The government shutdown is likely going to last for a while, meaning that SNAP and EBT recipients won’t get food money for at least another month.
…Have I ever mentioned that I hate Republicans? Because I hate Republicans.
And no, this is not a “radical left” or Democrat shutdown. Republicans control the House, Senate, and White House. The Speaker is a Republican. The president pro tempore of the Senate is a Republican. The actual president is a Republican. And the Speaker is avoiding swearing in Adelita Grijalva, who will provide the crucial 218th vote to release the Epstein files (let’s just be real, most politicians like ‘em young¹). Most Republicans in the Senate fucked off as soon as the shutdown started (hey, didn’t Governor Hot Wheels threaten Texas Democrats with arrest and imprisonment for doing the exact fucking same thing earlier this year? “Rules for thee but not for me,” plainly); Democrats and the last, fleetingly few sane Republicans, have been on the Hill for three weeks, trying to get this bullshit over with. Republicans caused this shutdown, full stop. (And frankly, no; I don’t want Dems to fold and pass the new funding bill UNLESS AND UNTIL Repukes drop the cuts to Medicaid, reinstate the ACA subsidies and funding for public broadcasting, and basically yank the reins on Trump and Vought until their necks, metaphorically, break.)
Anyway. In case it’s not clear yet: The cavalry is not coming. The military is not, in fact, planning a junta or to forcibly remove Trump and Co from power. (Why even have a military, for real, if the fucking generals won’t uphold their oaths?) The ICC is spineless and won’t issue an arrest warrant for this Cabinet, and even if they did, they don’t have a police force to send after them and actually do arrests. And, at some point, we all have to stop being silly at these No Kings rallies, figure out what our endgame is and how we’re getting to it, and put that plan into action.² We’re on our own, and the only people we can rely on are each other.
So I’m going to ask everyone reading this a few things:
1. Call your local food bank. Ask them what they need, and how much, to get them through November. Tell your neighbors what’s on that list. If you can afford it, buy some of the items with your next grocery run and donate them. If you can afford it, donate some blankets and beanies and gloves or mittens. Definitely donate formula, if you can. Also, cooking oil and dish soap; a lot of times, people don’t go to food banks because they don’t have any ingredients at their home, and don’t have a way to clean up after. If you’re involved with a local church or synagogue or mosque, or any other house of worship, get a food bank donation fund started, or host a food drive.
2. Check in on your neighbors. A lot of people need help getting to food banks, but are too embarrassed to ask. If you can, offer to drive them there and back. Or, if you can, cook something for them that makes a lot of food, so they can eat leftovers (lasagna, stews, casseroles, meatballs, etc). If you can, buy a bag or two of groceries for them on your next run. And yes, do ask them if there’s anything they can’t or won’t eat; just because they’re struggling doesn’t mean they have to just take whatever you think they should. (Also, because food allergies are, very often, severe, and land people in the ER. Source: Am allergic to shellfish, will literally go into anaphylactic shock and die if I eat it.)
3. Start a mutual aid org in your community. Get your neighbors together and see if you can get a skill sharing group started. Like, maybe there’s someone who can watch kids while the parents clean their house, in exchange for that person doing little handyman jobs. Things like that. It doesn’t have to be pretty or sophisticated, it just has to work.
It really does make my blood boil, how every single time we have a shutdown, it’s the most vulnerable people who pay the heaviest price. And this is literally the only country in the world where the government has a total Blue Screen of Death if the parties can’t agree on next year’s funding; everywhere else, the government stays open and operates at the last year’s funding level until shit gets resolved. They do it to keep us at each other’s throats, because they operate on Joker logic: Overwork and underfeed the hoi polloi, and then see how loyal those hungry dogs really are.
¹Before anyone jumps in with “bUt wHaT iF [insert politician/celebrity/whatever] iS oN tHaT LiSt?!” I don’t care if Jesus of Nazareth is on that list, I want it released! I don’t have a list of approved pedophiles, okay? If you did anything sexually inappropriate with a child, you belong in prison and, eventually, to meet Ian Watkins in hell. If Barack Obama is on that list, I still want it released. If Bill Clinton is on that list (and yes, I do believe he is on that list, full stop), I still want it released. If Alan Rickman, my favorite person who ever lived and I never met, is on that list, I still want it released. If Bernie fucking Sanders, ContraPoints, Dan Olson, Zohran Mamdani, AOC, and literally any and every other progressive/leftist public figure are on that list, I WANT IT TO BE RELEASED. And finally, because I know someone will bring it up: If releasing a list of people known to have done business with one of the most prolific human traffickers in history will cause the entire US government to collapse, then the entire US government deserves to collapse, and to be rebuilt with something better.
²Yes, I think it’s great that everyone is turning out to these rallies, and yes, it’s always good to laugh at tyrants (humor can bring down dictators, but not on its own; at this point, it’s just better to laugh at these ghouls, because they can’t stand being laughed at). Also, yes, strategic non-violence is a valid protest strategy. But the dressing up and singing and bad dancing are only going to work as resistance for so long, and unfortunately, it is very clear to basically everyone that there’s no real point to these protests, except showing Trump how much we don’t like him. That is not how we win elections and influence policy. I don’t think we need to resort to violence or an armed insurrection, but we do need to start pushing local and state leadership for referenda and recall elections, to beef up states’ constitutions and protections, identify and form legal networks, get a force out that informs people of their rights and due process, and generally put as much pressure on Capitol Democrats and those very few, noble Republicans working with them/against Trump, to filibuster, hold Congressional hearings, investigate, and otherwise tie up and trip up these Project 2025 goons, so they can’t enact any more of their fascist wet dreams as policy.
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