because the poorest don't have the power to stop anyone taking their benefits whereas being rich by definition is having access to levers of power like the courts and political contributions and have also been running what is essentially a multigenerational PR campaign that says that the poorest among us are the source of all of our problems and that eliminating any help for them will simultaneously make things better for us by cutting spending and make things better for them through vague notions of encouraging responsibility or whatever.
tldr - the reason that going after the poor is always the answer is that it's the rich who are both asking and answering the question.
SNAP should be the last thing that gets reformed, aside from its tendency to fund less than ethical corporations (coca-cola, big agribusiness, Taco Bell). On that I totally agree.
The wealthy boomers who own multi-million dollar California track homes and don’t pay taxes because of prop 13, who are consuming millions on quasi-necessary medical procedures because they partied too hard in the 70s, gorged on trans fats in the 80s, smoked drank and didn’t go for walks, that’s where entitlement reform should start. But those are the base of one, maybe both parties and will vote out anyone that refuses to subsidize their ozempic and knee surgeries. They will even vote to reduce democracy by gerrymandering the state to block third party candidates and ensure nobody can come for their unnecessary health care costs and other ballooning entitlements.
tldr - the reason that going after the poor is always the answer is that it's the rich who are both asking and answering the question.