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VIEWPOINT - Make America Great Again has become Make America Meh. In the richest nation on earth, some priorities get the full measure, luxury renovations, foreign policy posturing, law enforcement budgets, while feeding children is negotiable. Half a meal for kids. Half a check for struggling families. Half a thought for communities in crisis. But no half measures for ICE, Israel, Air Force One, or the new ballroom. Pragmatism exists only where it inconveniences him least. Cruelty, wrapped as efficiency, fills in everywhere else. Welcome to the Trump administration, where “half” is enough for everything… except the things that matter to him.
Imagine a world governed entirely by the “half principle.” Half a bomb for Israel—deterrence in miniature. Half a ballroom renovation. Half a Lincoln bathroom—call it modern art. Half a plane’s worth of fuel for Air Force One—halfway there is… halfway there. The other half is someone else’s problem. Half the funding for midterms—Republicans will survive. Half the ICE budget—officers are resilient; they can make do. Law enforcement, now in minimalist mode.
SNAP recipients experience the same half-hearted logic firsthand. Instead of $350 per household, millions will receive $175 a month. Some $4.65 billion from SNAP’s contingency fund will cover only 50 percent of eligible households’ November benefits, according to a sworn statement from a U.S. Department of Agriculture official filed in federal court. The remaining $600 million? Reserved for state administrative costs and nutrition assistance in Puerto Rico and American Samoa.
This follows a federal judge’s order in Rhode Island: either provide full November benefits or, if the USDA insists on using the contingency fund, partial benefits. The administration chose partial. In court filings, it made clear it would not tap $4 billion from other sources to fully feed struggling families. Half a meal for millions of Americans—because why provide what’s needed when half will do?
Food pantry workers, social workers, parents, neighbors, and millions quietly fill the gaps left by government neglect. But even infinite patience for other people's suffering has limits. Half measures strain, frustrate, and break the backs of those forced to carry them. Families skip meals. Children go hungry. Communities scramble to compensate for policy decisions cruel by design.
Consider the scale: SNAP serves roughly 41.7 million Americans—about 12 percent of the population. In Texas, 3.3 million people rely on food stamps. Florida has over 3.2 million. In New Mexico, more than one in five residents depend on the program. These are not statistics—they are people. As the U.S. Conference of Mayors warns, “SNAP is not only a federal nutrition program—it is a critical local economic stabilizer … When benefits are delayed or reduced, city economies absorb the shock through increased food insecurity, higher demand on emergency food providers, and additional strain on municipal budgets and public‑health systems.”
Even beyond households, SNAP disruptions ripple through the economy. The Main Street Alliance points out, “SNAP isn’t just a lifeline for families, it’s a cornerstone of Main Street economies. When SNAP payments stop, it hurts more than working families; it hits the small grocers, farmers market vendors, and retailers who serve them every day.” Policy like this doesn’t just starve people, it starves communities, markets, and local economies, all for the sake of convenience, legal loopholes, or political theater.
Some might argue in defense of the administration. Legal constraints, they say, prevent full SNAP payments. But when has legal restraint ever stopped this president before? Fiscal prudence, they claim. Yet there is no greater budgeting responsibility than feeding children. Partial payments are “pragmatic,” but pragmatism is potentially lethal when it comes to adequate nutrition for our most vulnerable populations. And personal responsibility? Are you kidding me? Senators spend $175 on a single brunch—that’s what a family is set to receive in a month.
Now imagine the “half principle” applied to everything else: half a hurricane response. Half a Social Security check. Half a CDC advisory. Half a paycheck. Half a bridge. Half measures aren’t clever; they are cruelty dressed as efficiency.
The Trump administration’s “half approach” is literal and reckless. People are not half-fed, half-secured, half-protected—they are whole. When government policy treats basic human needs as optional, it exposes a nation not just to hunger, but to moral failure. Some Americans have infinite patience for others’ suffering, but patience is not a substitute for responsibility. Families, communities, and public servants can only stretch so far. In Texas, Florida, New Mexico, and across the nation, half is not enough. Never has been. Never will be.
In a country of whole people, half measures leave us morally bankrupt and hungry.
(George Cassidy Payne is a journalist, poet, and essayist who writes on politics, culture, and social justice. He is a 988 Suicide Prevention Counselor, nonprofit creative strategist, and adjunct philosophy instructor. His work explores the intersection of ethics, community, and contemporary social issues.) The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily of CityWatchLA.com.
