Summary
The Trump administration has upended USAID by abruptly freezing foreign aid spending and placing senior career officials on administrative leave, halting crucial disbursements.
The administration has implemented a 90-day freeze affecting life-saving programs such as PEPFAR and malaria initiatives, severely disrupting vital operations and international health efforts.
The administration’s impoundment strategy, widely rejected by courts, seeks to reclassify civil servants and contractors, undermining accountability and jeopardizing essential aid operations.
Critics warn that these moves create a climate of intimidation, endangering effective foreign aid delivery and weakening critical diplomatic and humanitarian efforts.
Billions of people earned a bunch of money, trillions of dollars, and part of our system is that we all give it to a big organization which is tasked with doing stuff that we all agree is necessary to spend it on. The reality is a little different from the theory in some very important ways, but that’s not a million miles away from what happens in reality.
And now, Trump is saying “What the fuck are you even talking about, that trillions of dollars is MINE, and mine alone.”