Aren't you in any way concerned that you can't give a real example of the sort of thing you're talking about, and have to make one up? This should be the wake-up call that makes you re-evaluate your priors.

The reality is that reactionaries often describe "useless" scientific endeavors like "condoms for worms" that end up being the only thing stopping parasitic screwworms from infesting the US cattle herd, which will end up costing us hundreds of millions of dollars to resolve- and spike the already-high cost of beef for decades.

You can look at the list of canceled NSF grants yourself, and HN readers should.

https://grant-witness.us/nsf-data.html

    #1 Center for Integrated Quantum Materials
    #2 a STEM Graduate Education Model for American Indians and Native Alaskans
    #3 Identity Development Evaluation of African American Science Students 
    #4 The Greater Alabama Black Belt Region (GABBR) LSAMP
    #5 A Model to Advance Historically Underrepresented Minorities
    #6 The Hispanic AGEP Alliance for the Environmental Science
    #7 "" [different recipient]
    #8 Puerto Rico Center for Environmental Neuroscience (Cycle II)
    #9 Advancing Inclusive Leaders in Astronomy
    #10 Intersectional Directions to Engender Success

Previous commenter may have not given real examples so you would be free to argue his point rather than specifics. In any case, here's at least 1500 examples for you.