Opinion: Elon Musk and the USAID Program

In 1961, Congress passed the Foreign Assistance Act to administer long-range economic and humanitarian assistance to developing countries. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) was then established as an independent federal agency, that Congress funds through specific directions in annual appropriation acts and other legislation.

Trump has said that USAID has been run by a bunch of radical lunatics and promotes a liberal agenda. Musk added that USAID is politically partisan and has supported radically left causes throughout the world including things that are anti-American.

Trump advisor Stephen Miller has also claimed that 98% of the agency’s staff donated to former Vice President Kamala Harris or other Democratic candidates in the November election. Trump’s envoy for special missions Richard Grenell claimed that former USAID head Samantha Power used government money to fund radical programs and far Left activists.

Trump officials and Musk’s concerns about USAID are based on partisan ideology and lies that have been debunked (forbes.com).

Why has Musk singled out USAID for destruction?

Elon Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa in 1971 and spent his first 17 years growing up in white supremist South Africa.

In the 1980s, USAID funding helped end apartheid in South Africa. Elon Musk, raised with apartheid privileges, would have watched USAID systematically dismantle white racial dominance by funding Black freedom organizations his family labeled as terrorists.

Today, Elon Musk must view USAID as the American organization that destroyed his white supremist status in South Africa. Fast forward to 2025 and we see Musk shutting down USAID.

Musk posted on X Spaces on Feb 3 rd that he “went over USAID stuff” with Trump and he “agreed that we should shut it down.” Musk further posted “It’s been run by a bunch of radical lunatics, and we’re getting them out, and then we’ll make a decision about its future.”

I think we can conclude that this is Musk’s payback for USAID helping to end apartheid in South Africa.

Does shutting down USAID affect American workers and farmers?

President Trump, in a Jan. 20 executive order, froze USAID’s foreign assistance funding. USAID Stop-Work, a group tracking the impact of Trump’s executive order, says USAID contractors reported that they laid off nearly 13,000 American workers. The group estimates that the actual number is more than four times that.

When USAID provides food aid to people in need, they buy 41% of that food directly from American farmers equating to approximately $2 billion. This food comes from farms in states across the country, such as wheat from Kansas, soybean oil from Iowa and peanut products from Georgia.

While a federal judge has extended a restraining order preventing the Trump administration from fully dismantling USAID, $489 million of food assistance and more than 551,000 tons of food sourced from American producers is currently sitting in ports or in transit, much of it at risk of spoiling, according to a Feb. 10 report from USAID’s Office of Inspector General.

Shutting down USAID has nothing to do with government inefficiency and waste. It’s simply Musk’s revenge without any concern about the negative financial effects on American workers, businesses, farmers and the 282 million people in 59 countries and territories that are experiencing extreme food shortages (2024 Global Report on Food Crises). 

Tom Laurent