Not only will organizations go broke by getting woke, nations going woke will also kill people.

Even before Nepal was devastated by deadly flooding, questions were already emerging in Congress and elsewhere about whether the Asian nation used its U.S. foreign aid assistance to focus on woke ideology vanity projects like assisting transgender sex workers instead of shoring up its defenses against the threat of annual monsoons.

Those questions are now looming larger after the latest round of extreme rains killed at least 900 and left 4,200 missing in Nepal over the last week, while neighboring Bangladesh mobilized early with its early warning system and evacuated residents in the path of potential flooding.

“I know that lots of people are talking about the rebuilding and so on. But I want them to start thinking about rethinking,” Alok Bohara, a University of New Mexico economics professor emeritus, told Al-Jazeera this week.

While critics of the Trump administration point to DOGE’s curtailing USAID programs for Nepal, it is abundantly obvious the nation was focused more on virtue signaling rather than acting to protect their citizens.

While USAID money did go to some helpful programs in Nepal, questions about whether U.S. taxpayers should have been funding education and health initiatives in the country aside, at least some went to questionable services such as transgender employment. Last month, the Associated Press lamented the fact that USAID funding cuts have led to lower employment for transgender aid workers in Nepal.

 Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, responded to the article on X.

“Our tax dollars no longer fund employment for transgender Nepalese sex workers,” he wrote. “Thank you for reminding us why defunding USAID was long overdue.”

Other USAID initiatives also went toward diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals, rather than tangible assistance. One program, estimated to cost $20 million, sought to “improve equitable educational outcomes for marginalized children,” including “equity and inclusion activities” to keep students in school.

As Just the News points out, Bangladesh had adequate warning systems in place to respond to flooding events and that resulted in fewer casualties. Instead of placing blame or trying to transmit narratives, Nepal needs to learn from this harsh lesson and never repeat the same mistakes again. That is the least Nepal can do to ensure the safety of their citizens and people visiting their country.

PHOTO CREDIT: Pixabay