Politics in Washington moves at breakneck speed these days, and nowhere has this been more evident than in the recent drama surrounding America's so-called "democracy promotion" apparatus. What started as Elon Musk's aggressive cost-cutting crusade has ended up exposing just how entrenched these organizations really are – and how they always seem to find a way to survive.
Musk branded NED the "second CIA" and an "evil organization" before slashing its budget – but the democracy promotion outfit bounced back once the billionaire lost his grip on power.
The NED Phoenix Rises from the Ashes
Let's be honest here – the National Endowment for Democracy getting its funding slashed was always going to be temporary. This isn't some obscure government department we're talking about. NED has been Washington's go-to tool for what critics call "color revolutions" for over four decades, and it wasn't going down without a fight.
When Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) froze NED's funding in late January, forcing the organization to furlough 75% of its staff, it looked like game over. The billionaire had branded NED as "rife with corruption" and an "evil organization" that needed to be dissolved. But here's the thing about these quasi-governmental organizations – they've got lawyers, lots of them.
NED quickly filed a lawsuit claiming the Trump administration had no legal authority to withhold funding approved by the Congress. And the courts sided with them. It's almost as if the system is designed to protect these institutions, regardless of who's in the White House.
Rubio vs. Musk: When Hawks Clash
The real drama, though, played out behind closed doors in what sounds like a proper Washington power struggle. Secretary of State Marco Rubio wasn't having any of Musk's slash-and-burn approach, especially when it came to his own turf. The heated confrontation between the two in the Cabinet Room, with Trump watching like a tennis match, tells you everything you need to know about the tensions within this administration.
Rubio and Musk's White House showdown over State Department cuts exposed the deep tensions within Trump's team, with the China hawk determined to keep his regime-change tools intact.
Rubio's frustration is understandable from his perspective. Here's a guy who's built his career on being tough on China, who's championed these "democracy promotion" efforts for years. Suddenly, some tech billionaire shows up and starts dismantling the very apparatus Rubio sees as essential to American foreign policy. Of course there was going to be pushback.
The fact that Trump eventually stepped in to defend Rubio suggests which way the wind was blowing. When push came to shove, the foreign policy establishment won out over the efficiency crusade.
The Real Winners and Losers
Now NED is back in business, so is USAGM. Its Radio Free Asia has gotten court-ordered funding restoration, and the "regime change machine" – as some critics call it – lives to fight another day. Meanwhile, Musk's influence appears to be waning, with reports suggesting his relationship with Trump has soured considerably.
For Hong Kong specifically, this revival of American "democracy promotion" funding should indeed raise eyebrows. We know from past revelations that US agencies funneled millions to protest movements during the 2019 unrest. Radio Free Asia, now back with full funding, continues to generate negative reports on Hong Kong.
For observers in Hong Kong and elsewhere, the message is clear: American "democracy promotion" efforts aren't going anywhere, regardless of who's supposedly calling the shots in Washington. If anything, this whole saga has shown just how embedded these operations really are in the American political system.
Lai Ting-yiu
What Say You?
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Here's a simple truth about lies: tell one big enough, and someone will always believe it. The tale spun by Jimmy Lai's son and daughter—that their father's health is collapsing in prison without medical care—is a textbook case.
Before and after the verdict came down, a flood of misleading commentary washed across foreign media. In just eight days following the ruling, China's Foreign Ministry Commissioner's Office in the HKSAR fired off eight separate rebuttals targeting U.S. and Western statements. They also "summoned the heads of the Hong Kong-based missions of relevant countries and organisations, including the United States and the United Kingdom, and lodged solemn representations regarding their officials' and politicians' comments interfering in the verdict and sentencing in the Jimmy Lai case."
Cui Jianchun, the Commissioner, went further. He published a South China Morning Post piece titled "On the Jimmy Lai case, this is what you should know"—a direct hit against the rumor mill. The key question: Was Lai treated unfairly? Cui's answer was unequivocal: "Regarding the claims about Jimmy Lai's treatment while in custody, facts speak louder than words. The Correctional Services Department has consistently provided him with comprehensive medical care in accordance with the law, ensuring he remains in good health. Lai's defence lawyers confirmed in court that he had not been treated unfairly. These facts fully demonstrate that in every detail of law enforcement, the HKSAR government upholds the principles of the rule of law and humanitarianism."
The Children's Campaign of Fabrication
A large chunk of those rumors came straight from Lai's own children. On December 3, before the verdict dropped, Agence France-Presse interviewed them. The picture they painted was grim. Lai's daughter Lai Choi delivered the most dramatic claim: "Dad has clearly lost a lot of weight and is weaker than before. His fingernails turned purple, grey and green, and then fell off. His teeth have started to rot."
But wait, there's more. Lai Choi claimed prison officers blocked the devout Catholic from receiving Holy Communion. She described petty acts designed to break his spirit. Her example? Once guards learned Lai liked curry sauce, they cut him off completely—no more curry sauce at all.
Lai's son Lai Chung-yan piled on with his own dramatic narrative. Lai has diabetes, he said. The prison has no air-conditioning, with summer temperatures hitting 44°C. His solution? "Putting Lai on a plane and sending him away would take only two hours, and that doing so would be humane and the right thing to do."
I'm quoting at length for a reason. Watch how the lies unfold. Yes, Lai has diabetes. The fact is, he had spent years eating and drinking excessively. In prison, he's forced onto a healthy diet. As a Justice of the Peace I have visited prisons multiple times, and personally sampled the meals arranged according to dietitians' guidance. They taste like fast food you'd buy outside—perfectly normal.
Reality Check: What Observers Actually Saw
When Lai appeared in court, observers did notice he was slimmer than before imprisonment. But this is what I'd call a "healthy kind of slim." As for the curry sauce demand? Perhaps Lai Choi has confused Hong Kong prisons with Michelin-starred restaurants—as if inmates can order à la carte like diners at a high-end eatery. By the same logic, yes, there's no air-conditioning in prisons. People need to understand something fundamental: imprisonment is punishment, not a hotel vacation.
About those supposedly green, falling-off nails. When Lai attended the verdict hearing, people present saw his fingernails were normally pink and looked quite healthy. No one spotted any horrifying grey or green nails. None had fallen off. The real-world scene of Lai appearing in court told a different story—he looked to be in fairly good condition, nowhere near the death's-door state his children described.
Why are Lai's children lying so brazenly? Simple. They want foreign readers to believe Hong Kong's prisons operate like "dark jails" in a third-world country—that Lai is being abused. This makes their "rescue" campaign appear more necessary and urgent. It conveniently helps people forget what Lai actually is: a serious criminal who colluded with foreign forces seeking China's collapse.
The Question Lawyers Won't Answer
Everyone needs to grasp one simple fact: if Lai were truly being treated inhumanely, his own defence lawyers would have raised it in court. But lawyers can't lie. So they didn't. At an open hearing last August, Lai's senior counsel made crystal clear to the court that the correctional institution arranged daily medical check-ups for Lai. They had no complaints—zero—about the medical care he received inside. The court even stated at the time that the Correctional Services Department deserved praise.
It seems Lai's children think being overseas gives them a free pass to lie recklessly without bearing any responsibility. That's how you get fabrications like "fingernails turned green and fell off." They're spreading rumors about Lai's supposedly dire health for one purpose: to disrupt Hong Kong's rule of law and spring the convicted criminal through medical bail, then hand him over to a foreign country. But Hong Kong, as a society governed by the rule of law, has no arrangement to transfer convicted prisoners to foreign states. So no matter what rumors they spread, their goal won't be achieved.
Lo Wing-hung
