The Trump-Musk cabal’s dismantling USAID at the end of last week has already had devastating consequences both at home and abroad.
Per the Congressional Research Service, 41% of food aid that the United States sends around the world is fulfilled by American farms — which equates to roughly $2B in lost revenue for our farmers if USAID is not allowed to continue its work.
In early February, per The Guardian, Marco Rubio declared himself USAID’s acting administrator and locked out employees from the Washington, D.C., headquarters. Since then, a flurry of lawsuits have been filed to try and save the program from an “unconstitutional government takeover” by Elon Musk and Trump.
Thousands of public health and development programmes worldwide have been thrown into turmoil, and now face an uncertain future… Trump and Musk appear to want to move forward with a plan that would see its global workforce reduced from about 10,000 staff and contractors, to just over 600.
It’s hard to overstate how disruptive this has already been to humanitarian work worldwide: most programmes have just been shut overnight with staff laid off, drugs and food left in warehouses, and patients and others not able to access services. The people affected live in some of the most vulnerable countries like Ukraine, Jordan, Ethiopia, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Afghanistan.
The Guardian
Democrats were blocked from USAID offices (along with Treasury and EPA) when they tried to enter and investigate what was occurring inside those agencies.
AUTHOR FOOTNOTE
Why in the world are Donald’s MAGAs, along with Elmo’s Very Online army, so hoppin’ mad about USAID? As Reuters notes:
USAid was established in 1961 by Democratic president John F Kennedy at the height of the cold war with the aim of better coordinating foreign assistance, already a key platform of US foreign policy in countering Soviet influence.
When you view literally any action Donald takes through the lens of “How does it benefit Putin?” the answer becomes more clear: Vlad holds (and acts upon) like 2,000 decades-old grudges and—given USAID’s initial purpose of enhancing America’s humanitarian standing globally during the Cold War—Putin sees an opportunity to further humiliate his nemesis.
Many have accused Elmo & Donny as being agents of the Kremlin (seems like a fair conclusion, given their behavior both past and present), so rateffing USAID on behalf of Moscow is not so far-fetched here.
SOURCES
- The Guardian
- Democracy Docket
- Reuters (via The Guardian)
