As SNAP Crisis Continues, Trump Whines About Americans’ “Affordability” Concerns

On Thursday, President Donald Trump rejected the premise that voter concerns about “affordability” and his administration’s failure to address rising consumer costs played a role in the Republican Party’s election losses earlier this week.

Exit polling data indicates that Americans are indeed upset about the state of the economy. In two gubernatorial races that were won by Democrats this week, voters who were most concerned about the economy overall voted for New Jersey Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill (D) and Virginia Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger (D) over their Republican counterparts, with the latter defeating her opponent on the issue by more than 20 points, a CBS News exit poll revealed.

An Associated Press exit poll also found that, while 6 in 10 voters taking part in elections this week believed their finances were “holding steady,” the vast majority of respondents said they were not “getting ahead,” while around a quarter of voters actually described themselves as “falling behind” when it came to their finances.

Retail prices, specifically grocery store items, are indeed going up. Several specific food items, including beef, eggs, juice, bread, and more have seen moderate to extreme increases, year-over-year. Grocery store prices have gone up, in general, by 2.7 percent since around this time in 2024.

In comments to reporters in the White House, Trump dismissed concerns from consumers.

“We just lost an election, they said, based on affordability. It’s a con job by the Democrats,” Trump said, adding:

What the Democrats do is they lie. We are the ones that have done great on affordability — they’ve done horribly on affordability.

Visibly upset over the matter, Trump continued to wrongly insist that prices were going down, not up.

“Our groceries are way down. Everything is way down, and the press doesn’t report it,” Trump insisted. “The press reports whatever the con people say. You know, I call the Democrats con men and women. They make up numbers.”

Trump’s service to the billionaire class is currently manifesting a “K” shaped economy — one in which the wealthy do very well and continue to spend more, while those with moderate or low incomes are spending less.

The president’s refusal to acknowledge the realities of the current economy comes as the federal government shutdown approaches its 40th day, with no end in sight. In addition to myriad other concerns, the shutdown is disrupting benefits for recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps, which ran out of funding on November 1.

Although the program has been funded without disruption in previous shutdowns, the Trump administration refused to fund it this time, even though a contingency fund for SNAP exists. After a federal judge said that the program had to resume, the administration announced it would provide half the benefits it normally gives to recipients, resulting in that same judge ruling on Thursday that the White House had to provide full benefits, using the contingency funds and monies in other programs to do so.

District Judge John McConnell said the Trump administration decided to underfund the program for “political reasons.”

“Faced with a choice between advancing relief and entrenching delay, it chose the latter — an outcome that predictably magnifies harm and undermines the very purpose of the program it administers,” McConnell said, adding, “This should never happen in America.”

Despite the forceful ruling from McConnell, the Trump administration immediately appealed it to the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals, requesting a stay of his order pending the outcome of the case.

Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) president Crystal FitzSimons said her organization is “outraged” over the White House’s appeal.

“At a time when food insecurity is rising due to increasing grocery prices, the administration’s legal maneuver sends a clear and devastating message: that the well-being of America’s most vulnerable is not important,” FitzSimons said.

The appeal “creates yet another layer of confusion and chaos” for both recipients and states trying to administer their SNAP programs, she added.

“The administration of the wealthiest country in the world should be doing everything it can to ensure everyone has the nutrition they need for their health and well-being, not leaving millions of people behind,” FitzSimons said.