White House Communications Director Steven Cheung trolled leftist actor Richard Gere as “a guy that may have put a gerbil up his ass” on Monday.
“Sorry, not going to listen to a guy that may have put a gerbil up his ass,” Cheung wrote in a Monday X post, sharing a screenshot of a 2020 article published by MEL Magazine, headlined, “A Highly Questionable Cultural History of Richard Gere’s Ass Gerbil.”
“The rumor has endured for decades, becoming as deeply embedded in pop culture as that alleged gerbil itself. Who would have thought Gere himself would come out of it looking so enlightened?” the first paragraph of the MEL Magazine article read.
In his post, Cheung was reacting to a video shared by another X user, which showed Gere praising the USAID and attacking President Donald Trump in a June interview with the Associated Press.
“USAID was probably the most pure thing that America did up to that moment,” the actor said at the time, adding, “It was a giveaway program to needy people — whether it was health, education, women’s issues, it was all kinds of stuff — he [Trump] stopped that day one.”
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“It was insane,” Gere continued. “He wouldn’t even know what it stands for, USAID. and he has idiots around him who have the same ignorance about it.”
The Pretty Woman star went on to say that he is “ashamed” about the fate of USAID.
“Are we ashamed of it? Yes. That was the good part of us,” Gere asserted in the interview, before noting that the president “keeps saying we’re the wealthiest, most powerful country in the world.”
“Well, what do you do if you’re the wealthiest, most powerful? You help people,” the Chicago star declared.
The White House also fired back in response to Gere complaining about the Trump administration axing the wasteful USAID program — which for decades sent billions of U.S. tax dollars to fund far-left programs and politicians in foreign countries.
“What will the world do without millions for Guatemalan sex changes or DEI in Serbia? Because that’s the type of bullshit USAID was funding,” the White House’s official Rapid Response team quipped in a Monday X post.
“It was a slush fund for Radical Left activists to enrich themselves and undermine America’s interests,” they added. “Thank God @POTUS ended it.”
In May, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio revealed that only a tiny fraction of the money Americans pumped into USAID went to help needy people, explaining that only a mere 12 cents of every USAID dollar actually helped anyone in need.
The rest of the funding went to administrators, left-wing programs, politicians, and activists in foreign countries.
“We’re going to find more efficient ways to deliver aid to people directly,” Rubio said at the time. “It’s going to be directed by our regional bureaus. It’s going to sponsor programs that make a difference. And it’s going to be part of a holistic approach to our foreign policy.”
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.