In the United States, crucial food assistance benefits to low-income people are still delayed after two days, leaving nearly 42 million facing deep uncertainty regarding access to food. On Monday, November 3, the Trump administration announced that it would be sending partial payments to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients.

Two federal judges issued rulings ordering the Trump administration to continue to fund SNAP benefits on Friday, October 31. The administration responded via court filings on Monday that it would provide “50% of eligible households’ current allotments,” leaving recipients facing deep uncertainty over access to food in the near future.

The administration has refused to tap into contingency funds, despite the courts ordering Trump to do so.

“I went to the grocery store, and I tried to use the last of my SNAP benefits from last month, and I couldn’t even afford everything I needed,” said Nas Walton, a full time student and worker residing in the Bronx. In Walton’s congressional district, 40% of households rely on SNAP benefits to access healthy food.

“I don’t know whether or not I’m going to have benefits this month. If it weren’t for the help of my community, I would have had to dip into my rent money in order to pay for groceries this month,” Walton told Peoples Dispatch.

The Trump administration had previously refused to tap into contingency funds in order to keep SNAP benefits running for the nearly 42 million who rely on them for food access. On Friday, October 31, two federal judges ruled that the administration had ruled that the administration acted unlawfully in refusing to use contingency funds.

SNAP is the largest food assistance program in the US, providing monthly funds to low-income individuals and families to help them buy groceries. The program has particular significance in a country where food prices vary widely by region and where social welfare programs are relatively limited.

Trump administration spotlights alleged “SNAP fraud”

As the Trump administration faces the court’s deadline, the USDA appears to be laying the groundwork for a deeper attack on SNAP benefits as a whole.

In an interview with Fox News, US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins described demanding that states turn over data on SNAP, to ensure that “no illegal aliens can use SNAP.”

“I haven’t talked about this yet publicly,” said Rollins in the November 2 interview. “We have found thousands and thousands of illegal use of the EBT card.”

“What this conversation has allowed is a national spotlight on a broken, corrupt program,” Rollins asserted.

Elon Musk, the billionaire behind the now toned-down Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), responsible for the first major cuts to the federal workforce early into Trump’s second term, retweeted this interview, writing: “The level of fraud is staggering.”

The official DOGE X account also reposted Rollins’ interview, writing: “Great working with @USDA to help stop illegal aliens from fraudulently receiving SNAP benefits.”

The right’s online offensive against SNAP recipients

While the nearly 42 million SNAP recipients await further news, the right-wing doubles down on its ideological battle against those who receive such benefits. Viral posts on X have heavily criticized SNAP recipients, including a post by conservative analyst Amy Nixon which included a screenshot of SNAP-eligible lobster tails. “Why are our tax dollars subsidizing Lobster for SNAP recipients?” Nixon wrote on X.

A separate post by popular account @Lead-Flinger included a photo of SNAP-eligible cookies at a grocery store, with the caption “When I go to the store and see them advertising big tubs of chocolate chip cookies as EBT eligible it makes me not care about it getting shut down.”

Such posts reflect common right-wing arguments against the supposed luxurious living of recipients of public benefits, recalling the racist “welfare queen” argument popularized by 40th US President Ronald Reagan during his 1976 presidential campaign. This argument used racial stereotypes to popularize the notion that social program recipients, particularly Black people, were committing welfare fraud.

These viral posts have received significant backlash online. “I think children should be allowed to experience cookies even if they are poor,” reads a viral response to the latter post by user @CaraLisette.

“‘But some people abuse food stamps by buying cookies & steak & lobster!’ So using the food stamps to buy food,” reads a sarcastic post by user @megannn_lynne, who adds “if you believe that poor children should just eat gruel then perhaps you should stop that 19th century miserly factory owner from taking over your body like the symbiote.”

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