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Slate: Elon Musk's Assault on USAID Is Lethal, Vindictive, and Brazenly Unlawful
Slate - (archived: https://archive.ph/iu766) Elon Musk’s Assault on USAID Is Lethal, Vindictive, and Brazenly Unlawful
By Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern
Feb 07, 2025
5:46 PM
Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s all-out assault on the federal government has had a devastating impact on critical, life-saving services at home and abroad. So far, no single action has harmed more people than the abrupt closure of the United States Agency for International Development, which funds medical treatment, food assistance, democracy support, and other services around the globe. A Trump-appointed federal judge said on Friday that he would freeze the administration’s plan to slash most employees and withdraw nearly all its overseas workers. Yet the agency remains in limbo, its operations still largely suspended, with the threat of eradication looming. On this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode of Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern discussed the illegal shutdown of USAID and the court battle to revive the beleaguered agency. An excerpt of their conversation, below, has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Dahlia Lithwick: Amid this circus-like atmosphere, real people are losing their jobs. Real people are in turmoil. This is a really hellish landscape to be inhabiting. And maybe paradigmatic among all of it is the shutdown of USAID. I cannot overstate the extent of the damage that has been done by shutting down this agency.
Mark Joseph Stern: It is horrific. Foreign aid is a tiny portion of the federal budget, less than 1 percent. But Elon Musk targeted it first out of the gate, and now people are suffering. Musk has claimed the power to shutter USAID—to defund the entire agency unilaterally. Because of that, right now, millions of people around the world have lost access to life-saving drugs. People have been cut off from HIV treatment. Regions of the world suffering from famines have suddenly been cut off from their food supply. Patients in the middle of clinical trials, which hold great promise for breakthrough treatments, have been totally stranded in the midst of their own treatments because the trial got suspended overnight.
There are vital programs that promote democracy and protect free elections all around the world that are being obliterated. There are thousands of Americans who are doing crucial humanitarian work promoting democracy abroad who are abruptly being called home with no notice, their lives and careers thrown into total disarray. It is a tragedy.
And this is because of Elon Musk. Donald Trump complains about foreign aid, but this wasn’t one of his most explicit passions. We don’t know exactly why Elon Musk is targeting USAID. My best guess is that he is angry that it funds pro-democracy efforts around the world, including in countries where he has allied with far-right parties. I think he is targeting the agency because it promotes democracy in regions where he’s trying to erode democracy. And so he has gone after USAID, spreading outrageous and malicious lies about it, just awful falsehoods, and weaponized his power as the leader of DOGE to cancel billions of dollars in spending appropriated by Congress.
/snip
By Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern
Feb 07, 2025
5:46 PM
Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s all-out assault on the federal government has had a devastating impact on critical, life-saving services at home and abroad. So far, no single action has harmed more people than the abrupt closure of the United States Agency for International Development, which funds medical treatment, food assistance, democracy support, and other services around the globe. A Trump-appointed federal judge said on Friday that he would freeze the administration’s plan to slash most employees and withdraw nearly all its overseas workers. Yet the agency remains in limbo, its operations still largely suspended, with the threat of eradication looming. On this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode of Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern discussed the illegal shutdown of USAID and the court battle to revive the beleaguered agency. An excerpt of their conversation, below, has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Dahlia Lithwick: Amid this circus-like atmosphere, real people are losing their jobs. Real people are in turmoil. This is a really hellish landscape to be inhabiting. And maybe paradigmatic among all of it is the shutdown of USAID. I cannot overstate the extent of the damage that has been done by shutting down this agency.
Mark Joseph Stern: It is horrific. Foreign aid is a tiny portion of the federal budget, less than 1 percent. But Elon Musk targeted it first out of the gate, and now people are suffering. Musk has claimed the power to shutter USAID—to defund the entire agency unilaterally. Because of that, right now, millions of people around the world have lost access to life-saving drugs. People have been cut off from HIV treatment. Regions of the world suffering from famines have suddenly been cut off from their food supply. Patients in the middle of clinical trials, which hold great promise for breakthrough treatments, have been totally stranded in the midst of their own treatments because the trial got suspended overnight.
There are vital programs that promote democracy and protect free elections all around the world that are being obliterated. There are thousands of Americans who are doing crucial humanitarian work promoting democracy abroad who are abruptly being called home with no notice, their lives and careers thrown into total disarray. It is a tragedy.
And this is because of Elon Musk. Donald Trump complains about foreign aid, but this wasn’t one of his most explicit passions. We don’t know exactly why Elon Musk is targeting USAID. My best guess is that he is angry that it funds pro-democracy efforts around the world, including in countries where he has allied with far-right parties. I think he is targeting the agency because it promotes democracy in regions where he’s trying to erode democracy. And so he has gone after USAID, spreading outrageous and malicious lies about it, just awful falsehoods, and weaponized his power as the leader of DOGE to cancel billions of dollars in spending appropriated by Congress.
/snip