The Trump Regime’s Hunger Game
The federal government has been shut down for five weeks and counting, in what is now the longest shutdown in U.S. history. The last time a shutdown lasted this long was during Donald Trump’s first term in 2018-2019. That government shutdown lasted 35 days, and it was over funding a wall along the U.S./Mexico border. This shut down? It’s all because Trump and his GOP don’t want Americans to be able to afford healthcare through the Affordable Healthcare Act (aka the ACA or ObamaCare).
How our representational democracy is supposed to work:
Elected representatives and senators work on behalf of the people to deliberate, negotiate, and decide how to best spend federal tax dollars for their districts and for the U.S. overall.
How it’s not working under Trump 2.0 and Republican control of the US House and Senate:
The Trump regime demands total obedience from all of Congress to reconvene to pass his federal budget which slashes essential social programs. Instead of leadership and compromise, Trump is doubling down on cruelty, finding new ways to inflict pain and suffering on regular people — even if it’s by ignoring the law.
A brief timeline of the Republicans holding SNAP / ACA healthcare hostage
Case in point: the MAGA Republican Congress has tried to strip Affordable Care Act (aka ACA or Obamacare) funding from the 2026 budget bill, resulting in the biggest congressional fight and the cause of the government shutdown. The 2026 Republican budget is the so-called Big Beautiful Bill that is anything but beautiful, unless hoarding a pile of taxpayer cash at the expense of real people is your favorite hobby.
To make matters worse, Republicans failed to even pass a short-term spending bill to keep essential programs afloat. Meanwhile, the Democrats are holding the line and refusing to greenlight the GOP bill that cuts ACA health insurance subsidies.
MAGA still hasn’t gotten over Obama’s healthcare subsidy program and seems surprised no one is congratulating them for continuing to make everything more expensive. Their 2026 budget defunds the ACA which would increase premiums and hurt working families. This GOP attack on healthcare funding is why now, starting in November 2025, we’ve seen health care premiums more than DOUBLE for most people.
Trumpian dealmaking is not about negotiation, it’s about doubling down and inflicting more pain — basic bully stuff. The Trump regime is now withholding SNAP payments as part of their punishment and revenge tour in Trump’s second term.
SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, an EBT (electronic benefit transfer) program also known as food stamps, is now many days overdue to people who need assistance buying food. This sadistic maneuver is a game of chicken to bully Democrats into a MAGA budget that will kick millions of people off of affordable healthcare.
Before the ongoing government shutdown began on October first, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) which administers SNAP had a published plan in place to use money from their contingency fund to keep food benefits going. But once the shutdown hit, they suddenly changed course, deleting that plan from their website and replacing it with whacked out MAGA rhetoric blaming Democrats, trans people, and immigrants. In addition to these probable Hatch Act violations, they’ve even tried to argue to the federal court that it would be “illegal” to use that money for regular benefits, but they didn’t really explain why nor account for deleting the shutdown plan. Yeah, that’s called lying.
Two federal judges have sided with the American people, ruling that Trump’s refusal to pay for SNAP is, in fact, illegal. These decisions have set in motion the timeline for his USDA henchman to pay at least a portion of the benefits to the 42 million people who rely on SNAP in the U.S.
No one knows when benefits will roll out. Trump’s USDA has claimed, vaguely, the partial payments could take weeks to actually reach people, blaming states’ outdated benefits systems and the supposed complexity of recalculating benefits. At first, the USDA said they’d pay 50% of the usual benefit, but they updated that to 65% only when The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities called out their math error in a report submitted to the courts..
We guess no one in the Trump regime got to simple fractions in math class. Or they’re playing dumb to prolong the suffering. Or both!
Stupid and cruel are the main qualifications to be in the Trump regime.
So like so many things that are budgeted for, or otherwise protected from government shutdown shenanigans, Trump’s regime has decided it just doesn’t want to pay.
Anyone familiar with Donald Trump knows that he learned from infamous attorney and mentor Roy Cohn, who taught him that if you have lawyers on standby to dispute every contract, every invoice, and tie people up in the courts so the money always comes in but it never goes out, even when it’s legally owed.
So much like contractors dealing with nonpayment from Trump when building his casinos, the American people have had to go to court to make the Trump regime pay for benefits they had no right to withhold in the first place.
If the USDA were to stop sandbagging and roll out the funding to states, people who rely on the benefits would only receive about half of their monthly assistance and will take weeks, or even months, to receive half of their benefits.
Stepping Up as (and for) New Mexicans
While Trump and his MAGA allies are holding our access to food and healthcare hostage, New Mexicans are stepping up and fighting back.
Thankfully, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and Democrats in our NM Legislature have already allocated $30 million in state dollars to ensure that low-income children and families, seniors, and New Mexicans with disabilities continue to receive at least some (30% of the usual dollar amount) food benefits amidst an ongoing federal government shutdown. While the funding will only last the first 10 days into November, it’s a lifeline in a moment of federal neglect.
The governor is also speeding up delivery of $8 million dollars of state money for food banks, which is also good but food banks cannot fill the SNAP gap.
In the midst of this unnecessary chaos, voters turned out in record numbers for the recent local elections to reject corporate-backed candidates and elect progressive champions to school boards and city councils across the state. From Albuquerque to Las Cruces, and even in rural communities like Portales and Deming, people made it clear, we’re done with politics as usual, and we’re building a future that works for all of us, not just billionaires.
And this wasn’t just a New Mexico story. Across the country, the people spoke loud and clear from Colorado voters choosing school lunch for kids over tax breaks for the wealthy, to New Yorkers electing a candidate of the people over a Trump and billionaire-funded opponent.
Read the full blog, “The People’s Mandate,” for the full breakdown of these powerful local wins and what they mean for the fight ahead.
What’s Next?
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has called another special session of the NM legislature which will take place on Monday, November 10th. The goal of the special session is to continue to allocate state money to fund SNAP for New Mexicans. This action by the state’s Democratic leadership will lessen the harm caused by the Trump regime’s unlawful decision to chisel Americans who just want to eat. This, however, cannot be a permanent solution.
Unfortunately, the USDA’s response to the courts earlier this week does not address what would happen if the shutdown stretches beyond November. Instead of paying out SNAP money to the states, they’ve sent letters to grocery stores warning them not to discount food for people on SNAP.
And of course, there’s Trump’s horrid Truth Social post from Tuesday. He wrote that “money for SNAP benefits ‘will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government.” This admission of political game playing from the President and earlier from House Speaker Mike Johnson, was not taken lightly by the federal court.
On Thursday, U.S. District Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. called out Trump’s social media post as blatant defiance of the court order and the law. In a searing response to the Trump regime’s stalling tactics and weak excuses for continuing this real-life hunger game, Chief Judge McConnell Jr. has now ordered that the USDA pay November SNAP benefits in full by today, Friday November 7th.
We’re not holding our breath for the Trump regime to do the right thing.
Only in America can we call ourselves the “richest country in the world” while asking small businesses to feed families because the Trump administration and their USDA can’t figure out how to keep people from starving, especially as we edge closer to the holiday season.
*If you or someone you know is struggling to access food during the shutdown, we’ve compiled a frequently updated list of local businesses and food banks offering free meals and support across New Mexico. Please share widely, because community care is how we get through this together.
SNAP by the Numbers
In the United States:
- 42 million people (12.3% of the population) receive SNAP benefits
- 39% are children and adolescents under 18
- 20% are seniors over 60
- 62% live in households with children
- 88% live in households with a child, senior, or disabled person
- Benefits average $190 monthly ($6/day) per person
In New Mexico:
- 460,000 people (21% of the population) receive SNAP benefits — the highest participation rate in the country.
- 180,000 (39%) are children and adolescents under 18
- 65,000 (14%) are seniors over 60
- 34% live in households with children
- 80% live in households with a child, senior, or disabled person
- Benefits average $190 monthly ($6/day) per person