Trump and Musk crippled our most important global aid agency. The consequences are grim

[Nevilledog]

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2025-02-07/usaid-elon-musk-donald-trump-foreign-aid-tesla-china-robin-abcarian

No paywall link
https://archive.li/fk134

It’s probably too soon to claim Elon Musk has babies’ blood on his hands for effectively shuttering America’s most consequential foreign aid agency. But trust me: He will.

On Musk’s orders, the work of the United States Agency for International Development has come to a screeching halt. Thousands of its administrators, workers and contractors have been thrown out of work, its programs suspended for who-knows-how-long and its website no longer functioning.

“We’re shutting it down,” Musk said Monday. “You’ve got to basically get rid of the whole thing. It’s beyond repair.”

My guess is that Musk, the unelected, unappointed billionaire bureaucrat in charge of slashing federal spending, and his boss, President Trump, are betting that most Americans won’t care about stuff that goes on overseas. Voters were in an isolationist mood when they gave Trump a second term. And most of us have only a glancing knowledge of USAID, which delivers humanitarian aid to developing nations beleaguered by conflict, disease and natural disaster across the globe. With a budget of around $40 billion, USAID is also the world’s largest provider of food assistance — which, to put in terms even Musk might grok, means it saves the lives of malnourished babies.

But — surprise — Americans do care. On Wednesday, pro-USAID demonstrations took place at state capitols around the country. In Washington, D.C., where USAID is headquartered and many of its workers and contractors live, thousands turned out to protest Musk’s abrupt, potentially illegal move.
Detractors may wonder what the agency does, but a better question is what doesn’t it do?

*snip*