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Or just “I believe my own bullshit” administrators hurting themselves in confusion?

I think this is closet to reality -- basically the internal contradictions within the Republican Party manifesting.

You preach "starve the beast" to your base for 40-50 years, eventually True Believers gain significant power in your coalition, and you get this. They don't understand the role USAID plays in maintaining empire (and the benefits empire produces) because they are too concerned with cutting the government to really examine what it does.

Opposition to this type of spending is easy to sell to your base because while they indirectly benefit from imperialism, they often are directly harmed by it. They're the ones getting their legs blown off and dealing with price shocks. But the money behind the party loves imperialism -- they're getting paid to do it and the result directly benefits their businesses.