When President Donald Trump froze foreign assistance for 90 days, he argued that such a drastic step was needed to eliminate waste and block what he derides as woke spending that doesn't align with American interests. Experts say the suspension has another, far more serious consequence: emboldening authoritarian strongmen. Wrapped into the billions the US spends annually on foreign aid more than any other nation are hundreds of grants for grassroots groups dedicated to fighting for democracy in authoritarian countries around the world. Among the groups that won't be receiving critical funding is an organisation that trained poll workers to detect fraud in Venezuela's recent presidential vote, pro-democracy activists in Cuba and China and a group of Belarusian exiles behind a campaign to block the country's strongman from winning a sham election. Cutting funding to these essential efforts sends the wrong signal to dictatorships and undermines the brave individuals fighting for ...