Gohmert: Cutting food stamps not evil because poor people buy king crab legs

[drm604]

216. But none of this justifies cutting benefits, and I see that you realize that.

Gohmert seems to be talking not about fraud, but about excess. He seems to be saying that people are getting more than they really need because they can afford crab legs.

People conflate two different things when they discuss this issue: fraud and excess. Those are two different things. If people really are able to gorge themselves on crab, lobster, booze, cigarettes and luxury cars then maybe their benefits are higher than they need to be. But they're not doing that, because it's not possible to do that on what they get each month.

If someone is doing that as a regular thing, then that person must be committing fraud. Rampant fraud would justify better enforcement efforts, but it does not justify what Gohmert advocates, cutting benefits, because that hurts innocent people but does not prevent fraud.

I've been hearing the same story about how someone's friend's aunt's neighbor saw somebody purchasing something excessive or unnecessary then driving off in a luxury car since the Reagan era if not before. The similarity of the stories points to them being urban legends or intentional right-wing smears. Your example is one of real fraud, which is a different thing from Gohmert's claims of excess.