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Speaker 1: And we are back with another edition of the Federalist

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Radio Hour. I'm Matt Kittle, senior Elections correspondent at the

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Federalist and your experienced Shirpa on today's quest for Knowledge.

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As always, you can email the show at radio at

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the Federalist dot com, follow us on exit fdr LST.

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Make sure to subscribe wherever you download your podcast, and

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of course to the premium version of our website as well.

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Our guest today is Parker Thayer, investigative researcher at nonprofit

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tracker Capital Research Center. Let's have a discussion about DOGE files,

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donor advised funds and the unchecked mess at usaid. It

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is the Malstrom. It is all happening right here and

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right now. And Parker, thank you so much for joining

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us for a little bit of perspective and clarity.

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Speaker 2: Oh it's great to be back.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's good to have you, and it's good to

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get an expert on these things. You folks at the

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Capital Research Center have been doing a lot of work

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on this front and it is hitting all at one time.

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If you wouldn't mind give me a little overview of

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the work that you're doing, particularly with as you call

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it the Doge Files.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so the Doge Files. It's a really neat project

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we launched recently. We have years and years of experience

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investigating the activities and a lot of people like to

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call them NGOs when they get government funding, but I'll

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just call them nonprofits for broad purposes. Sure, we do

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a lot of research on political nonprofits that are trying

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to insert themselves into the public policy space and try

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and dictate what you can and can't do, what laws say,

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what regulations say, and and to direct where government money goes.

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And over the last four years particularly, we've observed that

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those nonprofits that we've been studying for years have gotten

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more and more government funding with each passing year. And

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when the the announcement of those the Department of Government

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Efficiency came out, we realized that we had a lot

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of really good information ready made to provide to anyone

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who wanted to clean up federal spending rules and try

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and kind of cut back on the spending and cut

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back on the insanity. There's there's a lot of you know,

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a lot of left wing insanity fund by nonprofits that

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get government grants, and we had we were very well

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qualified to document it and and it takes a lot

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of expertise to do these things, so we thought we

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kind of have to jump in here. So that's where

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the project came from. And gosh it has been There's

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has been a lot that we've found.

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Speaker 1: So far, no doubt about it. And you know, you

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folks have been doing this for a long time. Influence

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Watch is book market if you want to know where

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the money is coming from, where it is going in

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terms of NGOs, nonprofits, so called charities. Your organization has

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a site influencewatch dot com and it is an absolute

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go to to track these things. And I mean it

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goes on. It's a good thing we have the Internet

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because you have infinite space to do this. It seems

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like you need every inch of that infinite space.

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Speaker 3: Oh yeah, and you know this the I kind of

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like to call it the doge. I don't know if

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you can really call it a revolution, but the awakening

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of the average American to what the government is actually

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spending money on. There been a lot of developments on

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that in the past few days. Influence Watch it was

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kind of our original attempt to track all the spending

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and it's been getting a lot more traffic because people

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are so interested to know which nonprofits are getting federal

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money nowadays. So yeah, highly recommend influenced. Will you guys

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shoud all check it out? But the DOGE files is

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kind of a new project and there's a lot going on.

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Speaker 1: There, absolutely and DOGE, of course, if you're trying to follow,

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and it's it's difficult sometimes because you know, this is

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an administration that was prepared to hit the ground running,

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and they certainly did. And one of the biggest features

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and obviously one of the more controversial features of the

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first few weeks of the Trump administration the second Trump administration,

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is the Department of Government Efficiency aka DOGE. And the

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guy who leads up this entity, of course, is Elon Musk,

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who is Do you find it funny that this guy

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was the darling of the left a decade ago? And my,

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how things change. But within that, there's an interesting idea

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that's coming out with you know, the Democrats, the leftist

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all fighting this thing. They're all concerned and they make this,

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you know, these nefarious, sinister sounding claims about special government

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employee category, when in fact, you know as well as

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I do, Parker, that you know that has been a

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term that's used has been used forever in the government

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to denote that there is a person who works part

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time within the government. They have some, but not all,

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of the kinds of big government union protections that we're

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also talking about here in the DOGE. But it is

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interesting now where the battle lines are going. Your project,

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I think will help shine some very important light for

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the taxpayer and just for the general American.

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Speaker 3: Now it is interesting the about face of the left

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on Elon Musk. I'm well, I guess, I guess I

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am old enough to remember when Elon Musk was making

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cameos in the Ironman movies produced by Marvel and Disney.

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Speaker 2: He used to to be their favorite.

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Speaker 1: Oh the good days for the left, Park, are the good,

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the old, the old nostalgic days for the left?

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Speaker 2: Yes?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, but you mentioned the battle lines for me, and

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nowhere is that more clear than over the last two

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days of the discussion we've seen about us AID, which,

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as part of our dough House project, we've been trying

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to wade into that conversation on both sides. The left

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is saying that the right is making unsubstantiated claims about

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what USAID is spending or is spending money on, and

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the right is making claims about things that USAID is

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spending money on, but also things that are more conspiratorially minded.

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One of my colleague, Mike Watson, put out a blog

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post yesterday trying to explain the reason we started this

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dose project is because these things are so nuanced. Reading

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USA spending dot org, which is a website if I

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mentioned influence Watch earlier, USA spending dot org, if you're

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tracking government funding. It is run by the government. It's

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basically the government's checkbook. You can find pretty much everything

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in there if you know what you're doing, but.

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Speaker 2: It's very hard to use.

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Speaker 3: Possibly by design it is very hard to use, but

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we have been trying to It is very important as

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we go through and try and cut government spending to

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bat one thousand percent, we have to be accurate because

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if you are even the smallest bit inaccurate, the mainstream

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media will run along with the headline saying your entire

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story is fake. For example, there was a story about

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how there is a I Think a way House spokesperson

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came out and said that there was a USA grant

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for a funding a transgender opera performance in Columbia and

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the mainstream media headline about that is they're lying USA

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never funded that. Now of course the truth is they

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you know, the government did fund that. It was the

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State Department, not USA. But that's you know, that's how

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these these headlines will be twisted if you're even the

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smallest percent inaccurate. So I'd love to urge people. I

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see lots of stuff on social media. It's very exciting

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digging into the world the governments spending, but sometimes a

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little bit of expertise can go a long way.

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Speaker 2: Turned to influenced.

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Speaker 3: Watch look at the dose files, you know, see what

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conservative reporters are saying. Because these things it is an

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information trap. There's so much information that it gets hard

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to sift through all of it.

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Speaker 1: Well, one of those areas kind of ties together. I

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wanted to get your take on, you know, the fire

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the flood of information that came out about corporate media

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outlets like Politico, New York Times and others getting funding

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from us AID, when in fact, what it turned out

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to be was they were we had government agencies, a

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lot of them paying for subscriptions to these corporate media outlets,

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but they were paying thousands and thousands, tens of thousands,

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millions of dollars. So there is a story to be

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told here. It has to be in perspective too as well.

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Speaker 3: Huh exactly, And it's it is. It is a testament

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to how like, like I mentioned, being one thousand percent

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accurate on these things is so important because instead of

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government is spending eight million dollars on Politico subscriptions, the

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headlines have been Conservatives make up conspiracy about Politico. And

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of course we knew this was coming. If you know,

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they even if we were one hundred percent accurate, they

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probably still would have found a way to make up

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headlines about that. But you know, the the spending is

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out of control. People are realizing this for the first time.

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They're getting very excited about it, and that is good.

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But you've got you've got to maintain a little bit

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of a critical thinking cap when you look at this stuff.

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Speaker 1: Well, I think you can. You can be critical and smart,

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you know, at the same time, and then also ask yourself,

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what the hell is going on here? Why is politically

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First of all, how does Politico exist if it charges

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ten thousand dollars or whatever the outlandish prices for its

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premium product? I mean, you want to pay for that,

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as you know as a news consumer, that's fine. Why

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is the state Department Treasury paying for it? Those are

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the kinds of invY. Yeah, and I think a lot

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of Americans would say, no, you shouldn't be paying for that.

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And also, what do you get for that? Have we

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been able to track what's the value of that? For

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these state agencies?

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Speaker 3: You know, political pro we don't even pay for it

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because it's so absurdly expensive. And we are a professional,

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you know, we research public policy for a living. Here,

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we don't pay for it because it's so absurdly expensive.

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I cannot believe that. Basically every government office seems to

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have at least thirty subscriptions to it.

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Speaker 2: That's crazy.

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Speaker 1: Why why don't they even Why don't they share a subscription?

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Why do thirty people in that agency? Why do they

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need to pay whatever it is, three hundred thousand dollars

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for this subscription?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's Politico is doing its very best to extract

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all the money they can from the government.

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Speaker 2: That is for sure.

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Speaker 3: I don't think in any reasonable world they would be

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able to charge ten thousand dollars per subscription if it

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weren't for the nearly inelastic demand of the government and

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government employees who aren't spending their own money, so they

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don't care how much it costs.

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Speaker 1: That raises the question, though, Parker, do these entities, these

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corporate leftist media entities, do they exist anymore. We've heard

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about Politico having some problems paying the bills, you know,

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cutting checks for employees. If this stuff goes away, does

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Politico go away?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, with some back of the napkin, Matt.

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The New York Times has a report suggesting that Politico's

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revenues are somewhere around about two hundred million dollars per

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year and the government contracts or the at least the

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obligations if they were fully paid out, and that is

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a big if, but you know, they're probably getting around

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eight million dollars per year from the federal government at Politico,

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which would put the federal government at about five percent

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of all Politico's business. Imagine if Walmart was five percent

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of their business overnight, I mean, that would be an enormous,

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enormous blow to their to their bottom line. So, yeah,

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you got there's something, there's something there. You know that

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these the mainstream outlets definitely are being propped up a

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little bit by this kind of willful throwing away of

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taxpayer funds.

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Speaker 1: And do you write today in the dose files, Parker,

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one of the many things wrapped in the voluminous packaging

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of the so called Inflation Reduction Act nineteen point five

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billion dollars for Climate smart agriculture. What prey tell is

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climate my smart agriculture.

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Speaker 3: Climate smart agriculture is the most one of the most

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infuriating things I've ever written about. It's the it's a

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Department of Agriculture program. And this was of course stuffed

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inside the omnibus IRAC that did nothing to reduce inflation.

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But that's neither here nor there. What isn't there is

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the crops. The crops aren't there anymore because the Climate

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Smart Farming program is entirely based upon paying people to

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not farm, because that is what is smart for the climate. Apparently,

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the Climate star program is offering subsidy. It doesn't give

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government subsidies out directly, No, that would be too efficient. Instead,

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what they do is they give enormous contracts in the

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tens of millions or grants rather not contracts to NGOs

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nonprofits that are they're named you know, observed things like

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the US Soybean Association, or there are lots of trade groups,

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lots of agricultural groups, basically all of the interest groups

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that democrats profess to hate. They give them lots and

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lots and lots of money, and then those nonprofits from

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there can distribute that as they see fit to farmers

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on a per acre basis. When they use what is

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called cover crops. If you're familiar with agriculture, you probably

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just rolled your eyes a little bit. Cover crops is

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essentially just planting grass on your field and not farming it.

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And it does have minor benefits for the soil because

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you know, as you know, growing pretty much anything on

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soil will have some sort of benefit, and the grasses

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are a lot less harsh on the soil quality and

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the nutrients in the soil. But essentially it is they're

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paying them up to twenty five dollars an acre in

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some cases to not farm their farms at a time

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when food prices are going through the roof. And what

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this has caused is, you know, a decrease in the

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quality and production of food, an increase in prices, and

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very little benefits for the climate, if any at all.

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I would guess there are none, and of course, being

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a government program, I did some basic math on I

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just picked one grantee at random and found them that

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they were. They were eight years behind schedule and massively

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over budget for achieving their stated goal. I think it

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was something like getting a million acres of farmland to

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be not farmed anymore.

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Speaker 1: And that's not surprise.

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Speaker 3: That's just the Department of Agriculture. We've found this in

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this level insanity exists throughout every single department that we've

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looked at so far. The USA, for example, yesterday there

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was a lot of discussion about that we found four

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billion dollars under the bid Administration granted to organizations listed

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as miscellaneous foreign wordies. Now what that means is the

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names were redacted. They don't want to tell us where

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the money went. And you know, the argument is that

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if terrorists found out where the money was going, that

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organization would be targeted. But I don't think there's any

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reasonable way you can say four billion dollars needed to

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be redacted because of that reason that I don't buy it.

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I don't think people should buy that for a second.

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Speaker 1: But they are. Here's the thing that I do not understand.

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I think if the real story is told and you

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know the files and DOGE itself being transparent and getting

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this information out the Trump administration and honest news organizations

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you know who are not being paid by the federal

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government to operate, for instance, the Federalist, if the word

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gets out there, and I think that is why you

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have the left pushing back so hard. This is a

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bad look once again for the left, for Democrats fighting

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for government inefficiency, waste and abuse, fighting for you know,

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some of these payments in organizations that they would normally

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fight against. But here's the other part of that. This

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is where we have the potential to see the UNA

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party in full force. Because, let's face, the swamp is

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filled with all kinds of things, but at its very core,

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it is filled with money. And these politicians have done

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very well by making sure certain pots of money are stirred,

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are sent to here or there to help them keep

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their jobs, to help keep their power. So I guess,

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before we go further into some of these insane programs

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that you're highlighting, can DOGE survive? We've seen all the

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court challenges. Now can this very important effort survive the swamp?

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Speaker 2: I think it can. It will only survive, though it

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will have to.

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Speaker 3: It will only survive if it can keep the will

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of the people on its side. If it is if

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DOSEE is, you know, making false claims getting debunked over

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and over again, that won't work. So far, Dog has

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been very good the and honestly, most of what doge

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is at this point, it really has only just started working.

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Speaker 2: Most of what it is is.

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Speaker 3: Just a you know, particularly and conservative media, but also

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just outside of the media, so on social media.

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Speaker 2: It's it's just been an uprising, a.

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Speaker 3: Sudden realization of what the government is spending money on,

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and a sudden.

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Speaker 2: Desire to know that information.

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Speaker 3: It's been there for years, you know, all this all

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this data that you're seeing now, this is not new.

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This is not something that DOGE exposed. It's been there

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the whole time on these publicly available databases. But people

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are waking up to it now, which is fantastic. And

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I think, you know, we have a Supreme Court that is,

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thank goodness, has some justices with some common sense on it.

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It may take time, and there will be lots of

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court battles in the lower courts, but I think that

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ultimately common sense will prevail here. I do think that

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Doge has a chance.

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Speaker 4: Bank of America is full of lies. The Watch Dot

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00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:18,640
on Wall Street podcast with Chris Markowski. Every day Chris

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00:19:18,680 --> 00:19:21,480
helps unpack the connection between politics and the economy and

328
00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:24,079
how it affects your wallet. After Trump caught out Bank

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00:19:24,119 --> 00:19:27,839
of America for debanking people for their conservative politics, they

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issued a statement full of lies. Remember who gave the

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FBI a list of customers that made transactions around January sixth.

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Whether it's happening in DC or down on Wall Street,

333
00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:39,680
it's affecting you financially. Be informed. Check out the Watch

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00:19:39,720 --> 00:19:42,799
Dot on Wall Street podcast with Chris Markowski on Apple, Spotify,

335
00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:44,279
or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Speaker 1: The Doge files. Of course, you have all kinds of

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different areas. You know, I'm looking at the Department of Education.

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No surprise here, but DEI Diversity, equity inclusion. They've been

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such a big part of you know this the first

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couple of weeks, a few weeks of the Trump administration,

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and rightly so, you know, we found we've we've been

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reporting for some time. We're getting a full now analysis,

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a full report on just how much these divisive and

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you know, race racist programs are really at the end

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of the day, you profile you look at the Center

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for Leadership and Educational Equity or CLEE. They got the

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Department of Education awarded nearly nineteen point two million dollars

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to this group. And there are all of this, like

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millions of dollars here, millions of dollars that we know that.

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But this, this is an organization that believes that our

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educational system is designed to main systemic inequities and that

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pervasive institutional racism requires white teachers to examine the supposed

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classroom impacts of their whiteness. Come on, America, America in

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in great numbers voted against that sort of nonsense in November.

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How how is anybody defending this kind of money going

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to a program or an entity like this.

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Speaker 3: Well, you know, that's that's a great question. I think

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what a lot of it goes back to is they

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are fighting tooth and nail to try and keep DEI

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when they know it's a losing issue. When people are explained,

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you know, when you explain to a person what DEI

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does in practice, you know overwhelmingly people don't like it,

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they don't support it. But one of the important tactics

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of the left, and they're they're very clever. They rely

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upon dividing people into interest groups, into particularly along the

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lines of race or identity or whatever it might be.

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They have to divide people to keep them from thinking

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critically about the policies that the left is promoting. I mean,

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you don't get thirty seven trillion dollars in debt by

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have been the everybody is unified and happy party.

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Speaker 2: You get there by making sure.

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Speaker 3: That everyone is constantly trying to fight against one another,

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and everyone is concerned about identity politics that just don't matter.

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And the only way you make those things matter is

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by essentially using the HR department. Everyone has had a

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bad encounter with HR, you know, saying some insane thing

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de I related often, and the federal government is not

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only no different, it is the center of you know,

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it's the ire of Sauron of DEI. It is, and

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we're seeing the money for it now. It's evaporating. And

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the employees, all of the DEI employees, all the people

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who are trying to enforce you know, absolutely barbaric racial

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quotas and standards and racist teachings are all They're all

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going to disappear. And once that happens, I think we're

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gonna you know, the government will get a it'll get

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a lot more efficient, it'll spend a lot less, but

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b will attract top grade talent again. You know, the

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American bureaucracy might have a chance of being what it

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once was in the days of say, you know, World

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War two, when we had a very efic you know,

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it was one of the most efficient parts of the

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entire American American economy, was the bureaucracy.

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Speaker 1: Well, it's been disgraced. It's been a long time since

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we've seen anything like that. It's been a leviathan. And

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of course, as we know, it has been a monster

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in the making for over a century now, but it

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has exploded obviously and really over the last four years

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with these kinds of programs. Our guest today is Parker Thayer,

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investigative researcher at nonprofit tracker Capital Research Center. We're talking

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about the Capital Research Center's new doge files, donor advisor funds,

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donor advice funds, they should say, coming up momentarily, and

402
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of course the unchecked mess at us AID, us AID

403
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as it is referred to. Let's talk about some more

404
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of these projects, because I think it's important we have

405
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conservative politicians rightly shining a light on some of these

406
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horrible things that we've seen through us AID. USAID House

407
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Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast pointed to well, let's

408
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talk about some of them. Fifteen million dollars for condoms

409
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to the Taliban through us AID, four hundred and forty

410
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six thousand, seven hundred dollars to promote the expansion of

411
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atheism in the Pall through the State Department. Why on

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earth would we be doing that. Our founders would just

413
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be they're turning over right now. I imagine one million

414
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dollars to boost French speaking lgb EQ groups in West

415
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and Central Africa through the State Department, because that's what

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we need more of. We need more French speaking to

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reach the LGBTQ movement in West and Central Africa. I mean,

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the list goes on and on. Twenty thousand dollars for

419
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a drag show in Ecuador through the State Department. It's

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kind of what you talked about before, first and foremost,

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as you've you know, these are some of the more

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egregious ones. Are you finding these as well, and are

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they correct? I mean, I want to make sure that

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these are indeed.

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Speaker 2: Happening.

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Speaker 3: Well, the first one, I don't know if. I don't

427
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know if we made it grant directly to the Taliban.

428
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I think Bryan mass might be a little over his

429
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skis on that one. Oh can do fund an absurd

430
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number of sexual health education classes of HIV prevention there

431
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is There is simply no chance the money is actually

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making it to the destinations that it is supposed to

433
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be making it too. That is one of the biggest

434
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problems with USA. I don't believe for a moment that

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even let's say seventy percent, at least thirty percent of

436
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it is being skimmed off the top somewhere. There's no

437
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chance that we spent all this money and the outcomes

438
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have not improved that drama.

439
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Speaker 1: Hold on a minute, Perker, because I you know, when

440
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I think about the Taliban, I think about their interest

441
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in safe sex. Nothing nothing says nothing says the Taliban

442
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like condoms. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So, so, first.

444
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Speaker 1: And foremost, he may he may be right that the

445
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fifteen million dollars is going to the Taliban.

446
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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I believe that entirely.

447
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Speaker 3: I think that there is it is a very long

448
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history of USA funding being appropriated by all kinds of

449
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horrible people all over the world because we send it

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out with so little oversight, with so little care for.

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Speaker 2: What happens to it.

452
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Speaker 3: But yeah, yeah, we've we've been finding stuff like that

453
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all over the place. I'll read let's see, I'll just

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pick two random ones from my Twitter feed. Lately, the

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State Department looks like in twenty twenty four October first,

456
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twenty twenty four, issued a two point four million dollar

457
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grant to the Nature Conservancy, which is located in Virginia,

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to reduce the emissions of methane from cows in Brazil.

459
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Oh my god, that is the real thing we actually

460
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spend money on that. It looks like we have allocated

461
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several hundred thousand dollars of that grant so far. Hopefully

462
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they'll be able to claw back the remaining sum. That's

463
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one of the nice things about all these grants we've

464
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been finding is that while a lot of the funds

465
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are what we call obligated funds, they are not outlaid funds.

466
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Obligated meats that the funds have been promised by you know,

467
00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:44,440
some bureaucratic official or you know, maybe even legislation. Most

468
00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:46,640
of the time, not legislation. It's just a bureaucrat doing

469
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what they want. But a lot of the money hasn't

470
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actually been sent yet, and so there's hope that these founds,

471
00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:55,640
those funds can do what's called impounded and reclaimed, and

472
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we could save ourselves billions and billions of dollars with that.

473
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Another grant two hundred and thirty thousand dollars to a

474
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redacted recipient whose address is a house in Atlanta, and

475
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the grant description says it is for an E sports

476
00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:16,880
club in China. What doesn't add up to me? But

477
00:28:17,599 --> 00:28:19,920
you know, maybe there's some world in which that makes sense.

478
00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:22,240
I don't know of that world, but maybe it exists somewhere.

479
00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:27,200
Speaker 1: An E sports club in China, first and foremost aren't

480
00:28:27,240 --> 00:28:30,680
they our number one adversary? Why are we funding E

481
00:28:31,079 --> 00:28:34,160
sports clubs in communist China?

482
00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:38,559
Speaker 2: For the love, I couldn't tell you I would love.

483
00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:42,400
Speaker 3: One of my most sincere wishes is that one day

484
00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:44,680
I'll be allowed to accompany a doge raid of one

485
00:28:44,759 --> 00:28:46,839
of these departments, and I'll be able to go in

486
00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:49,079
and meet the people who are who sign off on

487
00:28:49,119 --> 00:28:54,599
these grants, who write them. They astound me one more

488
00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:58,839
just for fun. This one is too, from the State

489
00:28:58,880 --> 00:29:01,680
Department to the af CD Foundation. I don't know what

490
00:29:01,680 --> 00:29:05,160
that is, couldn't really figure it out. It is for

491
00:29:05,279 --> 00:29:09,920
an address in Morocco for the study of rural youth migration.

492
00:29:10,039 --> 00:29:12,599
One point one million dollars for that. I don't know

493
00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:16,599
what rural youth migration means. Do rural youth migrate like birds?

494
00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:19,519
Is there is there a problem where they do they

495
00:29:19,519 --> 00:29:22,400
have seasonal rotations of where they live that Do they

496
00:29:22,519 --> 00:29:24,119
chase the wild herds.

497
00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:24,720
Speaker 2: Or they hunter gather?

498
00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:27,559
Speaker 3: I don't know, but apparently we had to spend a

499
00:29:27,599 --> 00:29:29,599
million dollars to study it or there would be dire

500
00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:32,839
consequences for the entire world in the fate of humankind,

501
00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:33,440
I guess now.

502
00:29:33,519 --> 00:29:36,680
Speaker 1: I tell you what you know. It's hard to find

503
00:29:36,799 --> 00:29:40,279
enjoyment in this complicated world anymore. But there's nothing that

504
00:29:40,319 --> 00:29:45,279
I enjoy more Parker than they were turning migrating rural

505
00:29:45,319 --> 00:29:50,079
youth to Capistrano every spring. It just it, really it delights.

506
00:29:49,799 --> 00:29:51,759
Speaker 3: To get out there and watch them with binoculars like

507
00:29:51,799 --> 00:29:53,319
they're flocks of flamingos going by.

508
00:29:53,359 --> 00:29:55,799
Speaker 1: Apparently I do look at I look at those rural

509
00:29:55,960 --> 00:29:59,960
migrants they're coming to Capistrano, like, you can't believe it.

510
00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:02,720
This is we laugh, but I mean, this is what

511
00:30:02,839 --> 00:30:05,880
the tax payer is on the hook for. It's just

512
00:30:06,599 --> 00:30:10,400
it's just absolute insanity. And what is insane to me?

513
00:30:10,559 --> 00:30:12,880
Just to go back for a moment, you know, to

514
00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:15,599
the politicos of the world, the New York Times, the

515
00:30:15,839 --> 00:30:21,880
you know, the the alphabet letters in news organizations now,

516
00:30:22,119 --> 00:30:27,160
you know, vehemently defending these and pushing stories like what

517
00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:29,640
will we do without these things?

518
00:30:30,039 --> 00:30:33,400
Speaker 3: It's it's so utterly demeaning because there's there are two

519
00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:36,119
responses when you point out government waste right now, which

520
00:30:36,119 --> 00:30:38,880
is happening on an unprecedented s go right now. When

521
00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:41,519
you pointed out, I've encountered two responses from the left.

522
00:30:41,599 --> 00:30:44,319
One is to say that these things are vital. That's

523
00:30:44,480 --> 00:30:46,599
you know, that's a lot of the more mainstream media line.

524
00:30:46,640 --> 00:30:50,319
But the more smug a lot of politicians will do this,

525
00:30:50,400 --> 00:30:52,960
a lot of you know, the more smug online personalities

526
00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:55,240
on the left will do this. The respond well, that

527
00:30:55,400 --> 00:30:57,200
grant that you're talking about for and this is a

528
00:30:57,240 --> 00:30:59,160
real grant, by the way, let's see one point seven

529
00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:01,400
million dollars to the ball and Children's Hospital for studying

530
00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:03,480
why trans kids keep getting blood clocks.

531
00:31:03,480 --> 00:31:04,279
Speaker 2: That's a real grant.

532
00:31:05,799 --> 00:31:07,920
Speaker 3: That's only a drop in the bucket of federal spending,

533
00:31:08,519 --> 00:31:10,839
you know, that's that's basically nothing. The federal budget is

534
00:31:10,880 --> 00:31:13,240
seven trillion dollars. That's why are you worried about that?

535
00:31:14,119 --> 00:31:17,839
And it's so utterly demeaning because for some for most people,

536
00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:21,400
actually one point what was the one point seven million

537
00:31:21,440 --> 00:31:26,279
dollars is something near their entire lifetimes some of tax dollars.

538
00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:28,279
That is all the taxes you will ever pay in

539
00:31:28,279 --> 00:31:31,039
your entire life. And it's going to fund one study

540
00:31:31,039 --> 00:31:33,640
that you would I mean that it's basically just a

541
00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:35,599
man made horror beyond your comprehension.

542
00:31:36,359 --> 00:31:40,359
Speaker 1: It is absurd, It's absurd and infuriating. No, it's the

543
00:31:40,359 --> 00:31:42,599
same kind of argument that I hear. You know, I

544
00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:45,559
just just wrote a piece about a father who lost

545
00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:50,200
his daughter in a drunk driving collision. The driver was,

546
00:31:50,279 --> 00:31:53,559
according to police, drunk and an illegal immigrant, and he

547
00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:56,839
was told by several people, you know, do make this political.

548
00:31:57,440 --> 00:32:00,839
Drunk driving accidents happen all the time. Minute. You know,

549
00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:04,119
we don't have you know, numbers showing us that it

550
00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:08,000
happens more in the illegal immigrant community than elsewhere. And

551
00:32:08,519 --> 00:32:12,359
you know what, yes, it wouldn't happen if the illegal

552
00:32:12,359 --> 00:32:15,680
immigrant wasn't here. Certainly wouldn't have happened if he wasn't

553
00:32:15,759 --> 00:32:17,480
drunk and behind the wheel of the car at the

554
00:32:17,480 --> 00:32:20,119
same time, but it wouldn't have happened a guy who

555
00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:24,039
was reportedly deported already. I mean, that's the same kind

556
00:32:24,039 --> 00:32:27,359
of argument we're getting now from the left and their

557
00:32:27,400 --> 00:32:30,319
corporate media accomplice media allies. It's insane.

558
00:32:30,519 --> 00:32:34,680
Speaker 3: It's incredible mental gymnastics from them, which you know, we've

559
00:32:34,759 --> 00:32:36,680
known that they're good at mental gymnastics for a long time.

560
00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:39,400
But to be able to say, on the one hand,

561
00:32:39,480 --> 00:32:43,160
we hate corporations that turn people into statistics and care

562
00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:45,759
about profits over people, and then on the other hand,

563
00:32:45,880 --> 00:32:47,920
when something like that happens, or when you point out

564
00:32:47,960 --> 00:32:50,400
that federal tax dollars shouldn't be going to this sort

565
00:32:50,440 --> 00:32:53,839
of thing, they say, well, it's just people are just statistics.

566
00:32:54,279 --> 00:32:56,480
Speaker 2: You know, they switch in their brain. It's amazing.

567
00:32:58,640 --> 00:33:01,960
Speaker 3: You know, it's almost hard to win arguments with people

568
00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:04,200
like that because they're not interested in arguing. They're just

569
00:33:04,279 --> 00:33:09,680
interested in power, or they're maintaining their ideological worldview with

570
00:33:09,759 --> 00:33:11,079
no critical thinking at all.

571
00:33:11,559 --> 00:33:14,000
Speaker 1: No doubt about it. We don't have much time left,

572
00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:15,640
but I did want to get into the sole notion

573
00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:18,680
of donor advised funds, because they're a key part of

574
00:33:18,720 --> 00:33:21,960
all of this. Your colleague, I think wrote a very

575
00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:25,720
good piece kind of laying all of this language out,

576
00:33:25,720 --> 00:33:28,279
because I don't think the average person knows about donor

577
00:33:28,279 --> 00:33:31,519
advised funds. We know all about them on the elections

578
00:33:31,599 --> 00:33:35,039
coverage team because they play such an essential role in

579
00:33:35,079 --> 00:33:38,799
our elections. They certainly play an essential role in the

580
00:33:38,839 --> 00:33:41,720
operation of our government, and the question is should they

581
00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:44,400
But let's begin with a definition and kind of go

582
00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:44,839
from there.

583
00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:47,240
Speaker 3: A donor advice fund, you can kind of think about

584
00:33:47,279 --> 00:33:50,240
it like a bank for philanthropy. People can show up

585
00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:52,039
to a donor advice fund. Let's say you want to

586
00:33:52,079 --> 00:33:55,200
donate one hundred thousand dollars to a charity, but you

587
00:33:55,240 --> 00:33:56,640
don't know where you want to send it yet, and

588
00:33:56,680 --> 00:33:58,759
you're doing some more research. You can go to a

589
00:33:58,759 --> 00:34:00,920
donor revised fund and part the one hundred thousand dollars

590
00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:02,839
right inside the donor advised fund and it will sit

591
00:34:02,880 --> 00:34:04,759
there you'll get your tax exemption for it, and it

592
00:34:04,759 --> 00:34:06,759
will sit there until you direct the funds on where

593
00:34:06,799 --> 00:34:06,960
to go.

594
00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:07,920
Speaker 2: It's like a bank.

595
00:34:08,639 --> 00:34:11,320
Speaker 3: Now, there was kind of an erroneous notion going around

596
00:34:11,440 --> 00:34:15,440
that a political commentator who I have absolutely no love for,

597
00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:19,280
by the name of Billy Crystal, had received USA funding

598
00:34:19,360 --> 00:34:24,440
because his organization received the grant from Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

599
00:34:24,440 --> 00:34:26,599
This is one of those things I was casting people earlier,

600
00:34:26,760 --> 00:34:28,519
we have to bat a thousand percent if we're going

601
00:34:28,559 --> 00:34:31,840
to stop government waste. They will take every chance they

602
00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:34,800
can to try and debunk you and discard your whole argument.

603
00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:38,519
Billy Crystal did not receive funds from USAID. He received

604
00:34:38,559 --> 00:34:42,079
funds from Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, which does receive funds from USAID,

605
00:34:42,760 --> 00:34:45,880
But saying that those funds were directly for Billy Crystal

606
00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:51,159
is just untrue. The funds were marked from USAID for

607
00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:55,239
specific projects of Rockefeller for Lanthy Advisors for doing it

608
00:34:55,280 --> 00:34:59,480
was dumb wasteful things, which I don't support, but it

609
00:34:59,559 --> 00:35:02,360
was definitely not or Billy Crystal, who's also a dumb

610
00:35:02,360 --> 00:35:02,960
wasteful thing.

611
00:35:03,239 --> 00:35:08,639
Speaker 1: Anyway, now you're calling him Billy Crystal, which I love,

612
00:35:09,119 --> 00:35:12,119
is are we talking about the Bill Crystal who is

613
00:35:12,159 --> 00:35:15,679
supposed to be a conservative, But yeah, that guy but

614
00:35:16,239 --> 00:35:21,039
in name long contest, Yeah, exactly the same guy who's

615
00:35:21,159 --> 00:35:25,519
behind every Lincoln project you know, if you will, Lincoln

616
00:35:25,519 --> 00:35:29,000
project esque, you know, the guy who has absolutely been

617
00:35:30,039 --> 00:35:34,320
against Donald Trump in no small part because he's actually

618
00:35:34,400 --> 00:35:39,239
doing what Bill Crystal and his fellow former conservatives over

619
00:35:39,280 --> 00:35:42,480
at the Bulwark have wanted out of this government for

620
00:35:42,519 --> 00:35:45,320
a long time, to cut the waste and abuse and spending.

621
00:35:45,400 --> 00:35:47,360
Speaker 3: Well, Bill Bill Cristal wanted to talk about, he didn't

622
00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:49,320
actually want to see it done. Oh my goodness, that

623
00:35:49,360 --> 00:35:53,360
would be horrifying indeed. But yeah, we do have to

624
00:35:53,440 --> 00:35:56,079
rush to the defense of Bill Crystal. Unfortunately at times

625
00:35:56,719 --> 00:36:01,199
when the truth is indebted by a lie. Saying that

626
00:36:01,239 --> 00:36:04,079
he received funding from USA would be like saying that

627
00:36:04,079 --> 00:36:06,960
because two people use the same bank, they fund each other.

628
00:36:07,119 --> 00:36:07,920
Speaker 2: It wouldn't make sense.

629
00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:10,920
Speaker 3: You know, if Mark Cuban deposits in I don't know,

630
00:36:10,960 --> 00:36:14,000
Bank of America and then Trump withdraws from Bank of America,

631
00:36:14,039 --> 00:36:16,440
Mark Cuban did not fund Trump in the same way

632
00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:19,159
that USA did not fund Bill Crystal.

633
00:36:19,599 --> 00:36:21,880
Speaker 1: Sure, now it makes makes absolute sense, and you know what,

634
00:36:22,280 --> 00:36:23,360
let's stick with the facts.

635
00:36:23,360 --> 00:36:26,960
Speaker 2: Because the facts are notwhelmingly in our favor.

636
00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:29,960
Speaker 3: We don't need to conspiracy theorize all all of the

637
00:36:30,119 --> 00:36:33,639
blatant basically theft of tax dollars is sitting right there

638
00:36:33,639 --> 00:36:36,119
on public databases. In our view, we don't need to

639
00:36:36,119 --> 00:36:39,199
conspiracy theorize. We've got them, we've got him dead to rights.

640
00:36:39,239 --> 00:36:40,599
Just stick with the truth and we'll.

641
00:36:40,480 --> 00:36:41,760
Speaker 2: Win, no doubt about it.

642
00:36:41,800 --> 00:36:44,079
Speaker 1: But speaking of donor advised funds, I mean, we do

643
00:36:44,199 --> 00:36:48,840
have donor advised funds that are very key to USAID,

644
00:36:49,119 --> 00:36:53,199
to abusive spending and spending Quite frankly, what have you

645
00:36:53,239 --> 00:36:56,840
been able to track in terms of donor advised funds

646
00:36:57,519 --> 00:36:59,679
involved in USAID for instance.

647
00:36:59,480 --> 00:37:00,679
Speaker 2: Hundreds of millions of dollars.

648
00:37:00,920 --> 00:37:04,079
Speaker 1: Yes, But in terms of programs that are actually that

649
00:37:04,199 --> 00:37:08,519
run counter to the security and prosperity of America.

650
00:37:08,719 --> 00:37:08,960
Speaker 2: Yeah.

651
00:37:09,360 --> 00:37:15,000
Speaker 3: TIDES Foundation is you know, a very openly left wing organization.

652
00:37:15,039 --> 00:37:15,760
Speaker 2: They funded all.

653
00:37:15,719 --> 00:37:19,320
Speaker 3: Kinds of bad things along with the you know, SOROSDA,

654
00:37:19,440 --> 00:37:22,679
soft un crime prosecution, general, left wing get out the

655
00:37:22,719 --> 00:37:26,440
vote activities, climate change activists that throw paint on things,

656
00:37:27,199 --> 00:37:33,159
the whole nine yards. If they were funding good things

657
00:37:33,159 --> 00:37:36,639
with USAID money. Good things can be good things. But

658
00:37:36,880 --> 00:37:39,599
imagine that the same program was being done by the

659
00:37:39,639 --> 00:37:43,880
Heritage Foundation. Do you think maybe MSNBC might take issue

660
00:37:44,280 --> 00:37:47,800
with with the Heritage Foundation being given millions of dollars

661
00:37:47,840 --> 00:37:50,239
in USA grants even if they were going to do

662
00:37:50,280 --> 00:37:52,599
good things. I think they would. And that's the same

663
00:37:52,599 --> 00:37:55,599
reason that there should be objections to all these donor

664
00:37:55,599 --> 00:37:59,800
advice funds getting USAID money. Is it is bad these

665
00:38:00,039 --> 00:38:03,280
organizations are funding all kinds of left wing things. They

666
00:38:03,280 --> 00:38:07,079
are staffed by left wingers. You know, they're not They

667
00:38:07,079 --> 00:38:10,679
shouldn't be trusted with federal funds in this way. Even

668
00:38:10,719 --> 00:38:13,239
if they are, Even if they aren't funding all of

669
00:38:13,239 --> 00:38:16,400
the things that people may think they're funding, they still

670
00:38:16,400 --> 00:38:18,400
shouldn't be getting the money in the first place. And

671
00:38:18,440 --> 00:38:21,039
we can stick with that and win on that. You know,

672
00:38:21,159 --> 00:38:22,719
if we want to have that argument, we'll win that

673
00:38:22,800 --> 00:38:25,039
argument ten times out of ten indeed.

674
00:38:25,079 --> 00:38:30,119
Speaker 1: And that raises a good question is there money? And

675
00:38:30,280 --> 00:38:33,360
if there is, what is the makeup of the money

676
00:38:33,480 --> 00:38:37,719
going to conservative versus liberal organizations?

677
00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:41,880
Speaker 3: I will answer that with alluding back to our Politico,

678
00:38:42,079 --> 00:38:45,800
New York Times and Associated Press discussion earlier, There is

679
00:38:45,840 --> 00:38:48,920
about as much money going into conservative donor advised funds

680
00:38:49,440 --> 00:38:55,079
as there is going into daily wire subscriptions. It's there's none.

681
00:38:56,079 --> 00:38:59,079
The left is more than willing to make sure that

682
00:38:59,159 --> 00:39:02,559
all of the left wingers's media outlets, donor advice funds,

683
00:39:02,760 --> 00:39:05,480
all of them have a good little overhead cushion to

684
00:39:05,599 --> 00:39:08,440
keep their keep their doors open, make sure that all

685
00:39:08,440 --> 00:39:11,719
of their employees can stay paid. There are no no

686
00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:15,840
one is even dreaming of using conservative donor advised funds

687
00:39:15,960 --> 00:39:20,079
or dark money organizations to try and accomplish USAID goals

688
00:39:20,079 --> 00:39:23,519
because USAID is staffed mostly by lefto bureaucrats, but also

689
00:39:23,559 --> 00:39:26,000
because the media would have a fit about it.

690
00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:29,760
Speaker 1: This is just awful. I mean, it is awful at

691
00:39:29,760 --> 00:39:33,920
so many levels it and it is in so many

692
00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:37,400
levels of the federal government. Now this would require I know,

693
00:39:37,639 --> 00:39:41,840
we're just really you know, the front lines of learning

694
00:39:41,920 --> 00:39:44,760
about this. We're just the beginning. Yeah, But I mean,

695
00:39:45,320 --> 00:39:48,599
how much money could we ultimately be talking about here?

696
00:39:48,639 --> 00:39:53,280
There's so many different programs, so many different government agencies

697
00:39:53,320 --> 00:39:55,079
that a lot of Americans don't know about to begin with,

698
00:39:55,159 --> 00:39:59,000
and then they have so many initiatives and operations operating

699
00:39:59,079 --> 00:40:00,039
within those.

700
00:40:00,960 --> 00:40:03,079
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I would not be shocked based on

701
00:40:03,119 --> 00:40:06,639
the numbers I've seen so far from you know, Doja's

702
00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:09,480
kind of sort of keeping track of how much money,

703
00:40:09,519 --> 00:40:11,559
they says, it's kind of hard to keep track of

704
00:40:11,599 --> 00:40:15,800
what you're not spending, you know, But it looks like

705
00:40:15,840 --> 00:40:17,679
we're on track to save up to a trillion dollars,

706
00:40:17,719 --> 00:40:21,159
maybe even in just the first year, which would be fantastic,

707
00:40:21,639 --> 00:40:24,360
you know, now one one out of thirty seven trillion.

708
00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:28,719
But yeah, you know, that's still enormous progress.

709
00:40:29,039 --> 00:40:32,480
Speaker 1: But isn't that about fifteen percent of the overall annual

710
00:40:32,519 --> 00:40:35,360
budget of the United States. I mean that that's a

711
00:40:35,440 --> 00:40:38,519
lot of money. And when you hear people again you

712
00:40:38,880 --> 00:40:41,480
put it very well. When you hear people say, well,

713
00:40:41,519 --> 00:40:44,239
what's one point seven million dollars? This a drop in

714
00:40:44,280 --> 00:40:47,960
the bucket of all we spend. That should that should

715
00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:50,760
anger the hell out of the average American.

716
00:40:51,239 --> 00:40:52,960
Speaker 3: And if you want, if you want to drive home

717
00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:55,519
the point when people bring up that objection to you

718
00:40:55,719 --> 00:40:58,119
very reasonably pointing out that the government is wasting money,

719
00:40:58,400 --> 00:41:00,360
make sure to put it in terms of real things.

720
00:41:00,880 --> 00:41:03,000
For example, like one point seven million dollars that's the

721
00:41:03,039 --> 00:41:07,480
annual salary of an entire platoon of marines, like forty

722
00:41:07,480 --> 00:41:12,360
two marines. That is a lot of money. That's real consequences,

723
00:41:13,159 --> 00:41:15,440
the things that that could have been funding that opportunity

724
00:41:15,480 --> 00:41:18,360
cost is enormous, or it could just stay in your

725
00:41:18,360 --> 00:41:19,559
pocket as a taxpayer.

726
00:41:19,639 --> 00:41:23,199
Speaker 1: That too, that as well said, I think we'll leave

727
00:41:23,239 --> 00:41:26,079
it there. I think there's much more obviously to accomplish

728
00:41:26,119 --> 00:41:29,239
on this front. I know you folks to Capital Research

729
00:41:29,280 --> 00:41:32,400
Center will continue that with the Doge files and your

730
00:41:32,400 --> 00:41:36,480
other initiatives and projects. It's so valuable. You can find

731
00:41:36,519 --> 00:41:40,480
it all at Capital Research Center. You find them online.

732
00:41:40,599 --> 00:41:44,440
Influence Watch, as I alluded to before, is a must

733
00:41:44,480 --> 00:41:47,719
a go to for anybody who wants to track these NGOs,

734
00:41:47,800 --> 00:41:52,880
these nonprofits, these charities. But this we're just a few

735
00:41:52,920 --> 00:41:56,000
weeks in. This is going to heat up already. It's

736
00:41:56,039 --> 00:41:59,800
like trying to put out a you know, a grease

737
00:42:00,039 --> 00:42:04,719
fire with Greece. So it is amazing. But I really

738
00:42:04,760 --> 00:42:06,920
do appreciate your time and your perspective on all of this.

739
00:42:07,519 --> 00:42:07,840
Speaker 2: Thank you.

740
00:42:08,760 --> 00:42:12,639
Speaker 1: Our guest today once again is Parker Thayer, Investigative Research

741
00:42:12,760 --> 00:42:18,280
at the nonprofit tracker Capital Research Center. Again. You can

742
00:42:18,320 --> 00:42:21,840
find all of their great work online and They are

743
00:42:21,840 --> 00:42:25,679
doing great work every day to expose the kinds of

744
00:42:26,400 --> 00:42:30,000
awful spending your tax dollars being spent on all of

745
00:42:30,039 --> 00:42:33,079
these kinds of things where you just scratch your head.

746
00:42:33,719 --> 00:42:36,519
You've been listening to another edition of the Federalist Radio Hour.

747
00:42:36,719 --> 00:42:40,480
I'm Matt Kittle, Senior Elections correspondent at the Federalist. We'll

748
00:42:40,519 --> 00:42:43,320
be back soon with more. Until then, stay lovers of

749
00:42:43,360 --> 00:42:54,360
freedom and anxious for the friend heard the fas reason

750
00:42:57,199 --> 00:42:58,679
and then away