Donald Trump variously promised he would “make America great again” in relatively short order upon becoming Supreme Leader in 2017.
That promise was explicitly aimed at working families and other people whose net worth doesn’t have eight or nine zeros after the first digit.
Of course there was always something profoundly absurd about the idea that a man whose entire life is a case study in narcissism and who spent every waking hour prior to becoming President reveling in the splendor afforded him by an inheritance could possibly claim to be the champion of farmers, blue collar workers and the middle class.
But as Notes From Disgraceland’s Bjarne Knausgaard put it in 2017, “populism is like pornography: Everything is explicit, but the plot cannot be taken seriously.” He continued:
Populist reality is actualized through the positive feedback loop of suspension of disbelief:  A political figure infuses a human interest and a semblance of truth into an unrealistic and far-fetched agenda, while the audience suspends judgment concerning the implausibility of the narrative.
Suffice to say many Americans are still suspending disbelief. Last year, for instance, America’s farmers were forced to accept government bailout money after Trump’s “greatest” tariffs threatened to destroy their livelihoods. Not only did they accept their fate, they actually ponied up $45 for green “Make Farmers Great Again” hats sold by Trump on his official website.
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Several months previous, the same dynamic played out in the wake of the tax cuts. Middle America was continually warned by Democrats that the GOP’s “middle class miracle” was little more than a handout for corporate America and wealthy families, but nobody listened.
In January, the “benefits” to workers from the tax windfall showed up not in wholesale changes to pay packages and compensation arrangements, but rather in one-off bonuses that amounted to rounding errors on C-suite paychecks and, in one particularly amusing case, free Ho Hos and Ding Dongs for a year. It was a literal “let them eat cake” moment.
Fast forward to January 2019 and federal workers are without a paycheck thanks to the longest government shutdown in modern US history which, Trump tells us, is necessary because unless we build a 2,000-mile-long steel barrier on the southern border, violent gang members will keep “cutting up” school children and human traffickers will continue to “tape up” woman and throw them “in the back of vans”.
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Trump’s Shutdown Is Now Longest In US History – Are We ‘Great Again’ Yet?
But on Tuesday, there’s good news for furloughed federal workers who are on the brink of starvation! Kraft Heinz is stepping in to provide free mac & cheese to families who can’t afford to eat.
“The company is opening a store that will operate tomorrow through Jan. 20 where upon showing their work identification, government staff can fill up a bag with Kraft Heinz products”, Bloomberg explains, before quoting the company’s head of marketing Sergio Eleuterio as follows:
During the government shutdown, parents should not have to worry about putting dinner on the table because they aren’t receiving a paycheck. This store is one way we can help those affected get the grocery staples they need.
“Make people rely on charity mac & cheese again!” MPROCMACA”! Doesn’t have the same ring to it – sorry.
And look, if you get to the Kraft soup line and they’re out of soup, you can always stand outside the White House and hope Sarah Sanders will throw you some leftover scraps from Monday night’s fast food “banquet” for the Clemson Tigers.
