“You have demonstrated the great strength of America through your efforts — and that is your compassionate spirit,’’ Bush remarked to the outgoing USAID staff, in comments reported by the Associated Press. “Is it in our national interests that 25 million individuals who would have perished are now alive? I believe it is, and so do you.”
Obama Calls Move a “Calamity”
Former President Barack Obama was even more direct in his assessment, appearing in a video presented to departing employees on Monday. He characterized the administration’s pivot as a strategic disaster.
“Dismantling USAID is a disgrace, and it’s a calamity,” Obama stated. “Because it represents some of the most critical work being conducted anywhere globally.” Labeling the decision a “monumental error,” Obama added that “eventually, leaders from both parties will come to understand how essential you are.”
The Administration’s Counter-Strike: Eliminating “Waste”
The dismantling of USAID was carried out by President Trump in close collaboration with Elon Musk and the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The administration effectively disassembled the agency’s extensive global infrastructure, leaving only a “skeleton crew” to manage the termination of operations. The move followed what the administration describes as the discovery of systemic waste, fraud, and internal abuses.
Elon Musk has been vocal about his disdain for the agency’s culture, previously labeling USAID as “a viper’s nest of radical-left Marxists who despise America.” Consequently, the agency became a primary target in Trump’s mission to purge a federal government he claims is riddled with the misuse of taxpayer funds. According to the New York Post, the State Department officially integrated the remnants of USAID earlier this week.
A New Direction for Foreign Aid
Secretary of State Marco Rubio countered the “narrative of despair” from the former presidents with a vision of a streamlined, politically neutral government. Rubio argued that the agency had become a bloated relic of the past.
“Aside from establishing a global NGO industrial complex at taxpayer expense, USAID has little to demonstrate since the conclusion of the Cold War,” Rubio said in an official announcement. “Development goals have seldom been achieved, instability has frequently escalated, and anti-American sentiment has only intensified.”
Rubio confirmed that the era of “government-sanctioned inefficiency” is over. Under the new protocol, USAID will officially cease executing foreign assistance as of July 1st.
“Under the Trump Administration, we will finally establish a foreign funding mission in America that prioritizes our national interests,” Rubio added. He noted that programs aligned with administration policies will now be managed directly by the State Department, promising “greater accountability, strategy, and efficiency.”