What is USAID and why are Donald Trump and Elon Musk working so hard to ‘shut it down?’

Donald Trump is up to some high level shenanigans as we slink into his third week in office, but its nearly impossible to keep track of his ever-changing manipulations.

Are federal loans and grants still canceled, USAID, an organization that certainly sounds important, but has little name-recognition among average Americans.

Trump and butt-buddy Elon Musk began furiously targeting USAID in early February, and their intents seem clear. Musk told reporters that Trump agrees with his aim to “shut down” the agency, but what will that mean for the country — and its allies?

What is USAID?

Established in 1961 by then-President John F. Kennedy, the U.S. Agency for International Development was always based around the idea that when America’s allies thrive, so too does America. The security of our nation is only improved when our allies are secure both economically and politically, and so Kennedy created an agency with a dual-pronged approach to maintaining stability across the globe.

When it was first created, USAID was partially intended as a means to circumvent and counter Soviet influence during the Cold War, but these days its secondary goal is all that’s left. It exists as the international humanitarian and development arm of the U.S. government, utilized to tackle various issues — from international conflicts to disease — in “strategically important countries,” according to a report from the Congressional Research Service.

Over the years, the agency has pursued various assistance programs across foreign nations, tackling a range of vital areas from women’s health to hunger and clean water. It employs a good 10,000 people, and Musk is on a quest to bring it to an end. That’s despite the multitude of countries USAID has assisted, over the years, including but not limited to Ukraine, Yemen, South Sudan, Congo, and Gaza. In 2023 alone, a full 130 countries received assistance from the agency, but that could go out the window with Trump at the nation’s helm.

Why are Trump and Musk so dead-set on killing USAID?

In a word, Trump and Musk want to kill USAID because of nationalism. The pair are pretty much the farthest you can get from globalist, and as a result they want this nation to become far more insular. If money is flowing outward, they want to know why, and in most cases, they want to put a stop to it.

Which lands agencies like USAID on the chopping block. It isn’t intended as a direct aid to American citizens, and thus Musk and Trump have a hard time wrapping their heads around its purpose. The whole idea of a community, of boosting others so we can likewise boost ourselves, is completely lost on them, and thus they see exactly zero purpose in reaching out a hand in friendship.

Marco Rubio just enjoyed a major promotion to secretary of state, and he’s also settling into a new role at the head of USAID. He announced his new position as acting director in early February, and in the process soothed concerns over USAID’s future. While he did lean into Trumpian talking points with his complaints about how it is currently run, Rubio itted that “there are things that it does that are good,” and added that the Trump istration’s approach is not “about ending the programs that USAID does, per se.”

The Trump istration has made and promptly un-made what feels like a dozen decisions a day since Trump took office. It keeps making promises, bombastic claims, and wild accusations and then reversing on them, so its impossible to know exactly how this USAID situation will work out. Trump and Musk certainly seem determined to do away with the agency, but with Rubio’s (weak) reinforcement of its aims, and with so many people blasting Musk’s threats as poorly considered, they may rethink things. As a former senior USAID official said, losing USAID would mean losing “an enormous, incredibly valuable tool of U.S. foreign policy.”

All that pushback may urge Trump to once again reverse, and leave USAID largely unscathed. Only time will tell, but one thing’s for certain: If the Trump istration does do away with the agency, U.S. foreign policy is about to get much messier, and fast.