Lawrence: Musk and Trump Are Lying about USAID because They Can't Find Anything Wrong with It

Feb 11, 2025 | MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell explains why Elon Musk and Donald Trump are lying about what the life-saving agency USAID actually does as “Elon Musk has created his own form of waste, fraud and abuse at USAID by wasting $489 million of food” that could be feeding starving children.

The Impact of Cutting USAID on America's Soft Power: How China Looks to React | DW News

Feb 8, 2025 | US President Kennedy created the US Agency for International Development, USAID, in 1961 to be an umbrella organization for all US nonmilitary foreign aid. At the time, aid to contain communism was the Cold War guiding principle, but not the only one.

Kennedy also invoked a moral responsibilty, pointing to America's economic obligations as the wealthiest people in a world of largely poor people. Six decades later USAID provides tens of billions of dollars of humanitarian aid to countries around the world.

But that is about to change. In a move to slash wasteful spending, spearheaded by Elon Musk in the Department of Government Efficiency, the Trump White House this week began slashing most of USAID's workforce. It's feared that the decision to defund USAID by Donald Trump and Elon Musk, two of the world's richest people could hurt millions of the world's poorest people.

Musk Shutters USAID Leaving the World's Poor in Crisis

Feb 5, 2025 | The U.S. Agency for International Development, known as USAID, has fallen in the crosshairs of the Trump administration and Elon Musk's government efficiency push, sending chills through the humanitarian world and drawing criticism from Democratic lawmakers and nonpartisan foreign service workers. Elon Musk said the team he calls the Department of Government Efficiency was in the process of "shutting down USAID," with President Trump's support. Anthony Davis reports.

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Trump should disgust all decent people on the planet. He is the most disgusting individual in public life in my lifetime. Elon Musk comes as a close second. – © Mark Alexander