Marco Rubio announces cancellation of most USAid programs – live
"Secretary of state says on social media that 83% of the programs at USAid are being cancelled
Meanwhile, CNN reports that a top state department official was hired despite having a history of insulting his boss, secretary of state Marco Rubio.
Darren Beattie, the acting under secretary of state for public diplomacy, deleted tweets calling Rubio “low IQ”, among other disparagements. Beattie has a history of offensive social media comments, and was removed from his job as a White House speechwriter in 2018 after he attended a conference of white nationalists.
He’s nonetheless back in the second Trump administration. Here’s what he once thought of Rubio:
In a now-deleted tweet on January 7, 2021, Beattie invoked far-right conspiracy theories about Rubio’s past, referencing “Wainwright Park” — a curfew violation from Rubio’s teenage years that was later twisted into baseless speculation that Rubio is gay — and “foam,” a reference to similarly unfounded claims about Rubio attending foam parties at gay nightclubs.
“Forget Wainwright park, forget the foam, forget the war promotion and the neocon sugar daddies, forget the low IQ, forget the 2016 primary, Rubio is TOUGH ON CHINA (and good for military industrial complex) So be a good DOG and vote for him!!!” Beattie wrote.
A follow-up tweet about Rubio said, “What happens in the Cabana stays in the Cabana #Rubio.”
Beattie followed up his tweet with one that mocked what he perceived as Rubio’s attempt to rebrand himself as a nationalist, while sarcastically saying he supported tax credits for Black Lives Matter and criticizing his hawkish rhetoric on China.
“If a bunch of DC wonks try to reinvent Marco Rubio as a nationalist, but a ‘respectable’ one who promises tax credits to BLM supporters and is “TOUGH ON CHINA” will you be a good dog and vote for him?” the tweet said.
“Does Marco Rubio have a future in politics?” Beattie asked in another deleted tweet.
Beattie deleted three other tweets from July 23, 2020, that called efforts to rebrand Rubio a nationalist a “scam,” “nonsense” and “fake.”
“The idea behind the Hawley/Rubio scam is this. They are smart enough to know the rebranded neoconservatism of Nikki Haley and Crenshaw has no legs. Also smart enough to know free-market libertarianism has no legs,” Beattie wrote.
The Bulwark has more reporting on Marco Rubio’s announcement that most of USAid’s programs had been canceled, including that the decision appears to have been made earlier than expected:
State officials had actually been notified last week that agencies and partners had until March 12 (i.e., Wednesday) to submit forms to the Office of Foreign Assistance for the foreign aid review process. USAID was operating on that timeline, though through a parallel review track. “The Office of Foreign Assistance (F) will coordinate Department of State responses to OMB,” read the email reviewed by The Bulwark.
A source familiar with the matter said the forms that they were being asked to submit involved numerous questions that had to be filled out for “every single partner.” Some people were simultaneously working through official channels to get previously canceled USAID awards un-terminated as of Friday.
But two days before the March 12 deadline, Rubio announced the review was over: 5,200 contracts were cancelled, and “in consultation with Congress,” he wrote, the administration intends “for the remaining 18% of programs we are keeping (approximately 1000) to now be administered more effectively under the State Department.”
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