Articles by Emily Singer

Technology

Trump flips and decides to starve people after all

President Donald Trump on Tuesday confirmed that he plans to weaponize hunger in America, writing in a post on Truth Social that he will not fund food stamp benefits during the government shutdown—even though two federal judges ordered him to do just that. “SNAP BENEFITS, which increased by Billions and Billions of Dollars (MANY FOLD!) during Crooked Joe Biden’s disastrous term in office (Due to the fact that they were haphazardly ‘handed’ to anyone for the asking, as opposed to just those in need, which is the purpose of SNAP!), will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before! Thank you for your attention to this matter,” Trump wrote. Trump’s comment is an about-face from what his own administration said in a legal filing on Monday, in which they committed to partially funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—commonly known as food stamps—by using the contingency funding Congress had put in place. The fact that Trump said he would now officially ignore the rulings of two federal judges in order to weaponize hunger is the latest politically moronic move he has made in recent days. On Friday, Trump attended a “Great Gatsby”-themed Halloween party at his gaudy Mar-a-Lago resort in ritzy Palm Beach, Florida, where he was seen smiling and yukking it up with his rich benefactors hours before food stamp benefits were set to expire. Earlier that same day, Trump had sent out a number of Truth Social posts in which he marveled at the bathroom renovation he oversaw at the White House, where he had the walls and floors covered in expensive marble and gilded hardware. The imagery of Trump's hedonism while average Americans suffer is a political gift to Democrats, who can repurpose the images of Trump smiling amid wealthy party guests for ads to show just how much he doesn't care about average Americans. In fact, House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday was asked what he thought of the juxtaposition of Trump living a life of luxury while lower-income Americans worried about putting food on the table. But Johnson could not bring himself to criticize Trump’s actions. "The president had an annual Halloween-themed party every year at Mar-a-Lago. That's what he went back to, his obligatory tradition," Johnson said Tuesday at a news conference when a reporter asked him to comment on the optics of Trump’s glitzy party. "I just discount what you're trying to do there," Johnson added. Of course, attending a party is not "obligatory" by any means. Trump could have skipped it, released food stamp funding as he was ordered to, and worked the phones to get a deal to fund the government. Yet he didn’t, because Trump doesn’t care about anyone but himself. It is funny, however, that Johnson chose this question to reply to. He typically chooses to claim to have not seen or heard about news events that make Trump look bad. Of course, Johnson was A-okay with weaponizing hunger to try to force Democrats to swallow Republicans’ government funding deal. On Thursday, he admitted that Republicans were withholding food stamp funding as leverage to end the shutdown. “[I]f you deviate from the goal of reopening the entire government, [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer and the radicals over there will continue to play games with people’s paychecks, their livelihoods. And if you do just part of this, it will reduce the pressure for them to do all of it," Johnson told CNN about why he wasn’t working to ensure food stamp benefits continued during the shutdown. Democrats, for their part, vowed to fight Trump’s decision to withhold food stamps. “The President who threw a Gatsby-themed party the night before he cut off SNAP benefits is now vowing to break a court order so that he can force millions of children, seniors, and veterans to go hungry,” Sen. Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, wrote in a post on X. “It's sickening. I won't stand for it. Time to speak up and push back.”

Technology

Trump insists he is smart after spending weekend showing he is not

After a weekend filled with incoherent rants, President Donald Trump declared on Monday that he is smart and does not have dementia. "They have [Texas Rep.] Jasmine Crockett, a low-IQ person. They have—AOC’s [New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] low IQ. Give her an IQ test. Have her pass the exams that I decided to take when I was at Walter Reed,” Trump said on Air Force One, likely referring to the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, a simple test to determine whether someone is cognitively impaired. “Those are very hard—they're really aptitude tests, I guess, in a certain way. But they’re cognitive tests. Let AOC go against Trump. Let Jasmine go against Trump," he continued. "The first couple of questions are easy—a tiger, an elephant, a giraffe, you know. When you get up to about five or six, and then when you get up to 10 and 20 and 25, they couldn't come close to answering any of those questions.” The comments are especially ludicrous following Trump’s especially unhinged weekend. On Saturday, he announced a new 10% tariff on Canadian imports because the government of Ontario aired an anti-tariff ad during the first World Series game. That ad accurately quoted former President Ronald Reagan’s general stance against the kind of idiotic economy-harming tariffs that Trump has been chaotically imposing since he retook office in January. "Ronald Reagan LOVED Tariffs for purposes of National Security and the Economy, but Canada said he didn’t!" Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Saturday, misconstruing Reagan's feelings on trade. "Their Advertisement was to be taken down, IMMEDIATELY, but they let it run last night during the World Series, knowing that it was a FRAUD. Because of their serious misrepresentation of the facts, and hostile act, I am increasing the Tariff on Canada by 10% over and above what they are paying now. Thank you for your attention to this matter!" Besides being largely false, Trump admits in his post that he is levying a new tariff because he’s mad about an ad—and it could hurt his case before the Supreme Court. He’s asking the Trump-bootlicking justices to allow him to impose tariffs based on national emergencies. And it’s hard to see how a president being mad about a TV commercial amounts to a national emergency. That wasn’t the only insane thing Trump posted to social media over the weekend. Earlier on Saturday, Trump also claimed that former FBI Director Christopher Wray, “Deranged” former special counsel Jack Smith, former Attorney General Merrick Garland, former Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, and other “crooked lowlifes from the failed Biden Administration ... cheated and rigged the 2020 Presidential Election.” “These Radical Left Lunatics should be prosecuted for their illegal and highly unethical behavior!" Trump wrote on Truth Social. Of course, no one from the Biden administration could have rigged the 2020 election because they were not in their roles during the election. Neither was Jack Smith, who was appointed special counsel after Trump lost in order to investigate Trump’s traitorous efforts to remain in power despite his clear defeat. On top of that, Wray was appointed to lead the FBI by Trump in his first term. On Monday, he also ruled out using a hypothetical loophole to serve an unconstitutional third term. The loophole supposes that Trump could run as vice president in 2028, then if his ticket were to win, the Republican leading the ticket could resign on their first day in office, thereby making the vice president—Trump—become president. “I’d be allowed to do that,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One, regarding the scheme. When a reporter asked if he was ruling out running for an unconstitutional third term, he added, “Am I not ruling it out? I mean you’ll have to tell me.” Given Trump’s demonstrated incoherence, it’s worth taking a longer look at the Montreal Cognitive Assessment that Trump took and claimed on Monday is “very hard.” On one question, the test asks patients to draw a picture of a clock that depicts a certain time—something that is often taught in first grade. (I should know—my 6-year-old daughter is learning this now.) It also asks patients to name that day’s date, identify images of animals, recall a short list of words the test proctor had previously recited, and say as many words as the patient can that begin with a certain letter. Again, Trump considers this test to be “very hard.” But please, everyone, pat him on the back for knowing his animals, numbers, letters, and the date. What a big, smart boy!