Agricultural Secretary Brooke Rollins made a startling admission Tuesday while speaking at a trade show in Minnesota, one so brazen that journalist Prem Thakker was left taken aback.
Speaking at the Minnesota Farmfest, the three-day agricultural trade show and exhibition, Rollins boasted about booting 5 million Americans – including children – off of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
“I know the Democrats don’t love (this), but for those of us that love work and celebrate work and want people to work and not be on food stamps, it’s a pretty big win when we move 5 million people off of food stamps, ya’ll,” Rollins said. “I think that’s a huge accomplishment!”
Around 45 million Americans received food assistance through SNAP last year, but after federal policy changes enacted by the Trump administration last year, that number had plummeted by 13 percent over a period of 12 months. Americans enrolled in SNAP received around $190 in food assistance a month.
Writing in Zeteo on Wednesday, Thakker responded to Rollins’ remarks with pure shock.
“What’s that, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins? You’re proud of depriving millions of children and their desperate families of vital food assistance? Gotcha,” Thakker wrote.
Rollins caused another online firestorm on Tuesday while at the trade show after asking the crowd to applaud her remarks, an incident that critics flagged as being similar to Republican Jeb Bush’s infamous 2016 “please clap” gaffe in his bid for the White House.
Rollins served as the co-director of the Office of American Innovation during President Donald Trump’s first term, and in 2025, was confirmed as Trump’s Agricultural secretary.
Rollins: "For those who love work and celebrate work and want people to work and not be on food stamps, it's a pretty big win when we've moved 5 million people off food stamps, y'all." pic.twitter.com/kUrqVrvahI
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 4, 2026