The facts
The Trump administration is directing over $175 million from the State Department's human rights fund to awards supporting anti-communism, white Afrikaner rights in South Africa, a campaign against Brazil's supreme court, and programs for ideological allies in Europe. These funds were obligated on Wednesday, hours before the fiscal year deadline, despite congressional concerns. Critics, including Senator Jeanne Shaheen, argue these awards promote far-right organizations and undermine US values and relations with democratic partners. The largest award, $40 million, goes to the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. Sources indicate these awards were personally lobbied for by Trump administration members, reflecting interests in preserving traditional Western values and opposing immigration. This represents a shift from previous US support for dissidents and human rights defenders, with new projects targeting wealthy nations and focusing on opposition to regulation, migration, and 'gender ideology.' The State Department stated that programs would meet federal grant guidelines and undergo rigorous vetting.
Our take
Well, here it is: the official State Department budget for right-wing wingnut welfare. The Trump administration, in a move that should surprise precisely no one with a functioning brain, just pissed $175 million of human rights funding into the gaping maw of its own ideological vanity project. This isn’t diplomacy; it’s a fucking grift, a last-minute cash grab shoveled out the door before the fiscal year clock ran out because even these clowns knew Congress would rightfully call this bullshit for what it is.<br /><br />The star recipient is the fucking Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, a $40 million prize for professional anti-communist LARPers. Nothing says ‘human rights’ like writing a giant check to a group whose main job is to remind everyone that the Cold War ended and they didn’t get the memo. Meanwhile, a chunk of change is headed to support white Afrikaner ‘rights’ in South Africa. Let’s translate that from racist dog-whistle: US taxpayer money is now subsidizing a support group for people whose main complaint is that apartheid ended. What’s next, a fund for Confederacy enthusiasts?<br /><br />They’re also throwing money at a campaign against Brazil’s supreme court, because when you’re a globally notorious dickhead, you fund other dickheads who hate independent judiciaries. The whole portfolio reads like a Tucker Carlson fever dream: fighting ‘gender ideology,’ bitching about immigration, and propping up ‘traditional values’ in already-wealthy European nations. This is a pathetic, petty attempt to rebrand ‘human rights’ as ‘things that piss off liberals and make Steve Bannon horny.’<br /><br />The State Department had the audacity to claim these programs will be ‘rigorously vetted.’ Sure they will. Vetted to ensure the recipients are sufficiently sycophantic, reactionary, and useless. Senator Jeanne Shaheen is right to call this out for undermining US values, but let’s be clear: these *are* the administration’s values. Vanity, bigotry, and burning piles of cash to own the libs. It’s a fucking disgrace, and every cent is a monument to this administration’s cuntish worldview.<br /><br />They didn't just move the goalposts; they sold the fucking field to a bunch of whining, entitled pricks and called it a humanitarian victory.
