Jon Blistein
Contact Jon Blistein by Email View all posts by Jon Blistein May 19, 2026
Natalie Maines of The Chicks performing in 2023. Paul Bergen/Getty Images The Chicks’ Natalie Maines called out “fugly slut” Donald Trump for using U.S. tax dollars to “pay the insurrectionists,” in an ostensible nod to the president’s creation of a billion dollar slush fund for his allies and supporters.
In a characteristically vehement post on Instagram yesterday, Maines opined: “Our democracy is disappearing right before our eyes. This fugly slut is using your gas money to pay the insurrectionists. But don’t worry about it. I’m sure posting selfies will fix everything.”
The post coincided with yesterday’s news that Trump had created a $1.776 billion fund to send taxpayer money to “victims of lawfare and weaponization.” The fund was announced hours after Trump withdrew a $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the 2019 leak of Trump’s tax filings to The New York Times.
The lawsuit had, obviously, raised serious concerns about the president using taxpayer money to compensate himself, something the fund is apparently meant to skirt. The funds will be made available to those who believe they were the victims of overreach or “weaponization” by the Biden administration. That could include the roughly 1,600 Jan. 6 defendants, whom Trump pardoned after taking office, or possibly Republican lawmakers whose telephone records were seized by Jan. 6 special counsel Jack Smith (per The New York Times).
Trump, two of his sons, and his family business (all of whom were part of the IRS suit) reportedly will not receive any money from the fund. But they will get an apology, and the settlement deal reportedly includes a provision that bars the IRS from pursuing tax claims against Trump, his family, or businesses.
