President Donald Trump raised eyebrows Tuesday evening when he claimed that no one has ever heard of the African nation of Lesotho while criticizing US foreign aid programs in his address to a joint session of Congress.
In a speech on Tuesday, March 4, 2025, focused on reducing federal spending, Trump lambasted USAID initiatives from the previous administration, calling them a disgraceful waste of taxpayer money.
As part of his remarks, he singled out various programs targeted for cuts by the newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk.
“Just listen to some of the appalling waste we have already identified. $22 billion from HHS to provide free housing for illegal aliens. $45 million for diversity, equity and inclusion, scholarships in Burma. $40 million to improve the social and economic inclusion of sedentary migrants – nobody knows what that is,” Trump said.
Trump then turned his attention to Lesotho, a landlocked nation in southern Africa, as he criticized USAID for funding LGBTQI+ initiatives there.
“$8 million to promote LGBTQI+ in the African nation of Lesotho which nobody has ever heard of,” Trump said.
Beyond Lesotho, Trump continued deriding a number of USAID programs.
“$60 million for indigenous people and Afro-Columbian empowerment in Central America. $8 million for making mice trans-gender, this is real. $32 million for left-wing propaganda operation in Moldova. $10 million male circumcision in Mozambique,” he added.
He expressed anger at the USAID programmes which he termed as scams.
“All of these scams, and they’re far worse, but I didn’t think it was appropriate to talk about them. They’re so bad,” Trump said.
Trump further noted that many more USAID scam projects had been exposed by a group of what he termed as very intelligent, mostly young people, headed by Elon Musk.
The American president emphasised that DOGE had found hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud which had been reclaimed to reduce debt and fight inflation.
He also gave a shoutout to Musk in his address to the joint session of Congress.
“To further combat inflation, we will not only be reducing the cost of energy, but we’ll be ending the flagrant waste of taxpayer dollars,” Trump said, highlighting his goal for DOGE.
“Thank you, Elon. He’s working very hard. He didn’t need this,” he added.
Upon assuming power in January 2025, Trump Elon Musk as the chief of the newly created DOGE to reduce government spending and cut federal expenditure.
Martin Oduor
The alchemist of literary works – a master wordsmith with a proven record of transforming the raw materials of language into a rich tapestry of emotion, thought, and imagination.
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