Conservative economist scoffs as GOP gov defends 'terribly-written' Trump memo amid chaos

A conservative economist has some harsh words for Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) after he tried to justify President Donald Trump's massive freeze on federal grants, and accuse everyone of overreacting to the news.

The announcement, which came out of an Office of Management and Budget memo this week, immediately triggered a frenzy of panic over whether a variety of public programs and private organizations receiving federal funding, like Meals on Wheels, would have to shut down. Trump's move may violate federal law, and has already been temporarily blocked by a U.S. district judge.

But Youngkin didn't appear concerned about the legality of the move.

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"I’ve spoken to senior officials at the White House and confirmed the temporary pause by OMB does not impact individual assistance and will not interrupt disaster recovery efforts, school and childcare funding, healthcare for seniors or low-income families, funding for our roads, meals and lunches, or any of the other misinformation that has spread," said Youngkin in a post on X. "The partisan stunt to disseminate knowingly misleading information is dangerous fearmongering and completely wrong. President Trump is doing what an executive should do at the beginning of a term, which is find out where the money is and where it’s going."

Contrary to Youngkin's assertion, Republicans have raised alarms about the order as well.

Brian Riedl, an economist at the conservative Manhattan Institute and one-time strategist to former Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), was unimpressed by Youngkin's dismissal of the public's concerns.

"Sorry, the blame here lies entirely with the White House for releasing a terribly-written memo that did not include most of the guardrails they are now rushing to add as part of their next-day damage control," Riedl wrote in response. "Perhaps the White House should try to get it right the first time."

He noted that "Gov. Youngkin criticiz[ed] people for not understanding which programs were paused .... right after explaining that he himself had to reach out to the White House for clarification on which programs were paused."