More than 40 million low-income Americans will wake up Saturday morning without vital food assistance, in what Nicolle Wallace called a “self-inflicted, manufactured crisis” by the Trump administration.
Last week, the Agriculture Department announced payments for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, would not be issued on Nov. 1 due to the ongoing government shutdown. So far, President Donald Trump has refused to tap into an emergency reserve specifically for SNAP, which would cover the program’s budget shortfall while Congress debates reopening the government.
On Thursday’s “Deadline: White House,” Wallace shared personal stories from Americans who will be affected in the absence of food assistance, calling it “a glimpse into the growing and coming food insecurity and hunger crisis in America.”
“Don’t look away,” she told viewers. “It’s happening everywhere, happening in all of our communities, happening in all of our neighborhoods, happening in every state of this country.”
Wallace said the president’s refusal to use the emergency fund reflected a “negligence and indifference that is a hallmark of the Trump administration when it comes to food insecurity and hunger in America,” noting its massive cuts to food banks earlier this year and the $186 billion in slashed funds to SNAP included in Republicans’ budget bill.
“It is a self-inflicted, manufactured crisis designed to hurt a lot of the very same people who voted for Donald Trump and to hurt them and their families,” Wallace said, referring to reporting from Time Magazine that found that in the 30 states Trump carried in the 2024 election, 25 were more reliant on SNAP than the national average. Wallace said these cuts know “no partisan affiliation,” adding, “if anything, it disproportionately benefits households in Trump-voting counties and districts, and it feeds a whole lot of kids who don’t have any responsibility for any of the political decisions that adults make.” You can watch Wallace’s commentary in the clip at the top of the page.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW.
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