Democrat lawmakers and establishment media personalities are angry the Trump administration appears poised to close the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), while America First Republicans celebrated the act as terminating part of the “fourth branch” of government.
MAGA Republicans believe USAID is one of the most egregious cudgels of the administrative state, accusing it of corrupting humanitarian aid, facilitating contractor fraud, wasting taxpayer funds, and bending to the wishes of the CIA.
The Trump administration demanded agency staffers remain home after Elon Musk said Monday that President Donald Trump agreed with him to close the agency. “It became apparent that it’s not an apple with a worm it in,” Musk said in an X Spaces session. “What we have is just a ball of worms. You’ve got to basically get rid of the whole thing. It’s beyond repair.”“It’s a coup,” whined a current USAID official to the Wall Street Journal about the potential shuttering.
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) claimed that Trump has no authority to close the agency because taxpayers’ money was already earmarked to fund the fourth branch of government.
Establishment journalist Jamie Dupree said Trump’s actions might have caused a “Constitutional crisis.”
Vox reporter Dylan Matthews defended the agency as only “0.7% of the federal budget.”
WINNING:
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) February 3, 2025
USAID notice instructs staffers not to go to agency headquarters Monday, after Musk said Trump agreed to shut it down
- AP
America First Republicans, however, were eager to praise the potential closure.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) said she tried to shut the agency down seven months ago. “I FULLY SUPPORT ELIMINATING USAID!!!” she posted on X.
In a lengthy post on X, Fox Business Host Elizabeth MacDonald outlined a series of issues the agency stands accused of perpetrating:
Major fraud and waste problems at USAID uncovered by IG, GAO & Congress for years as Pres Trump seizes control for review of abuses:
— Elizabeth MacDonald (@LizMacDonaldFOX) February 3, 2025
- **Contractor Fraud**: Multiple instances of USAID contractors involved in fraudulent activities. For example, the Louis Berger Group paid over… pic.twitter.com/Xs9avXlVY5
Conservative media personality Mike Benz suggested Biden administration prosecutors of Trump were funded by USAID, and the agency must be cut:
🚨🇺🇸MIKE BENZ: TRUMP PROSECUTORS WERE FUNDED BY USAID
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) February 2, 2025
“This push to prosecute Trump by Alvin Bragg, Soros was a minor co-funder.
He gave them $10,000, that's it!
The $14 million he gave to the parent company, the fiscal sponsor of FJP (Fair and Just Prosecution, a nonprofit… https://t.co/lh2UmPTjyp pic.twitter.com/Q2vhE7oylh
Not a single person in the Executive Branch — not Donald Trump, not Elon Musk, and not any of their cronies — has the authority to shut down USAID. Congress created the agency by statute.
— Rep. Gerry Connolly (@GerryConnolly) February 3, 2025
We ask a lot of our civil servants. Today, we ask of them another task — show up to work.…
Congress approved money to run USAID. Trump is evidently ready to shut it down. The Constitutional crisis may already be here.
— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) February 3, 2025
WASHINGTON (AP) — USAID notice instructs staffers not to go to agency headquarters Monday, after Musk said Trump agreed to shut it down.
Ex Trump official on email telling USAID staff to work remotely: "And why would anyone comply with this? The press office has no authority to order this and it’s not signed by any agency leader." https://t.co/6lY2IadTAy
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) February 3, 2025
USAID: Drive-by reporter from Vox argues that USAID isn’t bad because its budget is only $28 billion a year. IMHO you can cause a LOT of mayhem in the world for $28B - USAID proves it. https://t.co/zr4V6eAdUv pic.twitter.com/THZrnOhpdL
— @amuse (@amuse) February 3, 2025
Major fraud and waste problems at USAID uncovered by IG, GAO & Congress for years as Pres Trump seizes control for review of abuses:
— Elizabeth MacDonald (@LizMacDonaldFOX) February 3, 2025
- **Contractor Fraud**: Multiple instances of USAID contractors involved in fraudulent activities. For example, the Louis Berger Group paid over… pic.twitter.com/Xs9avXlVY5
USAID: The unelected bureaucratic state has been the 4th and most powerful branch of government. They are calling their ouster a ‘coup’ in a stunning admission they have been running the government. FWIW There is not supposed to be a 4th branch they quietly took over years ago. https://t.co/Km7RZncXK3 pic.twitter.com/vYhU1BcO4h
— @amuse (@amuse) February 3, 2025
Here’s a GREAT question…
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) February 3, 2025
How many of the political prosecutions of powerful populist candidates from Brazil to France to Pakistan came at the direction of USAID?
They all seemed to happen at the same time out of nowhere. Similar charges —was the CIA running them all? https://t.co/zW9EQGixJ9
At this point, you have no excuse to say that USAID is anything but a money laundering operation for all these corrupt politicians and their pet projects.
— Insurrection Barbie (@DefiyantlyFree) February 3, 2025
The ones screaming the loudest are the ones who benefit the most from your tax dollars doing everything to destabilize your…
I tried to defund USAID last year and only 20% of Congress voted with me!https://t.co/nSoOMGdV8Z
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) February 3, 2025
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former RNC War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.
