The head of the department that runs food stamps posted a Halloween costume of a Black man in front of stacks of cash, labeled “SNAP Fraudster,” three days before voters decide the midterms.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins shared the image on X on Saturday, Oct. 31, styled as a fake Spirit Halloween package. Her caption read: “Some costumes come with a price tag. This one comes with a prison sentence.” The man pictured is an Atlanta rapper and social media personality who was arrested on federal charges this month, according to outlets that covered the post.
The charges are serious and they are allegations. Prosecutors in the Northern District of Georgia say he controlled more than 350 fraudulent SNAP accounts built on stolen identities between January 2020 and July 2026, with estimated losses of $4.4 million. He was arrested Oct. 13 and indicted on 63 counts. He has not been convicted of anything.
Prosecuting fraud is the Agriculture Department’s job. Turning one indicted man into a costume is not. The image presents a single Black defendant as the face of a program that feeds millions of households, and it does so on the department’s own authority, days before an election in which Black voters are being courted and counted. The caricature has a long history: Ronald Reagan made the “welfare queen” a fixture of his campaign speeches, and the figure has been used ever since to justify cutting aid.
Critics said so quickly. Rep. Shontel Brown, an Ohio Democrat, wrote: “Despicable. Disgusting.” George Conway, the lawyer and Trump critic, wrote: “I had no idea Secretary of Racism was a cabinet position.” Others pointed out that Trump has pardoned people convicted of fraud. HuffPost, which reported the reaction, did not say whether Rollins had deleted the post or answered it, and we found no response from her office or the Agriculture Department.
The post was one of several from the administration’s accounts in the final days of the campaign that critics called inflammatory, Courthouse News reported.
Rollins can defend the prosecution without a costume. The defense she has not offered is why a Cabinet secretary needed a Black man’s photograph and a Halloween joke to announce it. A secretary who wants Black families to trust that the department serves them just handed them the reason they should not.
Polls open Tuesday.
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