Gotta love the UK Daily Mail. Dismissed as a sensationalist tabloid, it is chock full of hard news, with thorough reportage by gifted journalists. Coverage usually includes eye-catching colour photos revealing things often censored overlooked in “mainstream” outlets. (Such is the power of demography, in the US reporters are advised not to reveal the race of criminal perps. Apparently, they fear folks will turn rabidly racist at the drop of a hat). The Daily Mail just runs photos, secure in the knowledge that “a picture is worth a thousand words.”

Perpetual Trump

This week the Daily Mail ran yet another clickbait headline: “Trump’s common-sense policy to encourage more Americans to have children as birthrate collapses.” Trump encouraging people to have more children? Ever since he descended from the stratosphere of Trump Tower in his famous made-for-TV escalator ride, the word “Trump” in any headline is guaranteed clickbait, spiking interest. Foes and fans alike can’t resist. It’s been ten years with no end in sight.

If President Trump is for encouraging folks to have children, great. This has nothing to do with politics. Pro natalists should accept fellow travellers wherever they turn up. For our Trump-hating readers, even a broken clock is right twice a day. More Trump-tolerant types see through the bluster to make up their minds:

There is growing alarm about the US's fertility rate, which has crashed to an all-time low of 1.6, below the 2.0 level needed for the nation's population to sustain itself.

Among those most concerned about the population collapsing is Trump ally Elon Musk, who has warned that ‘population collapse due to low birth rates is a much bigger risk to civilization than global warming,’ and that declining global fertility rates are ‘not just a crisis, but the crisis.’

Now that US borders are finally being secured and planeloads of illegals are being deported, those seeking to prop up the US labour force to replace the thinning ranks of up-and-comers will face a day of reckoning. Maybe – God forfend – they’ll have to raise wages! What a family-friendly idea!

Sound economic analysis

The Daily Mail piece doesn’t discuss wages. It reports that Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy blasted out a memo headed “ENSURING RELIANCE UPON SOUND ECONOMIC ANALYSIS IN DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION POLICIES, PROGRAMS, AND ACTIVITIES.” The memo provides guidance for the allocation of DOT grants for roads and infrastructure payments:

[T]o the extent practicable, relevant, appropriate, and consistent with law, mitigate the unique impacts of DOT programs, policies, and activities on families and family-specific difficulties, such as the accessibility of transportation to families with young children, and give preference to communities with marriage and birth rates higher than the national average (including in administering the Federal Transit Administration's Capital Investment Grant program).

How will this encourage young couples to have children? Maybe better roads will make for easier and shorter commutes for workers? Possibly. However, the real significance of this short memo is that federal policy is being made specifically for helping “communities with marriage and birth rates higher than the national average.” That speaks volumes. Could this foretell more family-friendly policies to come? If RFK, Jr. is confirmed, will he follow suit? Will this little memo that has garnered so much attention, along with Trump’s decisive moves elsewhere, set the tone for a family-friendly federal government? Time will tell.

Is this the influence of avidly pro-natalist Elon Musk? He has certainly taken on a high profile. Usually, billionaires make campaign contributions and do their bidding behind the scenes. Like him or not, Musk is out there for all to see, which is remarkable.

Blowback

No sooner had the memo left Secretary Duffy’s office that the howling began. Why?

In 2022, the national marriage rate in the US stood at about six marriages per 1,000 people.

States that exceed that average are primarily in the Southeast and Mountain West, such as Florida, with a rate of seven per 1,000 people, and Utah, with 10 per 1,000.

Additionally, the US birth rate has been falling steadily since the late 2000s, reaching a new low of 55.4 births per 1,000 women as of last year.

But states in the Midwest and South — primarily Republican–led — had fertility rates exceeding the national average, including Texas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Mississippi and Tennessee, meaning transportation infrastructure there could be due for improvement.

There you have it: The left is crying foul, saying states that traditionally vote Republican are being given preferential treatment under the guise of having higher marriage and birth rates. Colorado Governor and LGBTQ activist Jared Polis responded:

A pothole doesn’t belong to a political party or care if you’re married or not, so it’s disappointing to see that President Trump and his team attempt to block road funding.

Colorado will continue making investments in our roads and transit that are driven by market demand, reduce traffic, and drive economic growth. Donald Trump and his team should work to improve roads, rail, and transit across the entire country for all Americans.

Note the infamous “Trump” word appears twice. It all comes back to the onerous “Orange Man”. I don’t see where this is an attempt to “block road funding.” While the governor otherwise raises legitimate points, there was nary a peep from him opposing DEI-based funding preferences through the years. Pro-family preferences? Why, that’s discriminating against “all Americans.” Give me a break.