Federal budget standoff fuels food aid cuts as new court decisions and Guard mobilizations reshape the week’s agenda.
Trump’s 40th week brought updates to the government shutdown, the White House, immigration, the Pentagon, and the Supreme Court. This comes as more than 25 states announced that people won’t be receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits—the formal name for food stamps—for November, raising implications as the ongoing shutdown is now the second-longest in history. At the same time, backlash rose after the East Wing of the White House was demolished by the Trump administration for a planned ballroom.
A federal court allowed Trump to deploy the National Guard to Portland, while the president threatened to send troops to San Francisco. Meanwhile, as anti-immigrant sentiment continues, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that raids in New York City will increase following arrests in Chinatown on Tuesday.
Following a previous report from The Introspective detailing reporters walking out of a Pentagon press conference over restrictions on covering the Department of Defense, spokesperson Sean Parnell announced a “next generation” of press corps that contains mainly right-wing organizations. At the same time, the Supreme Court will hear a case determining whether people who smoke marijuana can be allowed to own firearms. Meanwhile, following previous Introspective reports detailing settlements reached between the Trump administration and Brown University, Columbia University, and the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), another settlement was reached with the University of Virginia as backlash toward diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) continues.
Government Shutdown and East Wing
As the government shutdown continues, at least 25 states announced that people would not be receiving food stamps for November.
“Starting Oct. 16, SNAP benefits will not be paid until the federal government shutdown ends and funds are released to PA,” read a message from the Pennsylvania state website.
Other states suspending SNAP benefits include New Jersey, Maryland, New York, California, Alabama, Arkansas, Hawaii, Indiana, Mississippi and Massachusetts.
In a press release, Barbara C. Guinn, commissioner of the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, highlighted the impact of SNAP benefits being restricted.
“SNAP is the largest and most effective hunger prevention program in the country, and to permit monthly benefits to halt would be unprecedented and have an immediate and devastating impact on the 40 million Americans and nearly 3 million New Yorkers who depend on the program to put food on their table,” she said.
“SNAP recipients, most of whom are children, older adults or disabled, count on SNAP every month to feed their families. Food assistance is critically needed and is a particular concern given the current high costs of food, rent and energy.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul criticized the Trump administration for the shutdown, raising implications as the ongoing shutdown is now the second-longest in history, following the previous shutdown from 2018–2019.
“I’m outraged that Washington Republicans are deliberately withholding federal funding from millions of New Yorkers who rely on SNAP to put food on the table,” she said.
“This is a cruel, senseless and politically motivated punishment inflicted by the Trump administration that they have the power to avoid. Lives depend on this, and Washington Republicans need to stop playing games.”
A previous report from The Introspective found that 18 million households—13.5%—were food insecure in 2023, up from 12.8% in 2022.
Meanwhile, controversy rose after President Trump ordered the demolition of the White House’s East Wing, which is planned to be replaced with a $300 million ballroom.
“We determined that after really a tremendous amount of study with some of the best architects in the world, we determined that really knocking it down, trying to use a little section—you know, the East Wing was not much. It was not much left from the original,” said Trump, responding to criticisms after previously saying the ballroom wouldn’t impact the East Wing.
“I haven’t been transparent? Really? I’ve shown—I’ve shown this to everybody that would listen,” he continued.
“In order to do it properly, we had to take down the existing structure.”
The National Trust for Historic Preservation later sent a letter to the Trump administration calling for a pause of the demolition.
“While the National Trust acknowledges the utility of a larger meeting space at the White House, we are deeply concerned that the massing and height of the proposed new construction will overwhelm the White House itself—it is 55,000 square feet—and may also permanently disrupt the carefully balanced classical design of the White House with its two smaller, and lower, East and West Wings,” wrote Carol Quillen, president of the trust.
National Trust Ballroom Letter
Immigration and National Guard
As controversy over National Guard deployments continues, a federal appeals court allowed the Trump administration to deploy troops to Portland, following a previous Introspective report highlighting Trump asking the Supreme Court to allow deployments to Chicago.
“The statute delegates the authority to make that determination to the president and does not limit the facts and circumstances that the president may consider in doing so,” wrote Judges Ryan Nelson and Bridget Bade.
“Considering the totality of the circumstances, there is a colorable basis for the president’s determination that he is unable, with regular forces, to execute the laws of the United States.”
Portland Ruling
In a press release, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield criticized the ruling, calling on Portlanders to ensure the city remains “peaceful and safe.”
“Today’s ruling, if allowed to stand, would give the president unilateral power to put Oregon soldiers on our streets with almost no justification,” he said.
“We are on a dangerous path in America.”
Trump also called for deploying troops to San Francisco, despite data finding that the city has low crime rates.
“We’re going to go to San Francisco. The difference is they want us in San Francisco,” he said in an interview with Fox News on Sunday.
“We’re going to San Francisco and we’ll make it great. It’ll be great again. San Francisco is a great city. It won’t be great if it keeps going like this.”
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie criticized Trump’s comments in an X post, emphasizing the low crime rates in the city.
“Violent crime in San Francisco has fallen to levels not seen since the 1950s. Encampments are at record lows. San Francisco is turning the corner — thanks to public safety,” he wrote.
“If you want to serve the greatest city in the world, now is the time.”
The Trump administration later dispatched more than 100 ICE agents to the city on Thursday, while Trump walked back his earlier threat to deploy the National Guard.
Meanwhile, ICE Director Todd Lyons announced that arrests in New York City will increase after a raid in Chinatown.
“You will see an increase in ICE arrests because there are so many criminals and illegal aliens that have been released in New York specifically,” he said to Fox News.
“You will see us making those criminal arrests to make New York safe again. It’s definitely intelligence driven — it’s not random,” he continued.
“We aren’t pulling people off the street. There was a specific reason, based on criminal intelligence and criminal activity, that we showed up on Canal Street.”
ABC News reported that four U.S. citizens were arrested during the raid.
Pentagon, Supreme Court, and UVA
Following a previous report from The Introspective detailing reporters walking out of a Pentagon press conference over restrictions on covering the Department of Defense, the Pentagon announced a “next generation” of press corps.
“We are excited to announce over 60 journalists, representing a broad spectrum of new media outlets and independent journalists, have signed the Pentagon’s media access policy and will be joining the new Pentagon press corps,” wrote Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell on X.
“Twenty-six journalists across 18 outlets were among the former Pentagon press corps who chose to sign the DOD media access policy.”
The new press outlets include right-wing organizations such as Human Events, The Post Millennial, The National Pulse and LindellTV. This comes as major news networks —including ABC News, NBC News, CBS News, CNN and Fox News—did not sign the new policy.
At the same time, the Supreme Court will hear a case determining whether people who smoke marijuana can be allowed to own firearms. This comes following a case brought by Ali Danial Hemani, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Pakistan, who was indicted in 2023 after being found with 60 grams of marijuana and a pistol in his home.
Meanwhile, following previous Introspective reports detailing settlements reached between the Trump administration and Brown University, Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), an agreement was reached with the University of Virginia (UVA).
“The agreement does not require the university to make any monetary payments. Importantly, it preserves the academic freedom of our faculty, students and staff. We will be treated no less favorably than any other university in terms of federal research grants and funding. The agreement does not involve external monitoring,” said interim President Paul Mahoney in a letter obtained by The Introspective.
“Instead, the university will update the Department of Justice quarterly on its efforts to ensure compliance with federal law.”
UVA Agreement
The university agreed to “not engage in unlawful racial discrimination in its university programming, admissions, hiring or other activities,” raising implications as backlash to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) continues.
The Introspective 
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