"Prior to the shutdown, I warned some colleagues and elected officials that President Trump and congressional Republicans could use a shutdown as an excuse to deny up to 42 million SNAP recipients (and more than 260,000 neighborhood SNAP retailers) nationwide of $8 billion per month in grocery funds. Many assumed that I was exaggerating the threat and there was no way that our political system would allow something that disastrous to occur. But that is exactly what is playing out."
"On the same day that Trump pledged to CNN that he would continue SNAP payments in November, his own Department of Agriculture (USDA) said the government wouldn't. The next day, the USDA used its website to double down on the SNAP shutdown, using lies about immigrants and a false smear against transgender Americans in a partisan message that clearly violated the federal Hatch Act prohibition on using tax dollars for partisan purposes."
US elites frequently exhibit a normalcy bias that leads them to underestimate the possibility of reckless, reality-detached political actions that could gravely harm the country. Examples include disbelief that George W. Bush would invade a nation on false pretenses and that Donald Trump would incite a violent riot to overturn democracy. Elites were similarly in denial about a shutdown threat to SNAP. A shutdown could deny up to 42 million recipients and over 260,000 neighborhood retailers about $8 billion per month. The USDA contradicted Trump's pledge, used partisan misinformation on its website, and any resolution may still delay November SNAP benefits.
Read at The Nation
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