USAID has had it’s share of expensive failures (like any large corporation or agency does) but it has also had some truly extraordinary successes, like the HIV program, malaria prevention, and nutrition for starving children in war zones. It has literally saved millions– literally millions– of lives. It has often worked well with faith-based charities even if their values don’t perfectly align.
If Trump was really the genius he thinks he is, it would take little effort to appoint really competent administrators to fine-tune their programs and reduce waste. That would merely take skill and intelligence. Terminating the entire agency is easy– and of obscene criminality. It is beyond policy: it’s simply monumental mindless cruelty. All for less than 1% of the U. S. budget.
China, meanwhile, must be salivating at the opportunity to develop relationships with the countries USAID must now leave.
And Republicans in Congress are obviously terrified of offending the capo but the aversions and sidelong glances and evasive answers are telling.
Things Trump Did That I Liked
-
- Got rid of the penny.
- Reduced credit card interest rates to less than 10%.
- Reduced inflation to below 2%.
- Stopped the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
- Reduced waste and corruption in military defense spending.
- Reduced deaths from fentanyl overdoses.
- Brought manufacturing back to America on a broad scale.
- Put a stop to states competing with each other to offer tax breaks and incentives to corporations to locate there.
No, of course he didn’t do any of those things. Not yet. Probably not ever. I just like to fantasize sometimes.
People should take note (most of the media does not) that most of the job losses in the manufacturing sector over the last decades has not been due to off-shoring but to automation. An entire recent podcast by The Daily discussed the manufacturing issue at great length without once mentioning this fact. In other words, all the tariffs in the world will not bring back most of the manufacturing jobs that have been lost.