Trump starts his reelection bid in earnest. He wants to starve millions.

Standin’ in line, marking time, waiting for the welfare dime, cause they can’t buy a job   Bruce Hornsby and the Range   Just the way it is

Hey, y’all remember that mighty Trump tax cut that was going to have everybody farting through silk? Howz that working out for ya, anyway? And while I’m “Mr 20 questions” today, here’s another one for ya. Looking forward to feeding the family once Yertl McTurtle stalls the $15 an hour minimum wage until it qualifies for Social Security? Yeah, I thought so.

You can tell that The Trumpinator is kicking his reelection campaign into high gear, since he’s once again taking a sledge hammer and bashing over the head the very people who voted for him in 2016, and who he is going to need to vote for him again next November.

Axios is reporting that Trump’s USDA just can’t leave well enough alone, and so is tinkering once again with the qualifications for the ‘Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), a move that cold potentially yank food stamps out from under the feet of an estimated 3.1 million current recipients. I’ll let Axios give you the gory details;

The proposed changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) would limit access to food stamps for households with savings and other assets, with the aim of ending automatic eligibility for those already receiving federal and state assistance,

OK, now here’s the thigh slapper part. In a telephone conference call, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue stated that the changes were needed to “ensure the integrity of the program.” Jesus, stop, you’re killing me here! I can hardly breathe! Anybody with the IQ of canned cling peaches knows that putting the word integrity anywhere in the same zip code as Donald Trump, or Sonny Perdue for that matter, is a joke of the taste level you would expect from, say, Andrew “Dice” clay.

But here’s where it gets nasty, and in a casually offhanded and intentionally vicious way. The federal program what the USDA is talking about, the one which brings immediate qualification for SNAP is the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) plan. Now, follow me through the logic here, and see if it doesn’t have you pulling out your hair.

The word Temporary indicates that the program is meant for short term use, not as a long term fix for the problem. As such, it is likely the first program that a needy family would qualify for. As such, it likely means that the family involved has just suffered the traumo of the primary breadwinner suddenly becoming unemployed, presumably through no fault of their own if they qualify for the TANF program. And the words Neey Families indicates that the primary breadwinner isn’t pulling down Brad Pitt wages, or they wouldn’t be teetering on the brink the minute the income stopped coming in.

With me so far? Good, because here’s where it gets sadistic. It stands to reason that families just suddenly finding themselves with no income are the ones most likely to have scrimped and saved to put a “rainy day nest egg” together. This is likely to be an emergency back up for things like unexpected medical bills, a utility or rent payment, or school shoes for the kids. The mere existence of this money is a comforting influence on these people, the knowledge that their lives haven’t spun completely out of their control.

So, what The $1 Store Caligula, and his henchman Brutulus Meximus are telling these people is, “You’re out of a job? Awww. Well you can either take the kids to the doctor, or you can freakin’ eat! But don’t come bugging us until you’re glat stony broke! That way, once you finally find another crappy middle wage job, you can start scrimping all over again to get back out of the hole!”

Just think my friends, these are your tax dollars at work. No, not helping a fellow sitizen and human being who needs a quick, temporary hand. I mean pahying the salaries of sick, sadistic fucks like Donald Trump and Sonny Perdue to gleefully grind these people into the dirt. But the good news is that the move is expected to save $2.3 billion, and God knows that Shelly Adelson needs that money a whole lot more than Ma and Pa Kettle from Dogpatch Kentucky. What a way to run a railroad.