Eliminating USAID isn’t an attack on the poor — it’s a crackdown on a multibillion-dollar influence campaign designed to entrench progressive power.
After securing a decisive electoral mandate and launching his second presidential term with a flurry of executive orders, Donald Trump has overwhelmed his liberal opposition. Progressives have struggled to find a compelling narrative against the real estate billionaire but have now focused their attacks on foreign aid spending cuts.
One of Trump’s executive orders placed a 90-day hold on foreign aid. In response, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency identified the U.S. Agency for International Development as a prime candidate for elimination. Democrats and their media allies attempted to frame the cuts as an act of cruelty by wealthy elites indifferent to poor Africans being denied AIDS medication. But that strategy has backfired. As more Americans learn about USAID, they are discovering how much of their tax money has been siphoned into questionable projects abroad.