Trump at center of governing chaos through contradictory statements on SNAP payments
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that federal food benefits won’t be distributed until after Democrats agree to reopen the government.
Hours later, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt contradicted the president, saying food benefits would go out after all.
As of Tuesday afternoon, it was basically unclear what was going on, except that Donald Trump had placed himself at the center of governing chaos.
In a Truth Social post on Tuesday morning, Trump said Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits “will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!”
Trump’s announcement was a shocking reversal from Monday, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers SNAP, said it would abide by court orders to pay at least partial benefits by tapping a contingency fund.
The USDA had said in a court filing that it “intends to deplete SNAP contingency funds completely and provide reduced SNAP benefits for November 2025.”
Leavitt later said the USDA would, in fact, obey the court order.
“The administration is fully complying with the court order. I just spoke to the president about it,” Leavitt told reporters at the White House. “We are digging into a contingency fund that is supposed to be for emergencies, catastrophes, for war, and the president does not want to have to tap into this fund in the future, and that’s what he was referring to in his Truth Social post.”
Leavitt’s description of the Truth Social post, which is quoted in full below, was incorrect. Trump did not reference the contingency fund. He said only that SNAP benefits “will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government … and not before.” [Continue reading…]