Despite two federal judges ordering the Trump administration to fund food stamps for 42 million Americans whose payments were shut down on Saturday, President Donald Trump said he will not do so until the federal government is reopened.

SNAP benefits, Trump wrote on social media, “will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!”

The New York Times reported that “Tens of millions of Americans will get only partial payments from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for this month, the Trump administration told a federal judge on Monday, and it was not clear when even those reduced benefits would be distributed.”

Critics were quick to respond.

READ MORE: Johnson Urges SNAP Recipients to Come ‘Home’ to Republican Party

“The president appears to be saying he will NOT abide by the court order to release SNAP benefits even though the WH said they would partially release them,” The Bulwark’s Sam Stein wrote.

He added, “an hour ago Trump’s own Ag Sec was explaining that they’d given guidance to states about how to administer SNAP benefits from the emergency fund. Now Trump is saying he won’t pay those benefits until the government is reopened.”

“Trump is both defying a court order and taking ownership of the ending of food benefits for needy people all during a shutdown fight that polls show him losing,” Stein observed, “and doing this just days after his Great Gatsby party!”

Media Matters’ senior fellow Matthew Gertz wrote: “Since the ‘No Kings’ rallies, the president has launched an ill-defined bombing campaign without congressional sanction; orchestrated federal charges against his enemies; promised not to release appropriated funds to a jurisdiction if it elects someone he opposes.” He added, “and now” before pointing to Stein’s remarks on Trump’s refusal.

READ MORE: ‘Pass Every Policy We Have Dreamt of’: Trump Again Urges GOP to Kill the Filibuster

U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) remarked: “To be clear, Trump isn’t just trying to deny food from hungry American families. He’s breaking the law so he can deny food from hungry American families.”

Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) observed, “The President is suggesting he will defy a court order so he can starve kids, seniors, veterans, and families.”

Bloomberg columnist Matthew Yglesias wrote: “Of all the things to break the seal on defying court orders over, I thought Trump would pick something politically savvier than ‘make poor kids go hungry.'”

West Virginia House of Delegates Democratic Minority Whip Shawn Fluharty commented, “Not sure on the category we put this in … pro-life, family values, or compassionate conservatism?”

Former Obama and Biden official Alex Jacquez noted, “If anyone had any doubt as to who is responsible for SNAP benefits not going out to 42 million people.”

READ MORE: ‘Date’s Lost’: Thune Undermines Johnson’s Strategy in Quest for Longer Funding Deal

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After the Trump administration was ordered by the federal courts to pay SNAP recipients during the federal government shutdown, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is urging Americans using food stamps and other social services to join the Republican Party.

Congressional Republicans slashed over $1 trillion from Medicaid and SNAP in President Donald Trump’s so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill.”

“People everywhere can see clearly who’s fighting and voting here every day, and delivering for them,” Johnson said in a press conference on Tuesday.

READ MORE: ‘Pass Every Policy We Have Dreamt of’: Trump Again Urges GOP to Kill the Filibuster

The Speaker has put the House in recess for weeks — its last vote was on September 19. Republicans have been directed to stay in their home districts. Many Democrats are still on Capitol Hill.

“I’ll say this clearly to every hard-working American, in any place who’s missed a paycheck, anyone who has been made to suffer because the services, the health services you rely upon, or the food and nutrition supplement for your family. Anyone who is hurting: You have a home in the Republican Party.”

“You have people here who are elected by their constituents to come and do their job, and they do it. They’re voting to support you, to make these programs available. To ensure that the people in need have them. And the Democrats, by stark contrast, are doing the exact opposite.”

Multiple polls have found that Americans blame Republicans for the shutdown more than Democrats.

Johnson: Anyone who has been made to suffer because of the health services you rely upon or the food and nutrition supplement for your family, anyone who is hurting, you have a home in the Republican party. You have people here who were elected by their constituents to come do… pic.twitter.com/jlBsd6L2Hk

— Acyn (@Acyn) November 4, 2025

READ MORE: ‘Date’s Lost’: Thune Undermines Johnson’s Strategy in Quest for Longer Funding Deal
 

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As voters head to the polls in Tuesday’s off-year election, President Donald Trump appears to have his eyes on next year’s midterms and the 2028 presidential election. Democrats are widely expected to chalk up several successes in California, Virginia, New Jersey, and New York City.

In a wild Tuesday morning post, the President demanded once again that the Senate kill the filibuster, reducing the threshold to pass legislation to a mere simple majority. Senate Majority Leader John Thune and other top Republicans have indicated they oppose such a move.

“The Democrats are far more likely to win the Midterms, and the next Presidential Election, if we don’t do the Termination of the Filibuster (The Nuclear Option!), because it will be impossible for Republicans to get Common Sense Policies done with these Crazed Democrat Lunatics being able to block everything by withholding their votes,” Trump warned Republicans. “FOR THREE YEARS, NOTHING WILL BE PASSED, AND REPUBLICANS WILL BE BLAMED. Elections, including the Midterms, will be rightfully brutal.”

READ MORE: ‘Date’s Lost’: Thune Undermines Johnson’s Strategy in Quest for Longer Funding Deal

The President’s remarks suggest he is aware that Republicans are being blamed for the federal government shutdown more than Democrats.

“If we don’t do it,” Trump said of killing the filibuster, Democrats “are far more likely to do well in the upcoming Elections, which would mean a PACKED Supreme Court, 2 more States and 4 more Democrat Senators (D.C. and Puerto Rico), and 8 more Electoral Votes.”

Trump also rattled off several top Republican goals.

“If we do terminate the Filibuster, we will get EVERYTHING approved, like no Congress in History. We will have FAIR, FREE, and SAFE Elections, No Men in Women’s Sports or Transgender for Everybody, Strong Borders, Major Tax and Energy Cuts, and will secure our Second Amendment, which the Democrats will also terminate, IMMEDIATELY.”

Democrats, he said, will “have much less chance of WINNING if we have Great Policy Wins after Wins after Wins.”

Trump concluded by writing — in all-caps — that Democrats “will lose big, and for a very long time.”

“Terminate the filibuster now,” he demanded, “end the ridiculous shutdown immediately, and then, most importantly, pass every wonderful Republican policy that we have dreamt of, for years, but never gotten. we will be the party that cannot be beaten – the smart party!!!”

READ MORE: Same-Sex Marriage in America: What Happens if the Supreme Court Takes Up Kim Davis’ Case?

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