Yesterday, Democrat Christy Setzer called out how Donald Trump's "Blue Apron" plan to cut food stamp (“SNAP”) benefits is rooted in the demonization of food-stamp recipients.
Setzer agreed that if the food box delivered fresh fruits and vegetables, “who wouldn’t want that, right?” But, she added, “This is certainly not that.”
Host Trish Regan argued that it might. “Municipalities would have control over it. If you need fresh fruit in the box, maybe we can get it for you, Christy,” she said.
Regan thought the bigger problem was having the government eliminate a SNAP-recipient’s food choices. “Now, you’ve got the government suddenly interfering with what you need or don’t need,” she pointed out.
Harlan Hill, the other guest was once again deceptively introduced as a “Democratic strategist.” He is, in fact, a Trump operative. In lower-third banners, he was described merely as a “political analyst.”
“This is a bold and innovative approach the administration is taking,” Hill gushed. “It puts American farmers first, and every product that’s going to be shipped through here is going to be coming from an American farmer and American producer.” He insisted that “All the recipients will get the same amount of food that they’re currently getting, and the government’s going to save over $129 billion dollars, with a 'b.'”
Setzer challenged that. She wondered how much can really be cut from the program’s budget when, “your average food stamp recipient gets about $29 a week in SNAP benefits.” She continued, “I think that seems like they’re going to be getting a sub-standard product.”
Setzer also got to the heart of what the proposal is really about: cracking down on food-stamp recipients that Fox News pundits and the right have made a crusade out of demonizing: “I think this comes from the misguided idea from some people in the Trump administration that people who get food stamps are somehow living high on the hog,” she said.
Hill did not refute that. He said the savings will come from buying products wholesale. “This is what you get by having a CEO as president of the United States. This is bold, this is innovative and it’s going to save the government a lot of money,” he raved. He said nothing about the cost of setting up and maintaining a delivery system.
“You get fewer choices, you get government-run. Is that what Republicans signed up for?” Setzer shot back. “Would you actually want the box that’s coming from the government?" She asked Hill. "You don’t know what’s in it. Maybe you have an allergy that it doesn’t actually account for.”
Hill knew better than to say he’d want the box. So he waved away Setzer’s argument by saying, “We can navigate these problems,” without offering any specifics.
Then Hill validated the charge that the program is really about attacking benefits for the poor. “But, ultimately, the best recourse for this, if you don’t like the product, is to go out and get a job so that you can actually pay for your groceries,” he replied. “That’s the ideal outcome.”
“See, again, that’s the point. That’s where it comes from. It comes from the idea that people on food stamps are lazy,” Setzer said.
The Daily News has a great editorial noting the hypocrisy from the same supposedly business-friendly, voucher-supporting Republicans who are now poised to harm grocery stores’ bottom lines and take choice away from millions of Americans.
Watch this discussion below, from the February 13, 2018 Your World.
I wonder just how many unprincipled charlatans are making their livings by pretending that Trump and the whole Republican establishment are not rotten to the core…