Four days later, the United States Agency for International Development went into lock down. Senior executives were given administrative leave, billions of dollars frozen and USAID’s website was wiped clean.
Last week, protesting Democrat congressmen were blocked from entering the USAID headquarters in Washington DC, organization name was removed from the building and thousands of contractors and employees were put on administrative leave and left scrambling.
“What Trump and Musk have done is not only wrong, it’s illegal, » said Democrat Congressman Don Beyer of Virginia during the press conference in front of the USAID headquarters.
“They locked out USAid employees from their offices, improperly accessed highly classified information, purged the agency of its non-partisan leadership and have thrown the agency into chaos through harassment and intimidation of its employees.”
The Trump Administration’s actions against USAID has created a barnstorm of contention and controversy which is being felt globally. Economic development, agriculture and poverty programs already slated for funding are now in question. Will they receive the agreed upon funding? Will USAID be completely dismantled?
So far, the current administration has announced plans to end the employment of nearly 10,000 and reduce the number to only 300 USAID employees.
The American Federation of Government Employees has filed a lawsuit seeking a preliminary injunction against the Trump Administration claiming their dismissal is “unconstitutional and illegal.” A federal judge ruled to delay the layoffs of USAID employees, but it could be simply a temporary fix.
Gender, Climate LGBTQ Cuts
USAID was established in 1961 by the Kennedy Administration for the purpose of providing economic aid in foreign nations. Over the decades, the agency which is funded by the US Congress has become the primary source for NGOs and governments seeking aid in economic development, agriculture, disaster and poverty relief, and global hunger.
In recent years, the agency has expanded its focus on LGBTQ and women’s rights, gender equality and climate change. Climate change funding as well as LGBTQ and gender equality programs are considered by pundits the reason for the Trump Administration’s open attack on USAID.
From day one and throughout his campaign, President Trump has attacked these issues as not serving the interests of the American people.
“This week, I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life,” said Trump during his Inauguration speech on January 20. “We will forge a society which is color blind and merit based.”
The same day Trump signed an executive order entitled, “Putting America First In International Environment Agreements” which starts the process of the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and future participation in global policy on climate change.
Trump’s influence and negotiation skills have pushed major corporations and educational institutions to push back against Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs, known as DEI, in the work place. META, Google, Amazon and dozens of other multinational corporations have abandoned their support of Gay Pride events, transgender employees and climate change advocacy.
USAID has actively helped a multitude of women to gain access to financing, networking opportunities, training skills, and has bolstered the capacity of women-owned businesses to access new markets.
“Personally, I have never received funding from USAID, but I work within this space and have conducted extensive research on feminist funding, which was already extremely limited—especially for climate justice and gender equity initiatives,” said Yasmina Benslimane, a Moroccan activist advocating for gender equality, women’s rights, and climate responsibility. She is the founder of Politics4Her.
“Now, with this new administration’s outright dismissal of climate change as a hoax, we are witnessing an aggressive rollback of hard-won rights. Women’s rights, minority rights, and funding for grassroots movements are all at risk.”
Benslimane said that many of her friends and colleagues in the NGO sector are having their contracts abruptly terminated and losing their jobs.
“This is a deliberate reversal driven by the billionaire class—what we call the ‘broligarchy’ — individuals like Elon Musk, who have no background in governance yet are given disproportionate influence over political discourse and policy,” said Benslimane.
“There is no apple”
Elon Musk, reportedly the world’s richest man, sits in the center of the storm of criticism.
He openly called USAID “a criminal organization. Time for it to die.”
“And USAID is a ball of worms. There is no apple. And when there is no apple, that’s, there’s you’ve just got to basically get rid of the whole thing,” says Musk.
He accused the hundreds of, what he called, “protesters » as being the ones getting money from USAID.
“That’s why they’re there – they want your stolen tax dollars!,” said Musk.
The global business magnate and CEO of X, Tesla, and SpaceX, was chosen by President Trump to also spearhead his newly-created Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE.
DOGE consists of Musk and six all-male, twentysomething AI and tech geniuses who have been provided with top security clearances to be able to access information for the purpose of auditing government agencies.
Adding to the controversy was one DOGE employee, nicknamed “big balls,” who was dismissed from working in DOGE after it was revealed that he made racially insensitive comments when he was 16 years old.
Opponents to DOGE and Musk’s involvement in the dissolution of USAID have been quite vocal about perceived and actual conflicts of interest in being the spokesman for Trump’s “line-by-line auditing” of government agencies.
Starlink, a subsidiary of Musk’s company SpaceX, received $2 million from USAID for the sale of terminals to Ukraine. These terminals would allow the nation warring with Russia to access internet connections from space.
“Did you know that Elon Musk is one of the entities benefiting from USAID?” reported political pundit Chris Cuomo on NewNation. Musk was under investigation for also providing Starlink terminals to Russia.
Waste, Fraud and Abuse?
LGBTQ+, Women rights and climate change advocates will not be the only victims in the possible demise of USAID.
USAID has been actively involved in Morocco for several decades, supporting a range of programs aimed at promoting economic development, education, health, governance, and environmental sustainability. In 2023, USAID spent nearly USD43 billion which is only .07 percent of the entire US budget. With the closure of the agency’s website, it is more difficult to determine the annual USAID disbursements in Morocco. But with certainty, many development programs will also lose funding.
Living Planet Morocco is budgeted in 2025 to receive $USD 1 million in assistance from USAID, according to USAspending.com, an official website posting and monitoring government spending. The organization has local and international partners to conserve fresh water, wetlands, biodiversity and improve irrigation systems for agriculture.
OCP Group, Morocco’s and the world’s leader in the production of phosphate-based fertilizers, partnered with USAID last year. The two organizations signed a four-year collaborative agreement “to tackle critical barriers hindering Africa’s agricultural potential.”
The Space to Place Project will guide local farmers on the most efficient way to optimize their use of key fertilizers while the Rock Phosphate Amendment will evaluate the impact on crop yields and soil fertility for African farmers.
Both projects are essential agricultural development. However, a delay in funding or participation due to structural changes within the USAID could affect hundreds of OCP’s partners and stakeholders.
There have been many vocal opponents to the USAID’s approach to funding development projects. Some of the complaints stem from the agency’s lack of transparency.
“It (USAID) is supposed to respond to policy directives of the State department and it refuses to do so,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He now is the head of USAID which will be a program monitored and administered by the US State Department.
Rubio maintains that “every dollar we spend and every program we fund, that program will be aligned with the national interests of the United States.”
The Trump Administration believes it has a mandate to review all government spending and cut any programs which do not align with national interests. It is part of the America First concept which allowed Trump to win the popular vote, electoral college, the House, the Senate and the Supreme Court.
For many years, the idea that there was waste, fraud and abuse or even corruption in the American government was not widely discussed. Many observers may not like the process and speed by which DOGE is operating and there are legitimate concerns about DOGE having access to American’s private information.
But DOGE has uncovered many troublesome USAID expenditures: $45 Million to DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) scholarships in Burma, $2.5 million for DEI in Serbia, $70,000 for an LGBTQ musical in Ireland, $40,000 for a transgender opera in Columbia, $32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru, $56 million to promote tourism in Egypt and Tunisia. There is more.
Americans who have suffered from hurricanes in Florida, Tennessee and North Carolina as well as victims of the devastating wildfires in California were allocated only $750 per household.
So far, polls are showing support for the Trump Administration during its first 20 days. Americans have given Trump a 53 percent approval rating the highest he has ever garnered since being elected in 2016. Better yet, a whopping 70 percent agree that Trump is doing exactly what he promised on the campaign trail.
K. Barrett Bilali is an independent journalist and founder of The AngloMedia Group.
