Fury as Trump holds 'tone deaf' Gilded Age Halloween party as millions lose food aid

As 42 million Americans missed their first food assistance payment Saturday amid the ongoing government shutdown, President Trump attended a Great Gatsby–themed Halloween party at his Mar-a-Lago resort — sparking outrage from critics who described the event as ‘tone deaf.”

“Trump and Rubio at the Mar-a-Lago Halloween Party, on day 31 of the shutdown,” wrote Danny Kemp, the White House correspondent for AFP, in a social media post on X Friday night. “Official theme is Gatsby and ‘a little party never killed nobody,’ we’re told.”

Critics couldn’t help but point out the irony of the theming of the party, based on the 1925 novel that offers a sharp critique of social and economic inequality seen during the Gilded Age in the late 19th century, which was fraught with corporate and government corruption.

“This is truly perfect, they were cosplaying the Great Gatsby, while we're in a shutdown and people are losing their SNAP benefits and health benefits,” wrote X user “MFT Guy Has Thoughts,” a vocal supporter of the Democratic Party who’s amassed more than 4,300 followers. “I don't think you could script it better.”

“Peak level tone deaf,” wrote another X user, “AJL,” who says they’re a lawyer in Boston, Massachusetts. “And no GOP Fox viewer will even know.”

Trump has frequently been criticized for either throwing lavish parties or making remarks critics have labeled as “tone deaf” given current events, with the most recent instance being less than 24 hours before his Halloween party, where he boasted online about an expensive refurbishing of a White House bathroom, just hours before 42 millions Americans would lose federal food assistance.

More than 12% of the U.S. population receives food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, including 16 million children. The Trump administration has also refused to tap into a pool of around $6 billion in emergency funds specifically earmarked for programs like SNAP to ensure Americans receive food assistance, a decision that frustrated a federal judge.