Posted on 10/26/2025 1:33:42 AM PDT by dennisw
The U.S. government has been shut down for three weeks since October 1. If it doesn’t end soon, millions of people will lose their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payments starting November 1. With 41.7 million recipients nationwide relying on these food stamps, states warn of halted payments without federal funding. Social media erupts with videos of desperate individuals threatening to loot Walmart stores, turning policy gridlock into potential retail mayhem.
The USDA’s SNAP program, which injected $99.8 billion into economies in FY 2024 with average monthly benefits of $187 per person, faces a funding freeze.
October payments should proceed, but November’s billions are at risk if the shutdown persists past October 27.
States like California, Texas, and Arkansas urge stockpiling, as delays could spike hunger, school absences, and food bank strains, echoing 2013’s EBT glitches.
Walmart, serving SNAP via EBT at 4,600+ locations, braces for impact. Spokespeople monitor closely, hinting at bolstered security amid rising theft fears.
The retailer donated $2 million to hunger relief this year, but warns that unchecked shoplifting could raise prices in vulnerable areas.
Online fury boils over. A TikTok video shows a Texas woman in her car, mason jar in hand, ranting, “Food stamps or we stealing OG!” She vows to “hit Walmart hard” if EBT dries up.
Another clip features a man in a tank top bellowing he’ll “rack up” a cart and walk out unpaid, blaming the shutdown.
These posts, amassing millions of views, predict retail spikes. One user warns, “People will kill to not die… Grocery store employees will be beaten up if they don’t let people steal.”
Single mothers echo, “We’ll go to Walmart and steal food.“
Advocates call it systemic desperation, not crime, yet police in SNAP-heavy zones prepare for surges, recalling 2023’s EBT fraud billions.
Politics polarize: Republicans eye cuts and work rules effective November 1; Democrats decry “cruel” delays.
SNAP aids 70% of the working poor, seniors, and parents, or 1 in 8 Americans. With Thanksgiving approaching, communities are on the march: in Detroit, pantries, and job fairs in Phoenix. Lawmakers must compromise before aisles turn to battlegrounds. Hunger isn’t leverage; it’s a crisis demanding fixes, not fights.
Anyone caught stealing during the Schumer Shutdown should lose ALL taxpayer funded benefits permanently.
Great minds think alike!!!
Let's hope they stop an an oasis before they get to my neighborhood. I'm planning on doing all my grocery shopping in the middle of the week because next weekend will be ugly. It's like feeding bears on your porch. They get mean when not fed.
I think a huge army of citizen journos may aid in that endeavor. Use the phone camera to capture the perps in action. You will know who to focus on. The ones running, riding carts, high fiving and aping around.
If you are physically able to steal, then you are too fit to be on welfare. You can work, even if you can’t find a job you can be an entrepreneur, and work for yourself washing windows or pulling weeds, you just choose not to.
Years ago, a single Walmart store voted to unionize. Walmart said “What store?” because they shut the store down overnight. No store, no union.
I predict that they will shut down any stores that see food riots. Maybe even permanently.
Seems the Democrats have been the problem all along, demanding some things that are totally unreasonable, so the government could be restarted. If their depmands are given into, then we automatically have another crisis on our hands. I think most reasonable people understand the problem.
Is it possible we could get a racial demographic breakdown of the suspected thieves?
“How many SNAP accounts are for bona-fide needy?”
Last week, a government official on TV reported that people making $500K a year are getting food stamps. (And if Uncle Sam is aware of this, why hasn’t it been stopped?)
“Why don’t they have their kids save some food from their free school breakfast, lunch, and dinner and bring it home?”
They probably throw half those meals in the trash, and the ones that eat them look like the Michelin Rubber Man.
The kitchen staff keep the “to go” boxes.
moral decay
not shamed about sponging off of society
proud of their sexual deviancy
no fear of the Lord
determined to choose poorly
unleash DOGE onto the SNAP program
And a lack of strong father figures.
I don’t think it will be a real problem until late November. SNAP folks can dip into their savings for two or three weeks. /S
SNAP needs to be ended.
“Not a single H1-B worker among them.”
Wanna bet?
Where’s DOGE at when you need them ?
It would never occur to them to go to Walmart and get a job.
This is a big negative for the Trump administration. Right or wrong, the media will paint this as a purely evil thing for Republicans to do to the poor and the left is more than willing to play politics with hunger.
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