the tools to stop this man-made disaster, it should do so.”

Clearly, the empathetic, faith-based Republican counterpoint to that is: nah.

Democrats have this annoying thing where they want to help people

Congressional Democrats have refused to vote for a GOP-led government funding bill unless Republicans extend Affordable Care Act subsidiesthat are set to expire, all because losing the subsidies will cause health insurance costs for millions of people to "more than double."

Why are these liberals always so obsessed with “making the lives of millions of Americans” better? It’s exhausting.

What about making the life of President Trump better by giving him the silence he needs to focus on ballroom fineries, hilarious AI videos that dehumanize Democrats, and getting mad at Canada over a commercial that showed former President Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs?

In case you missed it, because you were selfishly worried about how you’re going to feed your family next month, the Canadian province of Ontario recently aired an add in the United States that featured audio from a 1987 radio address by Reagan in which he criticizes tariffs, saying they can lead to markets collapsing, businesses shutting down and “millions of people” losing their jobs.

Trump – who is the world’s No. 1 tariff fan – was deeply offended that the ad accurately quoted Reagan, so he claimed it was fake and said he’s imposing an additional 10% tariff on Canada’s exports to the United States. 

GOP prioritizes White House ballroom over feeding Americans

Clearly, the last thing our very busy president needs is a bunch of people, most of whom are children, older Americans or people with disabilities, making him feel bad that he and corporate America can find money for a ballroom but can’t help them afford food.

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I mean, if we get midway through November and every American who can no longer feed their kids starts caterwauling, President Trump might easily miss a chance to fire off a hilarious and not-at-all racist AI-generated video of Democrats wearing sombreros.

I don’t think any real American wants to see that happen.

Republicans could do the right thing, but they won't

Is it technically possible for Trump and Republicans to muster actual leadership and human compassion (HAH! I’m kidding, compassion is for libs!) and find a reasonable way to protect Americans from massive health insurance cost increases, reopen the government and resume SNAP funding? Sure.

But it would be much easier for the 42 million food-insecure Americans who rely on SNAP to keep their complaints to themselves.

Republicans are busy doing nothing, and Trump’s just plain busy. That roughly one-third-of-a-billion-dollar ballroom isn’t going to design itself.