*** “We must never forget that international friendship is achieved through rumors ignored, propaganda challenged and exposed, through patient loyalty to those who have proved themselves worthy of it; through help freely given, where help is needed and merited…Peace is more a product of our day-to-day living than of a spectacular program, intermittently executed.” [ Dwight D. Eisenhower; Republican; 34th U.S. President ]
This post BEGINS to discuss the consequences, the DAMAGE, the DANGER, the STUPIDITY, the Cruelty – of Donald Trump’s cuts to American foreign aid around the world. Begin with a partial list of aid cooperation programs America started, has joined: Agency for International Development, Alliance for Progress, Asian Development Bank, Developing Country, Food and Agriculture Organization, International Development Association, Marshall Plan, Peace Corps, UNESCO, World Health Organization.
WHY did America do this, and much more? Partly for humanitarian reasons; partly because it was in OUR self-interest to help others. – thus maintaining peace, often creating markets for American products. Intelligent people knew American “soft power” was a key to American prosperity. People respected America for being generous. – they looked upon America favorably…..
Because of GREED, selfishness, not taxing the rich, and whatever else percolates in Donald Trump’s mind – and possibly “Project 2025” mandates. – his DICTATORSHIP’s policies will COST AMERICA MUCH, in many ways…
Presented below are SOME costs from Trump’s international Stupidity and Ignorance:
A]. “When Trump and Musk slashed aid they left us vulnerable, too”. [Nicholas Kristof; New York Times; 6/8/26 ]:
1] “After Elon Musk “spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chopper,”…he and President Donald Trump ridiculed American humanitarian aid as, in effect, woke nonsense. Yet in reality American humanitarian aid not only saved one life every 10 seconds but was also safeguarding the world from epidemics.”
2]. “..in three ways, Trump’s assault on global health has left us in a worse position to combat Ebola…The first failing was the destruction of USAID…..The second failing ..was its hostility to the World Health Organization….The third failing is simply the administration’s disregard for public health and lack of preparation.”
***. “Whoever has this world’s goods and sees his brother in need, and has no pity on him, how dwells the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love merely in word, neither in speech, but in deed and truth.” [ I John 3: 17-18 ]
3]. “I don’t think there is any way that this outbreak would have been missed for so long if all those programs were still at full strength and the USAID mission team was still there.”
4]. “With Ebola, time is lives,” Dr. Tom Frieden..”
5]. “Trump not only withdrew the United States from the WHO, but his administration also reportedly barred some U.S. health officials even from communicating with counterparts there.” [ So – ignorance is going to keep America healthy?}
***. “In public affairs, stupidity is more dangerous than knavery.” [ Woodrow Wilson; 28th U.S. President ]
6] “The Trump administration also left positions for disease preparedness vacant. It cut funding for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which is helping develop a vaccine for this strain of Ebola.”
7] “The fecklessness of Washington officials, recklessly cutting programs they don’t understand, contrasts with the raw courage of doctors, nurses, aid workers and burial teams in places like Congo who are risking their lives and making do without adequate supplies to stop this outbreak.”
8] “The USAID cuts were lethal: I’ve documented how we let children die from malaria for want of $2 mosquito bed nets or from starvation because we couldn’t be bothered to provide 50-cent packets of peanut paste. A Boston University researcher estimates that the aid cuts have already cost more than 750,000 lives worldwide.”
*** “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you.” [ John 13: 34 ]
B] “Cuts to Foreign Aid Are Trump’s Most Lethal Policy”. [ Nicholas Kristof; New York Times; 9/20/25 ]:
1] “..the shutdown of the U.S. Agency for International Development will cost taxpayers $6.4 billion over two years…the subject of earlier reporting by Bloomberg Government, said the money is necessary to manage “litigation, claims, residual payments and closeout activities. That’s enough money to save more than one million children’s lives.”
2]. “..the Trump administration is sitting on huge stockpiles of R.U.T.F. purchased under the Biden administration…300,000 cases in warehouses of Mana Nutrition…and 185,535 more cases sit in the warehouse of another manufacturer, Edesia Nutrition, in Rhode Island, where we pay to store it….storage costs that amount to more than $600,000 so far…rather than rush it to children like Fred who may die for want of it..”
*** “WE may well be unable to afford to be the world’s policeman, but neither can we afford to fail to live up to the responsibilities that the accidents of a bountiful land and a beneficient fate have placed upon us.”
[ General William Westmoreland ]
C] “Trump’s Aid Cuts Kill More Christians Than Jihadists Do” [ Nicholas Kristof; New York Times; 11/9/25 ]:
1] “A radical theme of Jesus’ teachings, as the scholar Bart Ehrman notes in..”Love Thy Stranger,” was his emphasis on empathy for all people, including strangers outside one’s circle.”
***. “Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain.” [ Fredrich von Schiller ]
With Justice For All 