PieFedAmericans ‘dumbfounded by cruelty’ of Trump officials slashing Snap benefits | US politics | The Guardian
hanrahan
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/03/trump-s…
My sense is Trump will try to make Snap benefits permanently end during the shutdown,” she said. “I’m dumbfounded by the cruelty.”
That’s the inevitable outcome of what they are doing, less money for billionaires is thier concern.
Grand Rapids, Michigan resident Bill predicted he “will have to go without many things that I ordinarily purchase” and borrow money from his family.
“How do I feel about it? I curse Donald Trump and his entire party of sycophants and lickspittles to the seven[th] circle of hell, now and for all time,” the 71-year-old said.
I like Bill’s attitude :)
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The only people who are “dumbfounded” are those that ignored all the warning signs beforehand.
MyOpinionGet this through your heads the GOP is evil though and through. They always have been and you are a fool to vote for them if you are a working person.
CharlesDarwinJust what the fuck do some of these people think the Republican platform truly IS?
Sure, they distract dumbass racists, transphobes, xenophobes with the prospect of punching down on “the others”, but the true heart of conservatism is extracting money from the poor and middle class and sending it upwards.
If that means kids get to starve, oh well.
Then realize that many of them voted for this because they’d rather starve themselves than help those that don’t look or act like they do.
All peoples should be fed and housed. Full stop; no conditions. Rich, poor, parent, single, married, immigrant, citizen, young, old, political affiliation, whatever. Food insecurity is a horrible problem and shouldn’t be a worry for anybody these days, especially for the kids.
We need Universal Basic Incomes, for everyone.
Never ever ever gonna happen in the US until the states break up.
I will bet on that happening in my lifetime too.
Which do you think will be the first to split? All at once or slow?
California probably, if things keep going down the stupid path.
Florida if the pendulum swings back to sanity.
I’d bet it’s slow.
If California, Oregon and Washington State form Cascadia, and Canada’s Alberta (our Texas/Alabama) makes a successful attempt to split from Canada to join the states, British Columbia is liable to join Cascadia. We would be too isolated from the rest of Canada if Alberta decides to cecede.
That could easily create a country that could - and should - monopolize the west coast’s access to Asia.
At least 16 million of them could not possibly have voted for this.
An estimated 39% of SNAP recipients are children.
Capt. WolfHey… What’s my nose doing on the floor!? It was just on my face a minute ago!
Why’s this bloody knife in my hand? I couldn’t have done this… Could I? No… I don’t think so.
I should check it for fingerprints. What!? Only my prints are on it!?
Stranger and stranger…
the beauty of it, these people being denied SNAP will turn to crime, in which case they’ll be sent to jail and enriching the private prison owners even more!
The hilarious part of this is people should start to realize that having a full time job and still needing assistance that the government supplies was always part of the scheme, and kept you all complacent and malleable. Now that the government is not going to hold up to its end of the bargain is going to expose the heinous nature of their schemes and the near criminal nature of not being paid an equitable wage for the work you are delivering. It’s all a big dumb game, and you lost! Time for a new game, eh?
SanctusSucks to reap what you sow huh
CatoblepasDid I miss a part of the article that linked voting for Trump and being on SNAP? Or are we just taking a moment to teabag the poor, disabled, and elderly because they live in the US?
Plenty enough of the poor, disabled and elderly in the U.S. failed to vote against Trump such that they caused this.
And here I thought it was the Muslims standing up for Gaza.
Them too. There were so many eligible voters who didn’t bother to vote and the margins were thin. There’s a lot of different groups that could have made the difference.
ShaggySnacksLet’s completely ignore how Republicans have been rat fucking elections.
So? Still should try to vote. Many millions didn’t bother, and even a small fraction of those votes could have made the difference.
theneverfoxWell, no…a few million in the right places would have made the difference
You know who I blame? The people who’s job it is to mobilize those people to vote, and acted like entitled pieces of shit instead of upholding democracy. It was an unforgivable shit show of two half assed campaigns in a trenchcoat
I blame my lazy and stupid countrymen failing an open book test. You do not need to be coerced to vote against fascism; that’s a lazy stupid take that absolves the citizens of their duty and obligation to be informed and engaged in the civic process, including voting and understanding how our system actually works in practice as well as theory.
If you didn’t vote or voted third party you are very nearly as responsible as the trump voters. It is not the Democratic party’s responsibility to motivate you to save yourself from an existential threat. Blaming them knowing it’s coming makes you stupid and complicit.
Harris received 6.8 million votes fewer than Biden received in 2020. Even assuming every single one of those 6.8 million votes were SNAP recipients, you’re essentially saying that 42 million people deserve to go hungry because 3 in 20 (or around 16%) of them chose not to vote in 2024.
Moreover, DJT only received 2.8 million more votes in 2024 than he did in 2020. So let’s assume all 2.8 million of those were SNAP recipients, and then let’s assume SNAP recipients entirely determined the election result. 2.8 million + 6.8 million voters is about 22% of all SNAP recipients (or about 1 in 5).
Never mind the fact that around 39% of SNAP recipients are children (i.e. unable to vote).
So 2 children and 3 adults deserve to go hungry if 1 of the adults either doesn’t vote or votes for the wrong person?
Do you realize how incredibly fucking insane you sound?
Actually, you’re the one coming off a bit nutty. No offense.
Everyone who could have voted against trump but didn’t bother is to blame. There’s a pretty big group who are suffer because of trump who didn’t vote against him. Of course there were many who did what they could against trump but still suffer and that sucks, of course. But there’s fuck all we can do about it - except to vote against trump/repubs whenever the opportunity is there. That is the only chance we have left - for today’s elections, and for the midterms. We can’t pussy foot about playing one cause off on another - or being sensitive to those who find it difficult - just get out there and vote.
That’s not how statistics works.
“ThATs NoT hOW sTatIStICS wORks” he says, in the midst of a conversation in which the motion being debated is whether some of the poors not voting correctly means all of the poors deserve to go hungry.
Forgive me if I don’t take your “nuh uh” as a persuasive rationale for starving 16 million kids. You’re clearly the more intelligent of the two of us.
I’m not weighing in on your argument. Just that the case you made is made up of useless statistics making it incredibly easy to dismiss.
This is giving real “well have they tried not being poor?” energy.
All of us cognizant Americans are responsible for this. No matter who you voted for, this was the end road of high tech imperialism. Everyone is just pissed the boomerang finally came back around and clocked us in the jaw.
People that are dumbfounded just haven’t been paying attention.
Yes, and we will be dumbfounded how quickly they forget.
Hard to forget when you can’t eat.
They’ll forget who was at fault and blame the dems while giving the fascists a free pass.
As is tradition.
Imagine, army troops guarding grocery store exits.
Imagine being those fascist simps with all those guns and you’re like “yes, preventing the wrong people from getting food is my purpose”
Bingo.
On the way up to the next election (ha, if that ever happens) the Nazis will twist it that it all happened due to the shutdown, which was definitely not their fault. The others were the ones who wouldn’t agree to things.
Whilst the dumb-ocrats will just blissfully bumble along not defending themselves, and then wonder why they have lost to the Nazis once again.
Gotta kill’em all.
it’s so incredibly frustrating reading americans thoughts on this stuff. like you just stroll over to virtually any reddit thread regarding anything the administration is doing and it’s always “this must be illegal” or “it’s happening” and what have you. Like they still don’t get it. “I can’t believe they’re doing what they said they were going to do, I hope someone stops them” - proceeds to keep doom scrolling.
And then you have the democrats that insist the system isn’t broken, insist that if they continue to play by the rules than the other side will also eventually decide that the rules should be followed…no, that’s not how this work. A cheater doesn’t suddenly have a come to jesus moment and thinks “you know…I really shouldn’t cheat anymore.”
Completely agree. I am in America, and it is incredibly frustrating. People, I think, are just kinda milling about until we hit an extremely obvious tipping point. There’s been far too many “lines in the sand” that we’ve left far behind us. Couple that with the average person who either has been conditioned to not want to think about politics or is “too burned out to care” (so frustrating), we end up where we are.
It’s certainly by design that republicans are constantly pushing villainizing critical thinking and institutions which teach it, even though they themselves all have degrees.
It doesn’t help that the vast majority of us are locked to our jobs for healthcare, and well over half the county lives paycheck to paycheck now and that’s only getting worse with inflation and wealth concentration at the top.
Losing SNAP benefits could be a tipping point. Once those millions of people run out of food (the largest group of recipients are, guess what, idiot trump supporters in red states), we might see some change. But not before (even more) people start to die, unfortunately.
And were privileged enough to only pay attention now
This is actually a huge part of the issue. While the move hurts white participants as well, proportionally it’s much lower.
White people will largely shut up if they witness violence because they do not want to alter their racial privileges (and in doing so they avoid class solidarity).
Honestly though, anyone surprised by this is a fucking idiot. This was in the plan that they wrote and made publicly available *years* ago. You are not allowed to be surprised by this.
The cruelty is not a bug, its a feature.
Like all the money saved by hiring vibe coders cause they’re cheaper! The bugs are the point!!!
It’s not really like that at all.
They’re just surprised that the hatred they voted for is affecting them too
There does seem to be a sentiment of wanting food stamps gone, because that’s a program abused by non whites and immigrants, but SNAP must remain because they depend on it. Then being shocked it’s the same thing and it’s all gone now. Same with Obamacare and ACA.
My ex-wife turned our baby sitter onto the ACA and she was ecstatic! “At least it isn’t that damned Obamacare!” Wife: “It’s the same thing.” Wish I had been there to see her face.
I think she meant Romney Care.
https://familiesusa.org/resources/obamacare-vs-romneycare/
This was in Florida, unless I missed the joke?
Romney care = Obama care for the uninitiated.
It was designed by the Heritage Foundation, but because a Democratic President passed it they hate their own plan. Just shows how broken conservatives are.
These respondents were self-selected Guardian readers. Doubt many voted for Trump.
Yeah that’s what kept coming to mind: All these people are The Guardian readers so they probably already dislike Trump and likely blame him for this loss of benefits.
I would have liked to see The Guardian interview actual Trump voters to see what they feel about things.
Or for fox to interview trump voters in low income brackets.
Anyone shocked by this: dm me to buy a bridge.
People vote for a convicted rapist and then are surprised when their country gets fucked.
Americans dumbfounded, still vote conservative to own the libs
Only MAGAt morons are dumbfounded over this. I mean, they were already dumb… hence why they voted for someone who SAID he didn’t care about them and only cared about their vote… but now, they are dumbfounded over learning he doesn’t fucking care for anyone but himself.
It really sucks that normal people have to suffer as well, but I will be watching with great joy at my neighbors and family complaining about this when we all know who they voted for. I’m lucky I’m insulated from this, but I can’t say the same for my cousin who just had a second kid, is reliant on this program, and is passively a maga idiot. I’ll cook for and feed her kids, but her and her Hispanic maga baby daddy can suck eggs.
I heard a take today that it’s a purposeful provocation, in an attempt to elicit the ability to use martial law, I assume to keep himself in power. He needs the people to revolt, with violence. I dunno what I think about it.
I think escalation and violence from one side or another is happening regardless.
On one hand, if this is the game he will play he can make things worse and worse and just say “but if you react, I get what I want”. Then he ruins programs and gets what he wants. On the other hand he has made things worse and more violent by lying and claiming that there is already a violent response… and he gets what he wants.
Win win for fascism either way.
They’ve been poking the bear for a while now and the bear continues to sleep. It’s either because a good chunk of Americans are wise to their scheme OR a good chunk of Americans are too lazy or afraid to do anything about it. ICE, deploying the National Guard to various places, political assassinations and attempts, potential hunger riots, etc, etc, etc and non of it has worked.
It’ll be interesting to see exactly WHAT results in Americans saying “enough is enough” but at this point…I don’t think there’s anything that will do that.
I’ll believe Americans are dumbfounded until I see a change, otherwise it’s just opinion.
Someone dumbfounded by the actions of the current administration is almost by definition someone who struggles with coherent and consistent thought.
We know totalitarian aren’t above starving their own people. History has many examples.
“Dumbfounded by the cruelty” the cruelty is the point. It is infuriating to watch these people run over their own toes over and over, then ask without any sense of curiosity or desire to understand “why can’t I walk anymore?” I don’t think they want to know. I think it’s easier to pretend that this is all too difficult and complex for them to understand than it is to come to grips with the reality that, to borrow industry lingo, “shit’s fucked”.
Lickspittles
If they’re truly dumbfounded by all this, then they’re so braindead that they very likely voted for it. No sympathy at all.
And the oroboros of American politics continues it’s spiral.
“Americans can’t see nose in front of own faces”
It’s weird they keep generalizing… 63 percent of Americans right now disapprove of Trump.
Tell it like it is: Conservative idiots are dumb and can’t understand whats going on.
And the rest of the country just bends over.
It’s not weird at all.
The vast majority of traditional media is not free. They know exactly what they are doing, and what messaging they are sending.
It’s easy to forget that Trump won the popular vote, and that this is his second term.
America has a cruel president because Americans are cruel. That’s what they want.
He didn’t win the popular vote the first time. He lost by 3 million votes, but a Democrat has to win by a lot more than that because of the handicap set up by Republicans to favour Republicans. He lost by 8 million to Biden and that was enough for a Democrat to be appointed by the “Electoral College”.
George W. Bush also lost the popular vote in 2000, but was appointed.
I don’t know if Trump actually won the popular vote in 2024. At this point it doesn’t really matter. The rich and powerful are just going to appoint who they want, they don’t give a fuck what the people vote for. The popular vote is an opinion at best, and it’s not considered. Americans don’t elect presidents, the ruling elite does.
Trump - 77,302,580
Harris - 75,017,613
Yes, he did. “He didn’t win the popular vote” was a cold comfort I told myself often the first time, but this time there was no such thing. I had to accept that America is just made up of a larger than average percentage of horrible people.
Thanks. Crazy that “only” 2 million over means a Republican can win, but “only” 3 million over means a Democrat doesn’t have enough to win.
https://www.c-span.org/clip/public-affairs-event/user-clip-trump-talking-about-elon-musk-knowing-about-voting-computers/5150057
Sure.
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And here I thought the ones that were removing your snap benefits, shutting down the government, kidnapping people off the street, …, …. , … were the dangerous and cruel ones.
I don’t believe anyone is actually dumbfounded by the cruelty. We’ve all heard the rhetoric, we all watched the speeches, the cruelty was there plain to see. Of course, some people didn’t think it would ever come for them, that they weren’t on the s* list, but there was never any question about the cruelty itself.
No we are not. I mean some of us are probably. They get dumbfounded by their car slowing down going up a hill.
Americans who voted for people to be killed dumbfounded as regime moves to kill more people.
Founded on dumb, Americans get snap benefits cut. Still vote against interests.
I myself am dumbfounded, because the ballot box has failed and although I know how to use the ammo, I don’t want to die alone in a shootout with gravy seals
It’s too easy to blame those who voted for Trump. Instead blame the millions who didn’t vote against him. Those who sat by and did nothing hoping the collective good would win. And then when it didn’t, they wash their hands and say “you can’t blame me, I didn’t vote for that monster.” Thing is, they were hedging their bet. They didn’t care who won. They figured, no matter who won, any time anything bad happened, they could say “well I didn’t vote for the president, don’t blame me.”
Blame those who didn’t vote. Blame those who were fooled into voting for a third party, dividing the progressive and human rights voters. There are two kinds of people: those who voted against Trump (cast a vote for Harris) and those who voted for Trump (everyone else). They all own an equal share of the blame. And if their benefits are cut, or those of people they care about, I can’t muster a lick of sympathy for them. This is what they voted for.
And sure, the president isn’t voted by the people but rather appointed by the powerful, but I’m pretty sure if the people voted 2:1 or some other overwhelming amount, they would have appointed the winner of that vote. Only when it’s close do they pick the one they actually want, even if he loses the popular vote (George W. Bush, Trump the first time).
Isn’t a vote for Trump still worse effect-wise than a third-party vote or not voting?
In theory, maybe.
In practice, it has the same result. If everyone who did not vote for Trump, voted for Harris, we would not be where we are.
Most people who voted for Trump stand by their vote, for one reason or another. You can ask them to apologise but they won’t. It’s the ones who didn’t vote for Harris and hedged their bet and are now saying “not my fault! I didn’t vote for him!” who are the real problem. Because they didn’t want Trump but they also laid down and let Trump have the victory, for some reason or another.
Look, for fucking decades my mother would not vote. She saw Kennedy killed (and/or heard about it) when she was 9 and she swears he was the last good president. (I didn’t like Kennedy all that much. My “last good American president” was Franklin Delano Roosevelt.) Anyway, after Trump’s first term, she voted in both the last elections. For Biden in 2020 and Harris in 2024. She wanted Clinton to win in 2016 but did not go vote, she figured enough people would vote for her over Trump. When Trump won, she stopped sitting on the fence and started getting out and voting. And she’s like 70-something. Granted she’s retired. But if you have the legal right to vote, you should. I strongly believe that. And if you don’t vote, I absolutely believe you don’t get to sit there and say “well I didn’t vote for the guy who won.”
Yes, although they are still both to blame.