Over the weekend, the U.S. Department of Agriculture updated its website with an expanded message blaming Democrats’ support for “illegal aliens” and gender-affirming care for transgender people as reasons “mothers, babies, and the most vulnerable among us” will be denied “critical nutrition assistance.” Benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are expected to be shut off on November 1 due to the federal government shutdown, although some say there are funds available that legally can be used to continue benefits.

On Saturday, visitors to USDA.gov were confronted with this message: “Due to the Radical Left Democrat shutdown, this government website will not be updated during the funding lapse. President Trump has made it clear he wants to keep the government open and support those who feed, fuel, and clothe the American people.”

Some experts have said similar messages may violate the Hatch Act.

READ MORE: ‘Refrain From Any Action’: Congressional Vets Warn Trump on Using Troops Against Americans

On Sunday, the message was changed to read: “Senate Democrats have now voted 12 times to not fund the food stamp program, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Bottom line, the well has run dry. At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01. We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats.”

It then went on to blame Democrats for continuing to “hold out for healthcare” for “illegal aliens,” before adding also a coarse description of gender affirming care, including surgery, for transgender people.

The federal government has been shut down since October 1. At 27 days, this is the second-longest shutdown in U.S. history. The longest, 35 days, was during President Trump’s first term.

About 42 million people access Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to help feed themselves and their families. The vast majority of adults using SNAP have at least one job.

Democrats have refused to vote to re-open the government because Republicans have said they will not negotiate on reinstating subsidies for the Affordable Care Act. Millions of Americans may see their monthly health care premiums double or even triple, some experts have said. Double-digit increases, at least, are expected. Millions are expected to lose their health care as a result of the canceled subsidies.

READ MORE: Data Analyst Reveals Which Trump Policy Faces Sharpest Backlash Among Americans

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More than forty members of Congress, including military veterans, are urging President Donald Trump to not violate the Posse Comitatus Act by using U.S. Armed Forces against Americans on American soil.

President Trump has recently and repeatedly threatened to use the Insurrection Act, which is “among the most powerful emergency powers at the disposal of a president, who can use it to deploy the U.S. armed forces and the militia to suppress insurrections, quell civil unrest or domestic violence, and enforce the law when it is being obstructed,” according to the Brennan Center for Justice.

“I could use it. If I wanted to, I could use it,” Trump said this month. “I’m allowed to use the Insurrection Act.”

“Trump and his team have threatened to invoke it almost daily for weeks,” according to the L.A. Times earlier this month, “after a reporter pressed the president about his escalating efforts to dispatch federalized troops to Democrat-led cities.”

READ MORE: Data Analyst Reveals Which Trump Policy Faces Sharpest Backlash Among Americans

MSNBC reported two weeks ago that Trump “has been itching to use the Insurrection Act since the George Floyd protests in 2020. But he’s closer than ever to invoking the 1807 law.”

In their letter to President Trump, the 43 members of Congress, led by Army veteran and U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA), expressed “grave concern” about “reports that your Administration is considering invocation of the Insurrection Act to deploy active-duty military forces for domestic law enforcement.”

They said to do so would be a “profound departure” from “constitutional traditions and limits established under the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the use of the United States military, including National Guard troops called into federal service, in civilian law enforcement except in the narrowest and most extraordinary circumstances.”

Explaining how the Insurrection Act may be invoked, they made clear: “None of these conditions currently exist.”

“Threatening or preparing to use the military against the American people,” they warn, “is both inappropriate and deeply irresponsible.”

They also chastise his administration’s “rhetoric and subsequent actions singling out communities and states led by elected officials of the opposing political party,” saying, that “only deepens the perception that such actions would be politically motivated rather than grounded in law.”

“We therefore urge you, in the strongest possible terms, to refrain from any action that would violate the Posse Comitatus Act or undermine the principle of civilian governance.”

READ MORE: Why the Shutdown Is About to Get Even Worse

President Trump has wrongly claimed that about half of the American presidents have invoked the Insurrection Act:

“Don’t forget I can use the Insurrection Act. Fifty percent of the presidents, almost, have used that. And that’s unquestioned power,” he said, according to Politifact.

CNN called his comment “at least a slight exaggeration,” and noted that, according to the Brennan Center, just 17 of 45 presidents have invoked it.

MSNBC reported that the “rarely used law was last invoked by President George H.W. Bush in 1992 during the Los Angeles riots that followed the acquittal of police officers in the beating of Rodney King.”

CNN also noted that Trump has wrongly claimed one unnamed president used the Insurrection Act 28 times: “That figure is nowhere close to accurate.”

On Friday, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) wrote: “There is no rebellion. Not in Los Angeles. Not in Portland or Chicago or D.C. Not in San Francisco. And yet Donald Trump continues to threaten invocation of the Insurrection Act to force these cities to bend the knee to his will.”

Congressman Thompson on Sunday wrote: “We won’t be intimidated — and we won’t allow the President to misuse our military to police our communities. The law is clear: the Insurrection Act doesn’t give him that power.”

Trump: “Don’t forget I can use the Insurrection Act. 50% of the presidents almost have used that. And that’s unquestioned power.” pic.twitter.com/2MBpQoo8Ij

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 19, 2025

READ MORE: ‘I Don’t Know—He Was Recommended’: Trump Struggles to Justify Latest Pardon

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Support for President Donald Trump’s tariff policies has collapsed, with six in ten Americans now opposed, CNN’s Harry Enten reports. That’s a sharp shift from less than a year ago, when 52 percent backed higher tariffs.

“I think that Americans have moved more against tariffs than any other major Trump policy that he’s been pushing during this second term,” Enten said on CNN on Monday.

“So the bottom line is this,” he added, “if I were advising President Donald John Trump, when it comes to his policies, I’d say, ‘Step off the tariffs,’ at least from a political point of view, because the bottom line is, it doesn’t sell with the American people.”

“It’s one of the largest shifts that we have seen during Trump’s second term in office,” Enten reiterated.

READ MORE: Why the Shutdown Is About to Get Even Worse

A lack of economic improvement, according to the CNN host, and the opposition to Trump’s tariffs, Enten said, “go hand in hand.”

They then turned their attention to Canada, just after President Trump angrily raised that nation’s tariffs by another ten percentage points, over a video he did not like.

“Picking a fight with China is one thing,” Enten said. “Picking a fight with Canada is just something totally different here.”

On “net popularity,” he noted that “Canada is far more popular than Donald Trump is here in the United States.”

“Look at this: the net popularity rating of Canada is plus 49 percentage points,” he observed. “Look at the net popularity rating of Donald Trump here in the United States: It’s minus 10.”

“We’re talking about Canada coming out nearly sixty points ahead on the net popularity rating versus Donald Trump here in the United States. When you pick on Canada as a United States president, you are picking on a country that the American people adore. They adore Canada.”

“Canada has always been a friend to the United States, at least during our lifetimes,” Enten added.

“And when you’re going after Canada, you are going against someone who is far more popular than you are with Donald Trump. Pretty much every single time, among most Americans, Americans will choose Canada, over Donald Trump, yet Trump has decided to pick yet another fight with somebody or some entity or some country that is more popular than he is.”

READ MORE: ‘I Don’t Know—He Was Recommended’: Trump Struggles to Justify Latest Pardon

“No president has come anywhere close to how popular Canada is right now, and Donald Trump certainly is a long, long, long away,” said Enten, noting that Trump’s overall popularity rating is negative ten points. “He cannot see Canada from his house when it comes to his net popularity.”

Meanwhile, America’s — and Trump’s — popularity with Canada has plummeted.

“They think that Donald Trump’s a big hoser. That’s what they think. They hate Donald Trump. They hate everything that he’s doing.”

“So Americans love Canada, but Canadians no longer love the United States of America.”

Re: tariffs on Canada… America has shifted more against them than any other major Trump policy.

Meanwhile, Canada (+49 pt net favorable) is far more popular than Trump (-10 pt approve) in the USA.

Canadians who see USA as a threat/enemy has jumped from 7% in 2023 to 48% now! pic.twitter.com/z6RiyvRv2w

— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) October 27, 2025

READ MORE: Dr. Oz Slammed After Saying Goal of Health Care System Is to Boost GDP by ‘Trillions’

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