October 31, 2026 · Political Spectacle & Unusual Conduct
· Official action
Well supported
Agriculture Secretary Rollins Mocks Jailed SNAP Fraud Suspect in Halloween Post Days Before Midterms
Contextual record — predates the administration but created conflicts that carried into it.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins posted on X on Saturday, Oct. 31, a photo of Mercedes Reshard New, a Georgia social media personality known as "Shawty Dred," captioned "SNAP FRAUDSTER" and framed as a Halloween costume. Prosecutors say New ran more than 350 fraudulent SNAP accounts using stolen identities from 2020 to 2026 and collected about $4 million in benefits; he was indicted Oct. 7 and remains in federal custody. Two days earlier, the White House's own X account posted a pumpkin carved into a sombrero shape, captioned "Spooky szn is here."
AP reported the posts were "slammed by critics as inflammatory," without naming a critic, and noted they followed a 2025 episode in which the White House revived a Trump-posted deepfake of Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries in a mustache and sombrero, which Jeffries called "bigoted" and VP JD Vance had promised to stop. The posts came amid heightened anti-fraud and immigration messaging before midterms.
Neither the White House nor Rollins responded to AP's request for comment, nor did the NAACP.
AP reported the posts were "slammed by critics as inflammatory," without naming a critic, and noted they followed a 2025 episode in which the White House revived a Trump-posted deepfake of Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries in a mustache and sombrero, which Jeffries called "bigoted" and VP JD Vance had promised to stop. The posts came amid heightened anti-fraud and immigration messaging before midterms.
Neither the White House nor Rollins responded to AP's request for comment, nor did the NAACP.
Sources
- Trump administration's social media posts ahead of elections criticized for being inflammatory — Associated Press (via WSOC-TV), 2026-10-31