A Cruel Experiment

 This WaPo piece departs from the usual "Cleetus Safari" format, whereby a reporter goes to the heartland and explains why people love Donald Trump and hate Critical Race Theory (or whatever). Instead, it's a detailed narrative of the people in Kentucky who are seeing the shit hit the fan when it comes to SNAP benefits (basically food stamps of yore).

During Covid, we saw a massive expansion of benefits to keep the economy moving. Included in stimulus checks and the like was a massive increase in things like child tax credits and SNAP benefits. For a brief moment, people who had been experiencing food insecurity were able to feed themselves. Now, they are going to lose that ability.

On the one hand, you have to wonder how much these increased benefits contributed to inflation. We saw this in the '70s when high energy prices and a more generous welfare state saw an increase in inflation. Perhaps the price of low inflation is immiserating the poorest Americans. I hope not.

Regardless, these are precisely the vulnerable people in "flyover country" that the Republican Party purports to represent. These are Trump and JD Vance's "forgotten Americans." Except, of course, Trump and Vance don't give a flying fuck about these people, beyond the elected office that they can bestow on them, because of drag shows or trans rights or whatever.

It's doubtful that Democrats can leverage this, but not impossible. People will stand a certain level of misery, but they usually won't tolerate having something and then having it taken away. In Kentucky, Governor Andy Beshear - a Democrat - tried to keep the benefits going by vetoing the bill to rescind them. Republicans overrode his veto. 

You would think that this would make the people lining up for food angry at Republicans, but they are more likely to be angry at "the government" which means Democrats and Joe Biden or maybe even Beshear. 

It will take an immediate introduction of legislation in the Senate to extend the benefits. Republicans will block the extension. Then you have to blanket these communities with messages about how Representative Soandso is standing between your neighbor and a decent meal.

While I've been impressed with certain aspects of Biden's political acumen, using the messaging ability of controlling one of but not both Houses of Congress has not been a major strength. Whether Roe or now SNAP, there's an opportunity, but it won't just happen.

What we are seeing is what America could be like with a more generous welfare state... and what happens when it's ripped away.