November 4, 2025

Readers, what do you find exciting these days? Is it the thrill of a perfectly cooked steak? The small joys found in the latest episode of Slow Horses? For Donald Trump, I suspect that it could be watching Americans go hungry, or at least panic over how they're going to feed their families.

That might sound harsh. But is there any other way to interpret his latest social media outburst?

The White House is now playing clean-up, with Karoline Leavitt asking us to essentially ignore what Trump said in plain words. But contrary to most of his social media ramblings, I argue here that we should pay attention to this one. Because it evinces Trump's central stance in the fight over SNAP: that he is unwilling to help those in the greatest need purely because of politics, even when he is legally required to do so and when his own administration has already agreed to comply.

So there we have it, folks: a president who can't seem to be discreet about his overwhelming eagerness to see Americans go hungry.

—Inae Oh

The Tariffs Case Is About Power and Loyalty on the Right

Will the conservative justices honor the president—or their plutocratic patrons?

BY PEMA LEVY

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