Usaid.gov
usaid.gov
usaid.gov
If this is a discussion we want to have, maybe a news article about it would be better? E.g. https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/01/politics/usaid-website-offlin... -- which I haven't really read either, but it is probably less confusing.
That said: my own objection is primarily moral—I believe humans should help other humans without exception, _especially_ those most in need, and would strongly prefer that be embedded into the society in which we live. If you're going to argue that many folks that voted for the current administration would differ in their preferences around that, you're probably right.
The more cross-cutting argument is that Trump campaigned on getting the US out of expensive wars and preventing getting into forever wars, primarily talking about the monetary cost. Cutting off the US's soft power increases the chances of ending up in a hot war for very little actual savings—the total amount of foreign aid the US spends is below 1% of the budget.
Personally I agree with you but in recent weeks I’ve learned that most of my friends and colleagues were either ambivalent or actively hostile at the idea that the US taxpayers should help buy medicine for 20 million people suffering from HIV. That said, I am fortunate that I have enough food to eat and shelter and I live in relative comfort so I understand that I might be badly out of touch with fellow Americans.
> The more cross-cutting argument is that Trump campaigned on getting the US out of expensive wars and preventing getting into forever wars, primarily talking about the monetary cost. Cutting off the US's soft power increases the chances of ending up in a hot war for very little actual savings—the total amount of foreign aid the US spends is below 1% of the budget.
Again I’m personally in agreement with you but my understanding is that the majority of voters have difficulty following this chain of reasoning especially when it is at odds with what they are told by every social media influencer they rely on to get their news.
A plurality of voters believing something does not make it true.
What happened?
They are pissing off so many people, so quickly, so heavy-handedly, and in a country literally stuffed with guns.
One guy whose business exports are killed by retaliatory tariffs, or another whose medical care gets shut down, or someone with family in a developing country whose life ends up ruined by the US defaulting on its aid commitments. And it's barely two weeks in.
And yes, I know it's mostly the MAGA crowd who has guns, but they are half the country, and Trump doesn't seem to mind shooting with his eyes shut. Well, you're going to hit quite a few of your own people if you do that. Populist sentiment seems to run out when you hit people where it hurts - their wallet.
To be clear, the thought gives me no joy. Already being a US president is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, and this would only set an awful precedent for whoever follows.
I don't believe Musk has Secret Service protection, but as the richest man in the world, his private security budget is effectively unlimited.
Also, you only need one bullet to go through, and Trump doesn't strike me like the guy who does everything Secret Service tells him to do.
thought process (hmmm what other gov do I know? oh I'll curl up cisa. oh it uses drupal thats neat.)
Bush & Obama used it to fund anti-Castro media.
https://web.archive.org/web/20241218234652/https://www.usaid...
Looks like a site for Aid for international development. One of the items Trump wants to eliminate.
> WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has placed two top security chiefs at the U.S. Agency for International Development on leave after they refused to turn over classified material in restricted areas to Elon Musk’s government-inspection teams, a current and a former U.S. official told The Associated Press on Sunday.
> Members of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, eventually did gain access Saturday to the aid agency’s classified information, which includes intelligence reports, the former official said.
> Musk’s DOGE crew lacked high-enough security clearance to access that information, so the two USAID security officials — John Vorhees and deputy Brian McGill — were legally obligated to deny access.
* https://apnews.com/article/doge-musk-trump-classified-inform...
* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42910635
I seem to remember some hullabaloo about Clinton not treating (potentially) classified e-mails appropriately.