When Mast then notes that State Department officials have prioritized DEI over effective diplomacy, Brennan thinks she’s laying a trap by asking for “proof.” Instead, he turns the table on her, bringing the receipts by listing specific grants and programs that went to things like drag shows and other LGBTQ initiatives.
MAST: Sure. Let’s list them off. Half a million dollars to expand atheism in Nepal. $50,000 to do, let’s see, a transgender opera in Columbia. $47,000 dollars to do an LGBTQ trans comic book in Peru. $20,000 a pop to do drag shows in Ecuador. Shall I continue with more examples of where DEI was the priority?
To be sure, that’s just a tiny sampling of all the left-wing insanity the State Department has been spending money on in the name of “diversity.” There were even embassies during the Biden administration flying the so-called “Pride-Progress” flag* as a way to push transgender ideology on the world. So yeah, as Mast says, the priorities have been all out of whack, and the results have been predictable, with America’s stature diminished and chaos developing around the globe. But even if that weren’t the result, my taxpayer dollars should not be going to such idiocy.
With that said, when Mast gave specific examples, Brennan sprinted to move the goalposts.
BRENNAN: Oh, it certainly seems like there could be a review of things. Foreign aid as you know is less than one percent of the entire federal budget so we’re talking small amounts of money by comparison.
That is the laziest argument imaginable. Just because something represents a relatively small percentage of government spending does not mean that the country should keep wasting money on drag shows in Ecudaro and the like. I don’t care if it’s a quarter of a percent of government spending, we shouldn’t be spending it.
Brennan has descended into Martha Raddatz “The incidents were limited to a handful of apartment complexes” territory here. Why should the US be spending the taxpayers’ money on any of these things?
* QED: U.S. Chargé d’Affaires in Kabul wins poster girl contest for everything wrong in Biden-world.
