The Matt Walsh Show, Ep. 1691 – The SNAP Scam Is Back, An Ice Age Is Supposedly Coming, & A Gold’s Gym Controversy Update Date: November 13, 2025
Host: Matt Walsh (The Daily Wire)

Brief Overview

In this episode, Matt Walsh delivers pointed critiques of recent government actions and cultural issues. He focuses on the federal government shutdown and the restoration of SNAP benefits, a new wave of climate change alarmism predicting an impending “ice age,” and gives an update on a controversy involving Gold’s Gym and women’s locker room safety. Walsh maintains his candid, combative tone throughout, sparing nobody—Republicans, Democrats, and public figures like Michelle Obama—from criticism.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Lessons from the Government Shutdown

[00:00–07:30]

• Walsh argues that the only action Republicans should have taken during the shutdown was to abolish SNAP (food stamp) benefits, which he deems broadly fraudulent and unnecessary.
  • “The fact that Republicans caved on this issue by itself makes the shutdown an abject failure.” (00:00)
• He questions why air traffic controllers’ pay and the operation of air travel is a federal responsibility.
  • Compares the US’s public system with Canada’s private, self-sustaining model and highlights the failures of the US Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) modernization attempts.
  • “In terms of efficiency, we're being shown up by a country that's put the government in charge of everything from health care to Facebook to euthanizing people who miss rent payments. I mean, it’s embarrassing.” (03:06)
• Suggests that continuing to socialize air travel creates systemic vulnerabilities, as seen during the shutdown.

2. SNAP and Welfare Fraud

[07:30–13:37]

• Plays and mocks clips of Republican representatives celebrating the reopening of the government and resumption of SNAP/WIC benefits alongside military pay.

  • "Yes, our brave military service members, law enforcement officers, and SNAP recipients. Let's all hail their bravery and their service to this country.” (08:35)

• Asserts that most SNAP recipients do not actually need assistance:

  • Cites USDA data showing 75% of SNAP recipients are overweight or obese; only 2.5% are underweight.
  • “75%. 75. Just to be clear...” (08:54)
  • Suggests the program should be slashed by 75% and limited to the clearly needy.

• Discusses various methods of welfare fraud: double-dipping, use of benefits inappropriately, cash exchanges, and dead people receiving SNAP. Claims actual fraud is severely underreported by blue states that withhold data.

  • “We really have no idea about the true scale of this. All we know is that it’s really, really bad.” (11:53)
  • Quotes Agriculture Secretary: “Half a million people getting benefits two times under the same name. 5,000 dead people, 80% of the able bodied Americans...” (12:23)

• Critiques the GOP for spinelessness, for not ending SNAP:

  • "The action that should have been taken by every single Republican in Congress was to abolish the SNAP program entirely.” (13:14)
  • Argues illegal aliens constitute the majority of the fraud but Republicans refuse to address it.
  • "Your ability to fly on an airplane is contingent on illegal aliens getting free food, free Doritos. That's their position.” (14:33)

3. Climate Change Alarmism – The Return of the 'Ice Age’

[23:10–27:40]

• Addresses a new study predicting the Atlantic Gulf Stream could collapse, maybe triggering a new ice age and sea level rise.
  • Mocks the cyclical nature of climate doomsday predictions—first global warming, now back to ice age panic.
  • “So the good news is that we all survived global warming… Bad news is we're back to the ice age.” (23:53)
• Cites a 2004 Guardian article predicting that by 2020, Europe would be under water and in anarchy.
  • “The Pentagon analysis said: disruption and conflict will be endemic features of life. Once again, warfare would define human life.” (26:07)
• Observes that alarmist predictions continue without accountability for failed forecasts.
  • “There must always be some looming Armageddon… This is what they use to manipulate us.” (27:15)

4. Michelle Obama and the Politics of Respect

[28:00–33:20]

• Plays a clip of Michelle Obama discussing beauty, respect, and “the conversation” around black women.
  • “Our beauty is so powerful and so unique that it is worthy of the conversation, and it's worthy of demanding the respect that we're owed…” – Michelle Obama (29:20)
• Walsh then satirically riffed: calls her podcast title (IMO) “the least imaginative title… in my opinion.”
  • “If your name is Matt Walsh and your show's title is 'The Matt Walsh Show', now that is innovation.” (29:48)
• Critiques Michelle for “constantly demanding respect” and asserts, “Those who demand respect never get respect… you should be commanding respect.”
  • “If you want to be respected, the last thing you should do is demand it… Command, don’t demand.” (31:06)
• Uses this as a springboard for a broader point about parenting and authority, arguing respect is best “commanded” through presence and conduct—not demanded.

5. Gold’s Gym Controversy & Women’s Spaces

[35:20–38:15]

• Plays a town hall exchange between Tish Hyman (lesbian, black woman) and CA State Senator Scott Wiener regarding men in women’s locker rooms.
  • Hyman: "I'm deeply concerned about women's safety in female only spaces. What would you say to women who are seeking assurance that their safety will be protected from men who by California law can self ID as women in women only spaces?” (35:20)
  • Wiener gives a noncommittal answer; Hyman forcefully presses him, asserting trans women are not women and relaying her own experience of assault.
• Walsh commends Hyman’s fight, but notes that in the progressive victim hierarchy, trans status supersedes black or lesbian identity, rendering her appeals ineffective in leftist settings:
  • “As a black lesbian, you are below trans people on the left-wing victim hierarchy.” (39:40)
• Predicts ongoing leftward confusion and possible shifts in this hierarchy over time.

6. Target Employee Smiling Mandate

[41:00–44:45]

• Reads and mocks a Daily Mail headline: “Target makes disturbing demand of staff in a bid to boost flagging sales.”
• The “demand”: smile if a customer comes within 10 feet, offer help if within 4 feet.
  • Walsh: “The disturbing demand is that employees must be nice to the customers.” (41:50)
• Laments the collapse of customer service standards nationwide, reminiscing about past expectations for service industry workers.
  • “Customer service is awful almost everywhere, except for Chick-fil-A.” (43:12)

7. Listener Comments & Closing Thoughts

[44:46–End]

• Responds to audience comments about mortgages, America-first policy, and technology.
  • On 50-year mortgages: argues they exacerbate existing problems rather than solve them.
  • On the compatibility of America-only positions with support for persecuted white South African farmers: maintains that, as long as the U.S. accepts refugees, preference should be given to those who align with our values.
  • On technological progress and AI: cautions that not all technology, including AI, is obviously a positive development, comparing the societal impact of past innovations like automobiles and warning about the unique risks of removing the human element.

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• “In terms of efficiency, we're being shown up by a country that's put the government in charge of everything from health care to Facebook to euthanizing people who miss rent payments.” (03:06, Walsh)
• “Your ability to fly on an airplane is contingent on illegal aliens getting free food, free Doritos. That's their position.” (14:33, Walsh)
• “Our beauty is so powerful and so unique that it is worthy of the conversation, and it's worthy of demanding the respect that we're owed…” (29:20, Michelle Obama)
• “If you want to be respected, the last thing you should do is demand it. Okay? You shouldn't be demanding respect. You should be commanding respect.” (31:06, Walsh)
• “As a black lesbian, you are below trans people on the left-wing victim hierarchy.” (39:40, Walsh)
• “The disturbing demand is that employees must be nice to the customers. That's the disturbing demand.” (41:50, Walsh)
• “Customer service is awful almost everywhere, except for Chick-fil-A.” (43:12, Walsh)

Timestamps of Important Segments

• 00:00–07:30: Shutdown recap, air traffic privatization argument
• 07:30–13:37: SNAP benefits, fraud, and Republican responses
• 23:10–27:40: “New ice age” climate alarmism mockery
• 28:00–33:20: Michelle Obama, beauty, and the demand for respect
• 35:20–38:15: Gold’s Gym, women’s spaces, and identity politics hierarchy
• 41:00–44:45: Target’s “disturbing” employee policies and the state of customer service
• 44:46–End: Listener comments (mortgages, America-first, AI)

Summary Flow and Tone

Matt Walsh’s episode is characteristically confrontational and fast-paced, blending policy critique, cultural commentary, and sarcasm. He uses humor and exaggeration—both mocking and self-deprecating—to highlight, in his view, failings and moral absurdities in American politics, bureaucracy, and left-wing social trends. Listeners are treated to a detailed breakdown of his arguments about government inefficiency, welfare fraud, political cowardice, cultural victimhood, and the erosion of societal standards—all delivered with caustic wit and frequent callbacks to themes of personal responsibility, authority, and skepticism of progressivism.