Republicans restrict spending on social programs that serve diverse groups

Leaders of the William Way LGBT Community Center in Philadelphia had "turned to Washington for some help." Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) requested the funding and

"nearly secured $1.8 million in federal aid for renovations — until House Republicans mounted an extraordinary blockade this week, denying a request to fund the organization and other lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender-focused groups in two states. ... At the height of the annual appropriations process — as members of Congress race to fund the government and avert a shutdown — the GOP’s far-right flank has scrubbed spending bills to eliminate money that would protect LGBTQ rights, ensure gender equality and promote racial justice.

* * *

The dynamic nearly overwhelmed the chamber only a week earlier, as Republican lawmakers scrambled to complete work on an annual measure that authorizes spending at the Pentagon. With the backing of Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the roughly three dozen members in the House Freedom Caucus transformed the bill — historically, a bipartisan affair — into a fraught battleground over abortion, transgender healthcare and diversity."

— "House GOP blocks funds to LGBT groups, using budget for cultural fights," Tony Romm, Washington Post, July 20, 2023

Referring to white male entertainers whining on the BBC in 2018, Claire Dederer says:

"None of these guys has the bandwidth to even entertain the idea that a woman’s or person of color’s point of view might be just as 'normal' as theirs, just as central. They seem incapable of understanding that theirs is not the universal point of view and that their own comedy has left people out. That exclusion is not necessarily a problem for me, it’s just a fact. As lifelong excluders, they shouldn’t use their own (ridiculous) feelings of exclusion as a critique of the work of people who look different from them."
Claire Dederer. Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2023.

See also: "Donald Trump's Corruption Serves Oil Interests". It's a 5-minute read on Medium.