President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk’s illegal destruction of the country’s primary foreign-aid agency could be a major blow to U.S. farmers.
American farms have benefited from initiatives conducted by the U.S. Agency for International Development, supplying about 41% of the food aid the agency sends out. That amounted to $2.1 billion going to American farmers in 2020 alone, according to The Washington Post.
The Trump administration’s freeze on foreign aid means that over $340 million in U.S. food aid is now held up. USAID initiatives make up 10% to 20% of the pulse-crop export market for U.S. farmers, according to The Star Tribune.
And while Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a waiver for “lifesaving humanitarian assistance,” experts say it is unclear how this will work in practice, according to The Washington Post. After pulling almost all USAID workers off the job around the world, the Trump administration reportedly plans to fire over 97% of the USAID’s workforce. Getting the toothpaste back in the tube will be virtually impossible when virtually no one is there to try.
Musk’s illegal takeover of USAID has been cosigned by many Republicans, who often cite inflammatory or misleading claims—or outright lies.
For example, a recent White House “fact sheet” claims that USAID spent “$47,000 for a ‘transgender opera’ in Colombia,” but The Washington Post quickly debunked that lie:
USAID did not fund this. The White House appears to be referring to a $25,000 State Department grant to Universidad De Los Andes in Bogotá to stage an opera, “As One,” composed by Laura Kaminsky, an American. The rest of the money came from other sources, according to Juana Monsalve, the lead actress in the Colombian performances. “This is a well-known opera in the U.S., highly acclaimed by audiences,” Monsalve told a radio show in Spanish. “The last thing I expected was to hear those statements from the White House.”
Maybe you heard Trump’s new press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, claim that USAID spent “$70,000 for production of a ‘DEI musical’ in Ireland,” as the “fact sheet” also states.
Well, that’s false too. According to The Washington Post, this was a State Department grant for the U.S. ambassador in Ireland to host “an event featuring Grammy-winning folk duo Francesco Turrisi and Rhiannon Giddens, along with other Irish and American musicians.”
Here’s your “DEI Musical”:
The pain and suffering that the world’s richest man and Trump are causing continues unabated, and the Republican Party owns all of it.
Click here for Daily Kos’ Bluesky Starter Pack. Join us on Bluesky and @#$% Elon Musk!
