Things are so bad in the Democrat Party it soon will be applying for a USAID handout like Guatemala, Serbia and Egypt.
The party needs all the help it can get.
But it must act quickly because this is the agency — the U.S. Agency for International Development — that President Donald Trump and Assistant-President Elon Musk are shutting down.
Trump said the agency, like the Democrat Party, has been run by “radical lunatics.”
Musk, head of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) went further. He said USAID “is a criminal organization” and that it was “Time for it to die.”
Often at odds with State Department policy, the largely independent agency, or what is left of it, will come under Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
USAID employed 10,000 people, and had a budget of $40 million, and gave away U.S. taxpayer money to countries around the world for mostly humanitarian causes.
It was a worldwide charitable organization established by President John F. Kennedy in 1961.
Sometimes, however, the causes were more politically motivated and woke, like progressive Democrat Party policy, than humanitarian.
As pointed out by the Trump White House and others the list of USAID waste and abuse of aid to foreign countries reads like the Democrat Party platform.
For instance, $2 million for “LGBT activism” in Guatemala; $1.5 million to “advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities;” $2.5 million for electric vehicles in Vietnam; $6 million for tourism in Egypt; $47,000 for a “transgender opera” in Columbia; $32,000 for a “transgender comic book” in Peru, and so on.
Granted the USAID excesses were cherry-picked to make the agency look bad while the humanitarian accomplishments of the organization were ignored.
But that is the way Trump rolls, and the voters love it.
USAID also gave $3 billion in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, much of which ended up in the hands of the Taliban through fake NGOs.
It also gave $9 million to a George Soros-backed left-wing takeover of the judicial system in Albania, such as it is, to prop up wavering support of socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama.
To win again the Democrats need to do what Trump does, only better.
But the Democrats still do not get it, which is why Trump should come to their aid by diverting leftover USAID funds to the Democrat Party which is broke and on the verge of becoming as relevant in U.S. politics as Guatemala, Serbia and Egypt.
The party is in such tough shape that none of its leaders, or former leaders, even showed up at its Maryland meeting last week to elect a new party chairman.
In a battle of two woke nonentities — “Ken and Ben” — the party elected Ken Martin of Minnesota over Ben Wikler of Wisconsin. Martin succeeded James Harrison, the chairman who presided over Kamala Harris’ wipeout.
Both happen to believe that racism and misogyny contributed to the defeat of Harris rather than Trump beating her across the board on issues like illegal immigration, crime and the cost of living.
Indictive of the sorry situation is the fact that party leaders, past and present were no-shows.
Joe Biden and Harris sent video messages in which they repeated platitudes.
Biden, meanwhile, signed up with a talent agency to represent him and/or the book he, or somebody, will write. It is the Los Angeles-based Creative Artists Agency which also represents former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle.
Obama and Michelle did not attend the meeting, nor did former President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary. Even former presidential candidate John Kerry, who loves the spotlight, was not around.
Nancy Pelosi was a no-show as well.
But indicative of hard times, she did send out an email request for campaign donations to take back Democrat control of the House.
The request was not for the usual contribution of $1,000, or $500, or $100, or even for $25. It was a request for a contribution of $1. Yikes.
So, to save democracy — and the Democrats — Trump must come up with USAID humanitarian rescue money. It will Make the Democrat Party Great Again. Yeah.
Veteran political reporter Peter Lucas can be reached at: peter.lucas@bostonherald.com
