‘Floating Sh-tholes’: Lawmakers, Taxpayers Weigh In on Exclusive Video of Biden’s $230M Gaza Pier

Obtained by Breitbart News
Kristina Wong

Republican lawmakers and American taxpayers weighed in on shoddiness of President Joe Biden’s much-vaunted $230 million Gaza Pier that he announced during his State of the Union speech after Breitbart News posted exclusive video of it on Friday.

The project was an attempt by the Biden administration to quell criticism from progressive voters that it was not doing enough to alleviate famine in Gaza.  Biden announced the plan during the high-profile SOTU address in March, saying:

Tonight, I’m directing the U.S. military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the Gaza coast that can receive large ships carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelters. No U.S. boots will be on the ground. This temporary pier would enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza every day.

However, just eight days after the “pier” went operational on May 17, it broke into pieces due to waves, has had to be dismantled twice, and has delivered far less aid than envisioned.

Aid distribution from the pier is now suspended, after rumors it was used to help evacuate an injured Israeli soldier.

According to the administration, the initial estimate for the project was $320 million, but it now says it is $230 million and counting.

Israelis walk near a U.S. Army vessel at that ran aground at a beach in the coastal city of Ashdod on May 25, 2024. The U.S. military said four of its vessels, supporting a temporary pier built to deliver aid to Gaza by sea, had run aground in heavy seas. (OREN ZIV/AFP via Getty Images)

The Pentagon says the final cost will depend on how long it will operate — which for now, is unknown.

A humanitarian aid official told CNN the project was a “very expensive distraction.”

After Breitbart News obtained and posted the exclusive video of the “pier” — which looks like pieces of scrap metal tied together bobbing in the waves with portable toilets balanced treacherously on top — Republican lawmakers and members of the public expressed disbelief.

Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ) posted on X: “A good summary of Biden’s foreign policy.”

Similarly, a commenter wrote: “If Build Back Better and Biden’s Foreign Policy had a baby.”

Some naval experts weighed in on the folly of the pier system being used in a way it was not meant to be used.

Military naval blogger and podcaster Cdr. Salamander noted, “Those are not all-that-rough seas.”

A Navy Reserve captain responded:

CEO of maritime news website @gCaptain and former ship captain John Konrad also responded with a screenshot of an analysis of the pier system that showed it was never meant to operate in waves that reached over five feet.

Yep, a very common problem they should be ready for:https://t.co/jpHAOO9kfP pic.twitter.com/RU7cqBQW7s

Conservative show host and retired New York Police Department detective Rob O’Donnell wrote on X, “Again, this structure via the Army Standards and specs is only suitable for a Sea State of 1 or 2, with limited operation in Sea State 3. This area of the Mediterranean averages a Sea State of 3-5 which they knew exceeded capable limits.”

Retired Navy Commander Kirk Lippold responded, “Every General Officer and/or Admiral who approved this operation, knowing the pier’s design constraints, should be prosecuted under UCMJ for dereliction of duty. No more military leaders acquiescing to incompetent political operatives who care more about votes than lives.”

Similarly, Marine veteran and podcaster Leigh Wolf said it was “borderline criminal” that Biden had the pier built even if it was not designed for open water and “wouldn’t make it very long.”

Former Trump Assistant Attorney General Todd Clark compared it to a bridge that collapsed in 1940 after four months. “This reminds me of the destruction by harmonics of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge (“Galloping Gertie”),” he wrote.

Others commented on the hundreds of millions wasted on the project.

Buzz Patterson, a retired Air Force pilot posted: “We wasted how much on this boondoggle?”

Chaya Raichik, creator of Libs of TikTok, posted: “How many millions did Biden spend on this?”

Someone joked in reference to the exorbitantly-expensive box office flop, “Did they use scraps from the Waterworld set to build this?”

The editor of Current Affairs magazine noted dryly: “Your tax dollars at work.”

Ryan Saavedra, senior reporter at Daily Wire, added: “A PR stunt that cost hundreds of millions of dollars.”

Someone noted that for $300 million, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk built a rocket that has delivered astronauts and thousands of satellites to space for years.

“Just a reminder that government is bad at things,” the person noted.

Others focused on the precariously-perched portable toilets.

Writer Doug Powers posted: “‘Build Back Better’ in a nutshell. A $360 million project that crumbled within days and a few overflowing Port-a-Crappers dumping waste into the sea.”

Someone posted: “Bro it’s literally some floating shitholes,” prompting someone to respond: “Half a billion dollars for Toilet Island.”

One person commented, “A floating port o potty.”

Another wrote, “Who puts a sliding shitter on a moving dock?”

Breitbart News editor Emma-Jo Morris reminded everyone that the pier was Biden’s “topline” announcement from his State of the Union address.

One commenter said he felt sorry for the troops working on the “shitty pier.”

“Damn, I feel sorry for these Joes. Wasting away on a shitty pier to get 10k votes from Dearborn residents,” he wrote.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) posted a video of himself questioning Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin the pier, and the risks to troops’ safety.

The pier was first operational on May 17, and then broke into pieces on May 25. The Pentagon claimed it was due to unforeseen weather events. It was then detached from Gaza on and then reattached on June 7. Since then, operations have been suspended, and it was detached again on June 14.

Follow Breitbart News’s Kristina Wong on ”X”, Truth Social, or on Facebook. 

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