The front page of the Portland Press Herald on Oct. 22 featured a wonderfully written article about the recent decision by the Trump administration to halt SNAP benefits  (food stamps) to approximately 170,000 eligible Mainers as of Nov. 1.

Interviews with some of the people affected gave a picture of just how cruelly the decision will affect people’s lives. This administration chooses to attribute this sudden decision to halt SNAP benefits to the recent government shutdown. Yet there have been government shutdowns over budget in the past and never before have SNAP benefits been halted. 

It is clear that needy Maine citizens are being used as a political tool in an attempt to shift the blame for the shutdown away from the real cause — Republican senators’ refusal to reinstate any health care benefits that were slashed by Trump’s callous budget bill.  

On the following page of that same edition, another article offered a jarring contrast. It featured Trump hosting a luncheon for the Senate Republicans in his newly paved Rose Garden.  The article described the festive gathering, the lovely weather, the menu — all set against the background noise of machinery tearing down a large section of our White House. 

Should we all — Democrats, Republicans, independents — stand aside while this administration also takes the wrecking ball to people’s lives?

Pamela Goucher
Freeport