In Trump's Service, Musk Goes After USAID. Is That Weird?

Debra Saunders on Feb 14, 2025

WASHINGTON -- "My uncle started USAID in 1961, for humanitarian purposes, to put our country on the side of the poor," Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pronounced Thursday at the White House as he was sworn in as Health secretary.

"It has been captured by the military industrial complex. It has become a sinister propagator of totalitarianism" across the globe, the former Democrat added. "And very few people understand how sinister this agency really is. President Trump saw that."

The issue of government agencies that have veered from their core mission, specifically the U.S. Agency for International Development, which was put under a Trump-imposed 90-day stop-work order, isn't going away.

Earlier in the day, the House Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing entitled "The USAID Betrayal" that waded through the muck of "woke" activist message spending -- money that would have been better spent on food, housing and other direct humanitarian assistance.

On committee Chairman Brian Mast's list of programs that should be cut:

" -- $22 million to increase tourism in Tunisia and Egypt, that's not lifesaving.

" -- $520 million to pay consultants to teach people in Africa about climate change, that's not medicine.

" -- $4.5 million to teach people in Kazakhstan how to fight back against internet trolls, that's not lifesaving.

" -- $20,000 to help LGBT individuals vote in the Honduran elections, that's not medicine."

D.C. insiders have been aghast at Trump's willingness to take on USAID, but agency boosters have to do a better job overcoming skepticism from the right about left-wing activists hijacking the humanitarian program to promote magical thinking.

And they have to contend with Elon Musk, the richest man in the world who now serves as the head of DOGE, Trump's newly minted Department of Government Efficiency.

To the outrage of beltway media, Musk has declared that USAID "should be shut down."

Of course, Democrats now feel duty-bound to attack Musk's motives and standing. Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, dismissed Musk as an "unelected, weirdo billionaire." "Unelected" is an odd pejorative given that all administration aides are unelected. And my guess is Golden will learn that Maine voters don't think cutting wasteful spending is "weird."

At the hearing, former USAID administrator Andrew Natsios, a one-time chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party, was the man in the middle. Natsios served as USAID administrator under President George W. Bush, and he is proud of the agency's many accomplishments under his watch. He spoke of USAID's value in helping developing countries while checking efforts by national security rivals China and Russia to co-opt Third World countries.

The agency works best for U.S. interests when it provides humanitarian assistance, Natsios noted, and moves developing countries from "aid to trade." That is where the lion's share of USAID money goes.

(I should note here that some of the projects on Musk's USAID list actually are funded by the State Department -- which makes the initiative look like a rush job.)

As a conservative, Natsios could not defend some of the insane USAID projects under President Joe Biden.

The most riveting moment of the hearing occurred when Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., railed against three items -- $25,000 for Venezuelans fleeing the Maduro regime to become "drag queens" in Ecuador, $2 million slated for gender-transitioning for the native population of Guatemala and $23,000 for diversity recruitment in Peru.

"You know Venezuelans, they're fleeing Marxism, they're hungry, the average Venezuelan weighs 15 pounds less because of lack of food. We know that (late Venezuelan strongman Hugo) Chavez has destroyed the country. They make it to Ecuador, they're tired, and then they encounter the United States, which is this beacon of hope, is offering this program to become a drag queen. I think there's something wrong with that."

Me, too.

Salazar noted that USAID funds would be better spent on mosquito nets to fight malaria. "What is a diversity recruitment event in the middle of the jungle?"

Kudos to Musk for realizing that small savings add up. Maybe that's part of the formula that made him a multibillionaire.

I frequently hear from readers who don't want tax dollars supporting foreign aid when this country hasn't adequately taken care of Americans in need. Credit Trump for listening to disaffected voters and actually trying to deliver on his campaign platforms.

As Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., noted, in less than a month "DOGE has gotten more information" on USAID spending than Congress had received in years.

If Musk actually can push through cuts unimaginable before 2025, weird is good.

A year ago, I would not have predicted that Trump was ready to ruthlessly go after federal spending, which grew during his first term in the Oval Office.

My prediction is that a good chunk of the cuts will happen, and a good chunk will not. I hope USAID survives, but without the pricey woke baggage of the Biden years. Wouldn't that be weird?

Contact Review-Journal Washington columnist Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com. Follow @debrajsaunders on X.

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