TUSCON — Christine, a retired widow in Arizona, placed food staples in her cart at a charity food distribution event — as she’s had to do monthly since the Trump administration slashed federal food assistance programmes.

“It’s just been hard. It’s been really raw,” the 67-year-old told AFP, declining to give her family name so that two children she cares for, ages nine and 13, would not discover how the refrigerator is stocked.

Until last year, Christine relied on the food assistance programme known as SNAP.

The few hundred dollars a month credited to a card she could use at supermarkets allowed her to supplement her modest retirement funds and keep her family afloat.

But in January many people saw this critical support vanish as cuts mandated by a major budget law championed by President Donald Trump went into effect.

The result: Five million Americans lost access to the programme.

“They don’t care about us,” Christine said, her eyes welling with tears. “The Trump administration doesn’t look out for the little people.”

Half of her retirement check goes to her rent.And persistent inflation — fuelled by the president’s war on Iran, which has sent gas prices soaring — has proven disastrous for her.