A CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY!<\/h2>\n
\n My cover is blown. Decades ago, in my na\u00efve and rambunctious (not) college years, I was apparently a low-ranking member of a vast criminal conspiracy.\n<\/p>\n
\n That\u2019s right. Between my junior and senior years, I worked a summer job as a secretary-typist with the reviled United States Agency for International Development (USAID). What can I say? I was only 18 and not yet attuned to the subtle tells typically attributed to international criminal organizations.\n<\/p>\n
\n My office\u2019s front was the promotion, via books and conferences, of the lowly winged bean<\/a> as a rich food source that was also nitrogen-fixing and thus good for the soil. I\u2019ll never know, I guess, what the real agenda was, but it must have been something to do with turning citizens into left-wing destroyers of Western Civilization while embezzling barrels of money. It surely couldn\u2019t have had anything to do with the desperate poverty and mass starvations of the 1970s, could it? Mea culpa<\/em>.\n<\/p>\n \n On Sunday night, February 2, President Trump ordered a complete shutdown of the US Agency for International Development, a federal organization established under President Kennedy in 1961. In so doing, he abruptly shut down critical and life-saving aid programs while ordering all USAID personnel to return immediately to US soil. The USAID website was deactivated early the next day, and remains offline as of this writing (2\/20\/2025).\n<\/p>\n \n Within days, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was insisting<\/a> that emergency food programs, medical services, and military aid to Egypt and Israel would be exempted. Waivers would have to be granted for any exemption. According to some sources, the granting of waivers began almost immediately, although some employees report receiving a February 10 email<\/a> instructing them to refrain from granting any more waivers pending further notice.\n<\/p>\n \n In the ensuing two weeks, there has been a series of accusations and counteraccusations, and the story is far from over. In this article, I\u2019d like to review some of the more serious accusations that have been made.\n<\/p>\n \n On Thursday night, February 13, a federal judge ordered the administration to temporarily restore all USAID funding and to conduct a detailed review before canceling any programs.\n<\/p>\n \n A running timeline of the events leading up to the court decision can be seen here in this article from Forbes<\/em>:\n<\/p>\n USAID Controversy Live Updates: Judge Orders Trump Administration To Temporarily Restore Foreign Aid Funding<\/a>\n<\/p>\n \n The abrupt shutdown of USAID was foreshadowed by a series of tweets from President Trump and Elon Musk in the preceding days.\n<\/p>\n \n Before February 2025, Elon Musk almost never posted comments on USAID. Suddenly, on February 2, he issued a series of posts on X (Twitter), calling it \u201ca vipers nest of radical-left Marxists who hate America<\/a>\u201d and \u201cevil.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n For instance, on that day, Musk tweeted<\/a>, \u201cUSAID is a criminal organization. Time for it to die.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n After the agency was shut down, Musk boasted<\/a>, \u201cWe spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n Most of Musk\u2019s posts about USAID (over 160 as of February 7<\/a>) were reposts of a handful of shady accounts such as \u201cWall Street Apes,\u201d \u201cKanekoa the Great,\u201d \u201cChief Nerd,\u201d and \u201cAutism Capital.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n Four days later, President Trump posted<\/a>:\n<\/p>\n \n In recent weeks, an impressive assortment of accusations have been hurled at the agency, ostensibly to justify the shutdown. Most, but not all, are clearly false.\n<\/p>\n \n The following are but a sample. As of this writing, several listed below, though untrue, remain on the White House website, \u201cAt USAID, Waste and Abuse Runs Deep,<\/a>\u201d posted on February 3, 2025.\n<\/p>\n CLAIM<\/strong>: $70,000 for the production of a DEI Musical in Ireland<\/em>\n<\/p>\n \n Source: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt<\/a>, February 3, 2025\n<\/p>\n FALSE<\/strong>. The US State Department supported a musical event at the US Embassy in Dublin on September 15, 2022. The USAID had nothing to do with it. Source<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n CLAIM<\/strong>: \u201c$47,000 for a Transgender Opera in Colombia\u201d<\/em>\n<\/p>\n \n Source: Karoline Leavitt<\/a>, February 3, 2025\n<\/p>\n FALSE<\/strong>. The US State Department provided funding for an opera that included a transgender protagonist, performed on April 28, 2022. Again, this had nothing to do with USAID. Source<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n CLAIM<\/strong>: \u201c$32,000 for a transgender Comic Book in Peru.\u201d<\/em>\n<\/p>\n \n Source: Karoline Leavitt<\/a>, February 3, 2025\n<\/p>\n FALSE<\/strong>. In 2021, the US Embassy in Peru supported a comic book called \u201cThe Power of Education\u201d that included a gay (not transgender) character. Again, the USAID had nothing to do with it. Source<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n CLAIM<\/strong>: \u201c$1.5 million to advance DEI in Serbia\u2019s workplaces\u201d<\/em>\n<\/p>\n \n Source: Karoline Leavitt<\/a>, February 3, 2025\n<\/p>\n TRUE<\/strong>. From February 2023 to October 2024, USAID provided funding of $1.5 million for a three-year program to improve the inclusion of LGBTA people in the workplace. Source<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n CLAIM<\/strong>: Politico, a left-wing news site, received $8.1 million from USAID. <\/em>\n<\/p>\n \n Source: Kyle Becker<\/a>, a former Fox News producer, repeated by Benny Johnson, who called it \u201cthe biggest scandal in news media history.\n<\/p>\n FALSE<\/strong>. In 2023 and 2024, individuals within USAID spent a total of $44,000 on two subscriptions to E&E<\/em>, an energy and environment publication produced by Politico LLC. The remainder of the $8.1 million came from other government agencies either for subscriptions to E&E<\/em> or for access to its policy intelligence platform, Politico Pro<\/em>. Source<\/a>\n<\/p>\n CLAIM<\/strong>: USAID funded the Evangelical magazine Christianity Today to the tune of $1.8 million.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n \n Source: Megan Basham<\/a>, picked up by Blaze Media and spread by many.\n<\/p>\n FALSE<\/strong>. This figure appears on Christianity Today\u2019s Form 990, filed in 2023. As explained by Timothy Dalrymple, the amount represents an Employee Retention Tax Credit, a program instituted by President Trump in 2020 as a COVID relief measure. A tax credit is, as the name indicates, a credit against taxes due. Christianity Today never received a dime of federal grant money. Source<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n CLAIM<\/strong>: Chelsea Clinton raked in $84 million from USAID.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n \n Source: Alan Jacoby<\/a> on \u201cX.\u201d\n<\/p>\n FALSE<\/strong>. Chelsea Clinton has received nothing from USAID. In 2019, under President Trump, the USAID granted $7.5 million to the Clinton Foundation\u2019s Health Access Initiative to fund health services in Zambia. Source<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n CLAIM<\/strong>: Samantha Power earned $23 million as USAID chief.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n \n Source: Elon Musk<\/a> reposting an anonymous poster on \u201cX,\u201d who was reposting another anonymous poster claiming without evidence that Power\u2019s net worth increased by that amount in 4 years. Musk\u2019s post has recorded almost 25 million views.\n<\/p>\n FALSE<\/strong>. Federal records show that Samantha Power was paid an annual salary of $183,100 while serving as administrator of USAID. Source<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n CLAIM<\/strong>: \u201c$2 million for sex changes and \u2018LGBT activism\u2019 in Guatemala.\u201d<\/em>\n<\/p>\n \n Source: The White House<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n PARTIALLY TRUE<\/strong>. In 2024, the USAID awarded a $2 million grant to Asociacion Lambda, a Guatemalan LGBTQ advocacy group. Only $350,000 has actually been disbursed as of this writing, according to USASpending.Gov<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n CLAIM<\/strong>: \u201c$6 million to fund tourism in Egypt\u201d<\/em>\n<\/p>\n \n Source: The White House<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n FALSE<\/strong>. The White House\u2019s claim links to a 2019 (First Trump administration) press release announcing a $6 million assistance agreement to spur economic development in the Northern Sinai, which adjoins Israel. There is no mention of tourism. Source<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n \n _____________________________\n<\/p>\n \n So, most of the accusations have been not merely false but egregiously so. The problem has been compounded by a general gullibility and lack of discernment that is deeply troubling.\n<\/p>\n \n The evidence presented supports no prima facie<\/em> case for the extermination of a government agency without Congressional action. However, this matter is evolving rapidly. The Trump initiative is facing several court challenges that will almost certainly affect the eventual outcome.\n<\/p>\nTIMELINE OF THE USAID SHUTDOWN<\/h2>\n
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<\/figure>\nA FLOOD OF ACCUSATIONS<\/h2>\n
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\nCONCLUSIONS:<\/h2>\n
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