The recent controversy over the Trump administration’s order to freeze some federal grants is not genuinely about funding specific programs which the left can bleat about.
It’s about cutting off the lifeblood of the leftward jobs, influence, and patronage scheme.
Clueless combover conservatives boast about this spending by claiming it’s "bringing jobs into the district" or "bringing our tax dollars back home."
The real truth is, his money only serves to feed the liberal domination of our culture, our universities, our charities and our do-gooder organizations.
That’s why "the swamp" has mobilized in an instant to oppose President Trump’s freeze on grants. As The Washington Times put it, "The Trump administration ordered freezes on certain federal grants after President Biden massively expanded spending at home and abroad to implement woke ideology and far-left Green New Deal policies, budget analysts say.
"The Office of Management and Budget cracked down on the spending on Monday. It paused federal grants and assistance that violate Mr. Trump’s executive orders to eliminate government DEI initiatives and Green New Deal policies that seek to end fossil fuels and raise energy costs.
"It means no more funding for illegal DEI programs. It means no more funding for the green new scam that has cost American taxpayers tens of billions of dollars.
"It means no more funding for transgenderism and wokeness across our federal bureaucracy and agencies. No more funding for Green New Deal social engineering policies," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
This wasteful spending is entirely politically driven.
"Research grants," don’t have to produce any useful findings, the grant only has to hire left-adherents, and give them a check.
The same for spending that goes to NGOs (non-governmental organizations).
Those entities are overhead-heavy employment centers for liberals who can use tax dollars to hire left consultants and "experts."
Those purported experts produce reports, studies, white papers, and the like — that only gather dust. But you can take it to the bank, those checks are being cashed.
This spending supports organizations that serve as farm teams for leftist bureaucrats that lose an election. They bide their time, on taxpayer’s money, until the left assumes power in Washington again.
Cutting off this money means their sinecures are over and they will have to look for work in the dreaded private sector. Or the left-billionaires will really have to step up their subsidies of these fever swamps of ideology.
Here is a sampling of the patronage spending, "A $1.5 million ‘gender scholars’ program in Egypt, a $3 million 'girl-centered climate action' program in Brazil and $790,000 for electric motorcycle charging stations in Uganda are among the dozens of initiatives financed by federal grants that cost American taxpayers billions of dollars under the Biden administration."
All those projects require oversight by the U.S. left and consultants.
Then you have the local patronage for left-adherents who don’t like to travel.
"The federal government spent billions of dollars on domestic DEI grants, including for 'equity-centered teacher pipelines,' 'STEM equity research hubs,' training for geoscientists to be 'justice-centered' and 'multiculturally inclusive chemistry programs.'"
The Heritage Foundation blames lack of media coverage for the ability of the Biden administration to turn federal grants into left ideology-indoctrination-factory.
"A larger reason behind this, which is something most of the mainstream media has not been interested in covering, is the extremely aggressive and ideological approach that the Biden administration took to implementing pretty much any federal spending that was within their control."
But we disagree.
Much of the blame should be laid at the feet of our complacent, cowardly combover conservatives who voted to approve of this spending.
This grant fight will go a long way to determining how successful Trump is in draining the Swamp, reducing the deficit, and curbing the growth of government.
That’s why left-wingers raced to file a lawsuit before a Biden-appointed judge to block the block on spending.
"District Judge Loren AliKhan halted the freeze moments before it was to go into effect. His ruling sidestepped the legality of the president’s move but gave the Trump administration and concerned nonprofit groups more time to make their cases."
It's difficult to predict how this judge can force Trump to write checks, but we’ll see.
What’s important is that Trump double-down on his freeze.
In Trump 1.0 a single judge could stop his plans dead in their tracks. In Trump 2.0 we’re hoping Trump keeps up the pressure.
If he does halt the halt, do so only in the district where that judge has authority.
Look for workarounds. Delay. Abolish the agency or program doing the spending.
Anything to keep up the pressure.
America was not designed to be ruled by unelected judges.
It has an executive branch for a reason. Just as Trump won this election for a reason.
This fight over left-patronage spending is a fight to the death.
In the long run, it could also be a fight to the death for the nation’s future.
Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Ronald Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Mr. Reagan is an in-demand speaker with Premiere Speaker's Bureau. Read Michael Reagan's Reports — More Here.
Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher for the League of American Voters, and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of "Conservative Christian's Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now With Added Humor!)" Read Michael Shannon's Reports — More Here.