President Trump issued a threat on Wednesday to cut off American aid to any country that votes for a resolution at the United Nations condemning  his recent decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The right wing in the United States has long spread around the false story that the US government gives away enormous amounts of money to other countries. Opinion polls show that many Americans think it is as much as 25% of the $4.094 trillion budget, which would be a trillion dollars in aid. That is hilariously absurd. The actual US foreign aid budget is $41.9 billion, about one percent of the Federal budget.

President Trump plans to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move the American Embassy there, upending nearly seven decades of  American foreign policy and potentially destroying his efforts to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians.