All the parades, rallies, marches, and hootenannies aside, the president is making some noble efforts during his last days in office. One of the best has been his fight against pork barrel spending in the latest virus stimulus bill.
His fight for $2000 was just a lark to get under Mitch McConnell’s skin. But the campaign to bring spending back to sanity reminds us of what’s best in the Trump administration.
It isn’t enough that the federal government spends billions here in absurdities with a PC theme. Now we are sending Pakistan, no ally to America, $10 million to study PC gender issues? Oh yes, that cash will be spent so wisely in a society that views women as chattel. But Senator Lindsey Graham snuck it in and there it is, $600 for an American and $10 million for PC in Pakistan. No wonder the president objected.
“Pakistan is a place I really worry about. Eighty-five countries a woman can’t open up a bank account without her husband’s signature. She can’t inherit property. If you’re a young girl in Pakistan life is pretty tough. So we’re trying to make life better for women throughout the world,” Graham said. With a study? Can’t we just bribe some politicians to change the law and be done with it? Probably cost a lot less than $10 million.
Lara Trump commented, “USD 1.4 billion to Asia Reassurance Initiative Act. I don’t even think anybody knows what that is. The USD 10 million to gender studies in Pakistan. USD 700 million to Sudan. How does that help Americans? How does that help us get out of this? And I think it’s very frustrating to people all around this country. I think they’re really glad to get the USD 600, but they probably could have gotten a lot more if we weren’t giving so much money away,” she said.
Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida, “America’s struggling workers should be prioritized over gender-specific programs in Pakistan or anti-narcotics programs in Bruma, or money for Ukraine (all of which are funded in this bill). Congress should get the economy open in America before getting gender programs funded in Pakistan. The Uniparty that writes these bills is America lasts to the core…I predict the day our country’s finances collapse, we will still be funding ‘gender programs’ in Pakistan.”
“When your country’s COVID-19 relief bill includes USD 10 million in ‘gender programs’ for Pakistan, you know Congress is broken,” tweeted in-coming Congresswoman Lauren Boebert of Colorado. Thus the president was in pretty good company. His stance on these issues, and his leadership, will he sorely missed in the days to come. Trump’s international frugality will be replaced by billions to international boondoggles and foreign kleptocrats. It will help one group, Mercedes Benz salesmen in foreign capitols.