President Donald Trump arrived in Malaysia over the weekend looking unusually upbeat for a leader presiding over a government shutdown. Cameras captured him smiling broadly, waving and greeting officials as he stepped off Air Force One — then doing something that instantly set social media ablaze.
The ongoing shutdown is now in its fourth week, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture warned it will stop sending out SNAP benefits this week even though 42 million low-income and disabled Americans relay on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to feed their families.
The USDA announced on its website Monday that no new benefits will be issued as of Saturday, Nov. 1, if the shutdown continues, and so far there’s no end in sight.
And yet, halfway around the world, Trump was all smiles — breaking into a carefree dance on the tarmac in Malaysia within seconds of landing. The clip, looped endlessly across social media, struck many as painfully out of touch.
And just days earlier, thousands of unpaid government workers — including TSA agents, IRS employees, and air-traffic controllers — have begun lining up outside local food banks after missing their first full paycheck since the shutdown began, according to reports.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom who’s consistently called Trump to the carpet, particularly around the shutdown, wasted no time expressing his displeasure.
“Donald Trump is literally dancing in Asia while 40 million people lose access to food. Disgusting,” Newsom said in a post on X that went viral with almost 3 million views.
One X was in full agreement, “The contrast is stark: celebration abroad, hunger at home. For millions, this isn’t about ideology; it’s about whether there will be food on the table next week.”
Another user also put it this way, “This isn’t an old stripper that refuses to retire. This is histories most embarrassing President humiliating us 10 seconds after landing in Malaysia.”
Massive MAGA backlash followed, but one description seemed to have made them furious as one user noted on X.
“I’ve called Trump every name in the book from Princess Pedo to Don the Diddler, but NOTHING has triggered Maga like implying Trump’s a washed up stripper that can’t dance. They are melting the …. down 😆”
And melt down they did. “Says they guy that has single handedly destroyed California,” a Trump supporter complained on X.
And another heartless X user had no pity, “They should explore the possibility of getting their own food.”
“The better question is, why do we have 40 million people on a free food program?” another remarked.
Still another blamed the Democrats for the shutdown, “Chuck [Schumer] could open up the government, which he will eventually do once he’s leveraged the suffering of families enough.”
But Republicans control the government and, instead of working to help end the stalemate between Democrats and Republicans, Trump has continued to politicize the stalemate and has continued to blame Democrats for the closure,
The President has ordered his budget chief to cut Democrat-supported programs and projects in an attempt to try to force his opponents into giving in and voting to pass a stopgap funding measure.
But Democrats have continued to demand that any spending measure must include protections for Medicaid — something Trump drastically cut when he and Republicans rammed through the President’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” last summer without any bipartisan support — and restore Affordable Care Act health insurance subsidies set to expire at year’s end.
The sweeping bill extends Trump’s 2017 tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and pays for other administration priorities. But it does so by cutting more than $1 trillion from health programs in the largest such federal rollback in history.
Millions of Americans will see their health care insurance premiums jump if the subsidies are not extended.
