As the panic over President Donald Trump’s kneecapping of USAID continues to grow, more and more evidence is emerging showing how much fraud, waste, and abuse were occurring within the agency.
Karoline Leavitt, White House Press Secretary, fought the media on Monday by listing several grants that she called “insane.” This includes over a half-million dollars to promote DEI in Serbia and tens of thousands of dollars towards a transgender operetta in Colombia. It turns out that these examples were only the tip of the iceberg. On Tuesday, Sen. Joni Ernst of the Republican Party in Iowa posted a message. You won’t believe where your money is going.
You might even believe it, given the track record of our government, but it is still shocking. Things are about to get crazy.
Why does the United States government promote pottery classes in Morocco? What is the “soft power” that will help America to gain more respect in the world? Who is being influenced, and what interests are being served? To be clear, these questions and those that follow are rhetorical. I will address this point after we finish the article.
Continued, Ukraine is in a state-survival war with Russia. What planet would it be a good idea to use USAID funds to pay designers and models to go to Paris Fashion Week?
Hezbollah is the subordinate of Iran, and Lebanon’s government was subservient. Americans paid to promote “tourism”, even though Israel was being attacked by Lebanon (to whom we also send aid). It’s not as much money as the Wuhan Institute of Virology received.
Recently, the CIA admitted that COVID-19 is most likely to have originated from the lab leak hypothesis. USAID funded coronavirus research in the Wuhan lab. I am not a genius but I can connect the dots.
USAID spending $20 million in Iraq to create “Sesame Street”, shows how absurd all these grants are. Was this a good way to gain Iraqis’ trust? It didn’t, as they continue to attack our soldiers, and their legislature recently lowered the consent age to nine. USAID’s importance in boosting America’s global standing is constantly emphasized. What was the impact of this grant on that standing?
Some grants were defended as “aid” but only served to highlight the waste and fraud involved.
Even though the list grows, it is still a small drop in the ocean. Over the years, USAID has given out thousands of grants that are questionable. Left-wing ideologues have used USAID to promote radical social agendas.
Let’s go back to the reasons I stated that my questions were rhetorical throughout this article. You may be asking yourself why certain grants were given out if you are a critical thinker. What does Moroccan pottery have to do with American foreign policy Why is tourism important in Lebanon? How does a transgender graphic novel in Peru contribute to the United States being able to project its power?
These are the questions we need to ask because some of these grants don’t seem to be what they claim to be. It’s just a guess, but wouldn’t it be shocking if USAID funneled money to less-than-legal activities by way of some of these absurd expenditures? I hope the Trump administration digs deeper because the corruption is likely to be widespread.