1. United States
2. Mo.
3. Letter

We’re living in a country where billionaires get tax breaks, children go hungry, and the government is shut down because one man refuses to follow a court order to feed people. Let’s call this what it is: economic cruelty. The Supreme Court just ripped apart Trump’s so-called “emergency” tariffs, exposing them for what they’ve always been — an illegal, self-serving tax on Americans disguised as nationalism. Even the justices he appointed couldn’t stomach the argument. They called it what it was: a power grab that turns a president into a king who taxes the people by fiat. Tariffs aren’t “America First.” They’re a tax on every working family. Prices go up, wages stagnate, and the same con man who caused it tells his supporters it’s someone else’s fault. That’s not leadership. It’s economic sabotage. Now he’s doing the same thing with food. SNAP benefits — the difference between dinner and hunger for millions — are being held hostage. Federal courts ordered those funds to go out during the shutdown. The money exists. But Trump refuses to comply because cruelty has become policy. He’s literally using starvation as leverage to force through a budget that would gut healthcare and hand more giveaways to the wealthy. Meanwhile, the same politicians crying about “entitlement spending” fly home on taxpayer-funded jets, cash donor checks, and lecture single moms about “personal responsibility.” They won’t audit billionaires but they’ll dissect grocery carts like crime scenes. Colorado just proved what moral governance looks like: taxing the top 1% a fraction more to feed every child. That’s leadership. That’s decency. Congress needs to stop enabling this authoritarian theater. Reopen the government. Restore SNAP. End the tariffs. Feed the people you swore an oath to serve. Because hungry kids don’t care about your politics — they just need to eat.