You will not be shocked to learn that the whole “The US spent $50 million on free condoms for Gaza” line used to justify shutting down massive swaths of domestic and foreign spending is complete bullshit, according to a fact check by the Guardian, who found that it’s actually a $60.8 million global contraceptive program, $0 of which went to distributing condoms in Gaza.

In fact, save for a measly $45,680 worth of oral and injectable contraceptives sent to Jordan, not a cent went to the Middle East. Just over 10 percent of the entire program’s material costs went to condoms in 2023 – the most recent year for which such a breakdown is available – most of them were shipped to Africa. In an even less-surprising development, the Guardian notes that this isn’t a Biden Administration program and that the first Trump Regime spent $40 million on distributing contraceptives internationally in 2019, though it’s not clear whether it was their initiative.

So yes, Trump Reich Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was full of shit Tuesday when she told reporters “Doge and OMB also found that there was about to be 50 million taxpayer dollars that went out the door to fund condoms in Gaza… That is a preposterous waste of taxpayer money. So that’s what this pause is focused on: Being good stewards of tax dollars” as was Fox Newsbro Jesse Watters when he continued propagating the Gaza condoms story on his nightly show that evening.

Thing is, if it was real, why wouldn’t pro-Israel right wingers actually be in favor of controlling the population of Gaza through means other than bombing hospitals and schools? In the real world the fact that Gaza’s fertility rate is 3.38 per woman to the US’s 1.84 – making it one of the most densely populated places on earth – is unquestionably a major factor in the ongoing conflict.