Judges Order Trump to Pay for SNAP, Killing His Shutdown Strategy

Two federal judges have ordered the Trump administration to use contingency funds to pay out SNAP funds while the government is shut down.

U.S. District Judges John J. McConnell in Rhode Island and Indira Talwani in Massachusetts each ruled Friday that the government had to keep funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, either partially or in full for November. Prior to news of the ruling, the U.S. Department of Agriculture was planning to freeze payments for food stamps Saturday.

White House officials had refused to fund SNAP from a $5 billion contingency fund that existed precisely to keep funding the program in the event of something like this. In response, 25 states and the District of Columbia sued the federal government in federal court to keep the program running, alleging that the USDA had “both the authority and legal duty” to do so.

Both Talwani and McConnell asked for updates from the government by Monday. In his ruling, McConnell ruled that the previous work requirement waivers must stay intact, reversing the USDA’s decision during the shutdown to terminate waivers exempting older adults, veterans, and others from work requirements.

Talwani called the government’s suspension of SNAP unlawful, writing in her ruling that “Defendants’ suspension of SNAP payments was based on the erroneous conclusion that the Contingency Funds could not be used to ensure continuation of SNAP payments. This court has now clarified that Defendants are required to use those Contingency Funds as necessary for the SNAP program.”

The Trump administration will undoubtedly appeal, possibly all the way to the Supreme Court. But for now, millions of people across the country will not have to make hard choices about how to feed themselves and their families. Several states that had already declared emergencies to tackle the impending crisis will have at least some temporary relief.

This story has been updated.

One Republican representative is angry that Donald Trump’s redistricting war has put his congressional seat in danger.

California Representative Kevin Kiley criticized the GOP in an interview with The New York Times’ podcast The Daily Friday, saying that his party’s attempt to grab more seats in the House of Representatives and keep control of Congress is “incredibly destabilizing.”

“I said from the moment this was on my radar that it shouldn’t be happening anywhere. I’m against it in Texas, I’m against it in California. It’s pure political opportunism,” Kiley said.

If California Governor Gavin Newsom is successful in his retaliation, Kiley could be squeezed out of Congress, as California would gain five new Democratic seats. The congressman tried to head off the redistricting tit-for-tat back in August by introducing a bill to prevent congressional districts from being redrawn in the middle of a decade, as opposed to the customary end of a decade following the national census.

But Republican leadership didn’t support his idea and went on with their gerrymandering efforts across the country, including in places like Ohio, Missouri, Utah, and Indiana. This has prompted Democratic redistricting efforts in states besides California such as Maryland, New York, and even purple Virginia, and drawn the ire of other vulnerable Republicans in addition to Kiley. Who knows what Congress is going to look like when the dust clears?

The U.N. human rights chief has taken the unprecedented step of condemning America’s military strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, accusing the U.S. of violating international law.

The Trump administration has committed 14 known strikes on small boats in the two regions over the last two months, killing at least 61 people.

Volker Türk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, issued the critique—the first of its kind—Friday, calling for a “prompt, independent, and transparent” investigation into the strikes.

“These attacks and their mounting human cost are unacceptable,” Türk said, as relayed by spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani. “The U.S. must halt such attacks and take all measures necessary to prevent the extrajudicial killing of people aboard these boats.”

Shamdasani added that Türk believed “airstrikes by the United States of America on boats in the Caribbean and in the Pacific violate international human rights law.”

The White House has insisted the violence is justified, broadly accusing the boats of trafficking narcotics to the U.S. from Venezuela and Colombia, though U.S. lawmakers have been more than skeptical—particularly since several of the boats were thousands of miles away in international waters, and since the attacks were conducted without prior investigations or interdiction. On Thursday, Democratic Representative Sara Jacobs revealed Pentagon officials weren’t even concerned with identifying the people on the boats before attacking.

Trump has blamed the attacks on Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, who has remained atop the country’s government despite Trump’s forceful attempts in 2019 to install then–opposition leader Juan Guaido.

Last week, the Pentagon announced it would deploy the world’s largest warship—the USS Gerald R. Ford—to Latin America in an effort to ramp up the military firepower available for fighting the small watercraft.

But the escalation has only further strained America’s relationship with its Latin American neighbors. In an address to his country late last week, Maduro accused the U.S. of fabricating “a new eternal war.”

Vice President JD Vance had a social media meltdown Friday over the widespread backlash to his strange admission about wanting his wife to ditch her faith.

While appearing at a Turning Point USA town hall Wednesday, Vance said he harbored hopes that his wife, Usha, a Hindu, would be moved by the good word and become a late-in-life Catholic like him.

“As I’ve told her, and I’ve said publicly, and I’ll say now in front of 10,000 of my closest friends: Do I hope eventually that she is somehow moved by the same thing that I was moved in by church? Yeah, I do wish that. Because I believe in the Christian gospel, and I hope eventually my wife comes to see it the same way,” he said.

Many saw this as Vance rejecting his wife’s own religion and culture, including journalist Ezra Levant, who wrote on X: “It’s weird to throw your wife’s religion under the bus, in public, for a moment’s acceptance by groypers.”

But Vance didn’t like that one bit and took at X to cry “anti-Christian bigotry.”

“What a disgusting comment, and it’s hardly been the only one along these lines,” Vance wrote Friday. He claimed that the question was from someone “seemingly to my left,” and he’d felt compelled to answer honestly.

“Second, my Christian faith tells me the Gospel is true and is good for human beings,” he wrote.

Vance claimed that Usha had urged him to reengage with Christianity. “She is not a Christian and has no plans to convert, but like many people in an interfaith marriage—or any interfaith relationship—I hope she may one day see things as I do,” he wrote. “Regardless, I’ll continue to love and support her and talk to her about faith and life and everything else, because she’s my wife.

“Third, posts like this wreak of anti-Christian bigotry,” he wrote, misspelling “reek.” “Yes, Christians have beliefs. And yes, those beliefs have many consequences, one of which is that we want to share them with other people. That is a completely normal thing, and anyone who’s telling you otherwise has an agenda.”

But Christianity doesn’t teach followers to disrespect others’ beliefs. And Vance has a tendency to refashion Christian teachings to support his arguments, like the time he presented a bastardized version of Catholic doctrine to argue that Americans should turn on their neighbors.

Crucially, Turning Point USA isn’t exactly a breeding ground for cross-cultural understanding. Earlier this month, DOGE czar-for-a-day Vivek Ramaswamy came face-to-face with the rampant racism of the right wing at another Turning Point USA event in Montana.

Ohio Republicans adopted a new congressional map on Friday that would give Republicans a big boost in two Democratic-held districts. The move comes as Republicans nationwide engage in an effort to gerrymander maps in their favor as midterm elections approach.

The Friday deal places two of the five Democratic Representatives in Ohio—Greg Landsman and Marcy Kaptur—into redder districts in their already purple state. In return, Democratic Representative Emilia Sykes will be drawn into a slightly bluer district, though the race would still be competitive. The remaining two Democratic members of Congress, Joyce Beatty and Shontel Brown, will remain in their deep blue districts.

While this map isn’t the worst for Democrats, Landsman and Kaptur’s districts flipping red could have massive implications come 2026, given the currently slim margin of control Republicans have in the House. A Democratic victory would make it easier for them to oppose Trump’s policies, as Republicans are fully aware.

The redistricting committee will meet once more at 4 p.m. on Friday to send in the final map.

“Ban partisan gerrymandering,” former Ohio state Senator Nina Turner wrote on X in response to the news. “Ohio deserves better.”

Vice President JD Vance has some explaining to do over a hug that was a little too close with Erika Kirk, the widow of right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk.

The two were at the University of Mississippi Wednesday night for Turning Point USA’s “This Is the Turning Point” tour, the organization co-founded by Charlie that Erika took over after his death. Vance not only was the headlining guest but also filled Charlie’s old role of debating college students from a stage.

But the internet isn’t as concerned with the tour itself, or the fact that Vance has time to play conservative influencer while serving as vice president. Instead, they’re talking about the embrace between him and Kirk’s widow, with Vance’s hands on her waist and her face appearing to betray some emotion at the same time.

Several commentators seemed to suggest that this doesn’t bode well for Vance’s wife, Usha.

The pictures from Mississippi aren’t helped by Vance’s remarks about his wife at the event, where he said he hopes Usha will leave her Hindu faith and convert to Christianity. All three of their children are being raised as Christians, with the two older ones attending a Christian school.

“I honestly do wish that because I believe in the Christian gospel, and I hope eventually, my wife comes to see it the same way,” he said. “If she doesn’t, then God says, everybody has free will, so that doesn’t cause a problem for me. That’s something you work out.”

Is there something going on between Kirk and Vance? If there isn’t, the vice president’s words and that hug are already spreading rumors otherwise. Usha and her parents have both done a lot for Vance, and what happened Wednesday looks disrespectful, at a minimum.

President Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center has been a financial death sentence for the famed cultural institution.

The Washington Post has reported that ticket sales at the Kennedy Center are the worst they’ve been since the Covid-19 pandemic. The average show is selling just over half of its tickets right now, with some of those tickets being comped for various reasons. This is a massive dip. In 2023, that number was at 80 percent, and in 2024, it was at 93 percent.

This likely is the result of Trump’s crusade to “unwoke” the Kennedy Center.

“The programming was out of control with rampant political propaganda, DEI, and inappropriate shows,” Trump said back in May. “They had dance parties for, quote, ‘queer and trans youth.’ And I guess that’s all right for certain people.… But that wasn’t working out too well.”

Trump promised to make the Kennedy Center “hot” again and reinvigorate ticket sales that didn’t need much help in the first place.

“Given the unprecedented takeover of a nonpartisan arts institution combined with the inexperience and rhetoric of the new management, I expected a decline in sales; however, it is truly shocking to see that these actions have been worse for business at the Kennedy Center than the aftermath of a global pandemic,” an anonymous former staff member told the Post. “These numbers are likely more dire than they appear, as they don’t account for canceled productions or shows moved into smaller theaters due to weak ticket sales.”

Furthermore, Trump has placed the center in another precarious position, as it risks losing donors due to Trump’s right-wing cultural push.

“Depressed ticket sales not only cause a shortfall in revenue; they also bode unfavorably for future fundraising revenue,” former Kennedy Center President Michael Kaiser wrote in an email to the Post. He had the center running at a surplus during his tenure. “The vast majority of donors are ticket buyers who are anxious to enhance their relationships with the organization by making contributions in addition to paying for their tickets. We had 40,000 generous individual donors by the time I left the Center in 2014. Funding from these individuals formed the foundation for all we accomplished.”

Not only is Trump bad for the quality of cultural stewardship, he’s bad for business. We risk losing even more of the Kennedy Center’s operations as this administration continues.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent admitted Thursday that President Donald Trump’s supposedly triumphant talks about a rare earths deal with China were far from finished.

Speaking on Fox News, Bessent touted Trump’s recent efforts in getting China to agree to pause export controls on its rare earth minerals supply for one year. China, which is the dominant supplier of an array of rare earth minerals, had announced the export controls at the beginning of the month, prompting Trump to threaten outrageous 100 percent tariffs on Chinese goods.

“China unilaterally put, or said they were going to put, a rare earth licensing regime on the entire world, the entire world. And President Trump, as the leader of the free world, got this delayed by one year,” Bessent said. “So it wasn’t just for the U.S., it was for the entire world.”

“Well, what happens a year from now?” host Laura Ingraham asked.

“My guess is a year from now, we’ll be back at the table, and we’ll get another delay, another roll,” Bessent said.

The secretary explained that China’s dominion over rare earths was nothing compared to the threat of Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods. “We are the deficit country, China has to export to us. So, the deficit country always wins. The surplus country loses,” Bessent said.

“What’s more interesting here is maybe we can settle into a good place where the competition is more fair,” he continued.

But there is no “settling” Trump’s plan—only an endless cycle of negotiation.

At the beginning of October, China’s Commerce Ministry added five more rare earths, as well as magnets and other materials made from them, to a list of 17 minerals that had export controls placed on them. China also placed restrictions on the export of rare earth processing equipment, battery manufacturing equipment, and diamond saws, which would allow other countries to build out their own rare earth manufacturing sectors.

Speaking with reporters on Air Force one this week, Trump claimed that the pause on export controls could be “routinely extended.” China’s Commerce Ministry, however, suggested that Beijing would suspend the measures for a year but then “study and refine specific plans.”

It seems that Trump delayed these new controls, but the original list still remains.

Evan Fiegenbaum, a political scientist and vice president of the Carnegie Endowment, criticized the administration’s approach on X. He warned that the U.S. should prepare for “China to retaliate tit-for-tat anytime the U.S. takes a punitive action,” and that there were plenty of other pressure points China could press.

Alternatively, Louise Loo, head of Asia economics at Oxford Economics, suggested that continuing trade negotiations with China could provide a pressure valve for tensions between the two countries. “China’s leverage in rare earths and critical minerals processing will continue to surface episodically, effectively capping any escalation in bilateral tensions,” Loo wrote in a note Thursday.

At least one Trump administration official can see the forest for the trees when it comes to the reality of the government shutdown.

Much to the chagrin of Republican leadership, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins delivered a rare level-headed missive Friday for Americans struggling with expiring SNAP benefits.

“My message to America is first, the fact that your government is failing you right now,” Rollins told reporters. “That poverty is not red or blue, it is not a Democrat or Republican issue. Doesn’t matter who you voted for or even if you voted. That if you are in a position where you can’t feed your family, and you’re relying on that $187 dollars a month for an average family in the SNAP program, that we have failed you.”

But that was a politically unsavory appeal for House Speaker Mike Johnson, who immediately jumped into recovery mode, attempting to twist Rollins’s words to fit the party message.

“And it’s, um, clarified that when she says, ‘We have failed you,’ she means, ‘We the Democrats,’ OK?” Johnson said.

Rollins is no stranger to the conservative message—she has run conservative think tanks for decades. After Johnson’s quick spin, she then proceeded to refuse to commit to releasing SNAP funds if a judge ordered her to do so.

“We’re looking at all the options,” she told reporters.

The government has been shut down for more than 30 days as of Friday, making it the second-longest federal closure in U.S. history. It’s only bested by a 35-day shutdown between 2018 and 2019 that occurred during Donald Trump’s first term.

After spending weeks singularly blaming Democrats for the stalemate, Trump ordered Republicans late Thursday to “INITIATE THE ‘NUCLEAR OPTION’” by axing the Senate filibuster. The directive adds monumental pressure on Republicans, who have long fought to maintain the filibuster—which grants enormous power to the Senate’s minority—as a trump card during times of Democratic legislative upheaval.

Meanwhile, thousands of federal workers have gone weeks without pay, Affordable Care Act marketplace credits have lapsed in several states, and some 42 million Americans stand to go hungry when SNAP benefits expire on Saturday.

Donald Trump’s obsession with blowing stuff up is nothing new, according to his former staffers.

The president “fantasized quite openly” about detonating bombs during his first term, according to Miles Taylor, who served as Department of Homeland Security chief of staff at the time.

“I will tell you very honestly, Trump, in the first term, at least when I was there, fantasized quite openly to advisers about wanting to blow up bombs,” Taylor told CNN Thursday. “It wasn’t more complicated than that, he didn’t have this 3D-chess strategy. He wanted to see bombs blown up.”

The president directed his administration Wednesday to resume nuclear weapons testing, in apparent violation of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1996. Russia—which has the largest nuclear arsenal in the world—immediately reacted, warning that it “would follow suit” if the U.S. moves forward with the revised military policy.

Taylor recalled a distressed White House situation room meeting in 2017 during Trump’s game of brinksmanship with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, after which top administration officials warned that the U.S. could enter war at any moment due to Trump’s flagrant tweets.

“Anyone who thought that there was some sophisticated strategy to try and intimidate Kim didn’t know the truth,” Taylor said. “Which was that, the president was freestyling. It was scaring his team. The secretary of defense walked out of one of those meetings and turned to us at the Department of Homeland Security and said, ‘I hope you are preparing for the United States to go to war.’”

Taylor drew national attention in 2018 when he anonymously penned an op-ed for The New York Times claiming to be part of the internal “resistance” against Trump’s agenda, lumping himself in with a group of senior officials who did not believe Trump was fit for the nation’s highest office. He has since written several books assessing Trump’s behavior in the White House that revealed intimate insider accounts.

Just 10 months into his second term, Trump has already illustrated a lackadaisical attitude toward unwarranted explosions. Earlier this month, Trump threw a parade in California to celebrate the Marine Corp’s 250th anniversary—a month before the actual anniversary date, and conveniently timed to coincide with the nationwide No Kings protests. The most controversial element of the plan, however, involved plans to shoot live ordnance over sections of Interstate 5 toward Camp Pendleton in San Diego County. During the display, shrapnel ended up hitting vehicles in Vice President JD Vance’s motorcade.

And during a trip to Japan earlier this week, Trump’s team pressured the Navy to launch 2,000-pound live bombs during a military demonstration, instead of dummy explosives. The Navy did use live bombs, although the White House later said that had always been the plan.