A Little Party Never Killed Nobody but Lack of Access to Food Does

“Eat the rich” has never felt more relevant.

By Danielle Han  |  November 3, 2025 | 11:23am
Photo: Twitter Politics
A Little Party Never Killed Nobody but Lack of Access to Food Does

Welcome back to Monday Barf Bag.

As tens of millions of Americans lost SNAP benefits on Halloween night, Mar-a-Lago abounded with champagne, food served on silver plates, and showgirls spinning around mega-sized martini glasses for a Gatsby-themed party. As if that wasn’t disgustingly opulent enough, some Donald Trump lackey had the brilliant idea of calling the soiree “a little party never killed nobody.” 

At one point in the night, all reporters were booted from the event, and much of what we know about the party (so far) is gathered from photos and videos shared by guests. While it’s unclear how much each guest paid to enter, past events at Mar-a-Lago have charged $1,000 per ticket. 

“The way he rubs his inhumanity in [Americans’ faces] never ceases to stun me,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) tweeted on Friday night. “He’s illegally refusing to pay food stamp benefits…while he throws a ridiculously over the top Gatsby party for his right wing millionaire and corporate friends.”

“Millions don’t have food,” state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D-Penn.) wrote, adding a video of feathered flappers fluttering around guests.

On Sunday’s episode of Last Week Tonight, John Oliver called the jamboree “insulting.” “It’s also pretty infuriating to whatever exhausted high school freshman just wrote a 4,000 word essay about Great Gatsby as a grim meditation on the disillusionment of the American dream, only for CNN to tell them, ‘You know what? It’s really just a book about rich people partying.’” 

As we wrote in Friday’s Barf Bag, two federal judges have blocked the U.S. Department of Agriculture from intentionally starving over 40 million Americans. But according to experts, even if the issue were immediately resolved, many food stamp recipients would experience a delay in their benefits. 

Normally, this is the part of Barf Bag where we list other puke-worthy headlines. But after a weekend riddled with ostentatious news, it’s only right we give you the round-up you deserve. So here’s A Comprehensive List of Other Gilded Age Moments From This Weekend:

  • Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended the party by pointing to Barack Obama’s golfing habits. Oh, you want to talk about a president’s golfing habits??? (Daily Beast)
  • Over the weekend, Trump flew everywhere from Asia to Florida. He’s been traveling a lot during the shutdown. (NPR)
  • Kash Patel used an FBI aircraft for date night, then fired the FBI official in charge of overseeing the agency’s jets because he was mad about press coverage. (The flight schedules were public.) (The Guardian)
  • The USDA emailed grocery stores to say they aren’t allowed to give discounts to anyone affected by the SNAP funding lapse. (Catherine Rampell via BlueSky)
  • The version of Trump’s 60 Minutes interview that aired was actually just 28 minutes—and didn’t include his meltdown. (The Daily Beast) 
  • Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem refused to halt Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago during Halloween, deciding that she’d rather terrorize children than listen to Gov. JB Pritzker (D). (MSNBC)

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