MSNBC host Joe Scarborough unleashed a tirade Friday about efforts to shut down the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), demanding that Democrats “explain” to the American people why the agency should remain operational.
The Trump administration plans to lay off roughly 95% of USAID’s workforce due to the agency funding left-wing causes globally with American tax dollars, the New York Times reported Thursday. Scarborough claimed that Americans “don’t want children to die in Sudan” as he claimed the agency’s closure would harm the United States.
“I find it a curious argument that some Democrats are making, which is, ‘Let’s not fight about this. You know, it’s foreign aid. Foreign aid is not popular. ‘Let’s talk about eggs’ or let’s talk about — No, this — this is a fight that I don’t care what polls say right now, if it’s a 50/50 split,” Scarborough said. “I still have confidence in the American people that they don’t want children to die in Sudan. They don’t want them to starve to death in Sudan, and they don’t want malaria spreading all over Africa. They don’t want these diseases spreading all over the world. They don’t want George W. Bush’s PEPFAR project, which has saved 25 million lives so far across the world, they don’t want those stopped at the end of the day, if Democrats will actually explain that to them.”
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Democratic members of Congress joined protests outside the headquarters of USAID and the Treasury Department Tuesday after Department of Government Efficiency Co-Chairman Elon Musk announced plans to close down USAID. 56% of respondents to a Reuters-Ipsos poll released Wednesday supported President Donald Trump’s executive order to freeze most foreign aid programs while the administration reevaluated and realigned foreign aid spending.
“This whole idea that, oh, we don’t have the money to provide grain to young children who are starving in Africa or across the world, in Sudan or across the world, I mean, one fighter jet here buys a hell of a lot of lifesaving aid and a lot of prevention for diseases that would spread across the globe,” Scarborough claimed. “And on top of that, as far as a bang for your buck goes, if you look at not only the goodwill that the United States gets out of these programs, but the intel that we gain, let’s just be cynical about this if nobody gives a damn about the morality. The intel that we gain about al Qaeda’s actions in Africa, ISIS’ actions in Africa, what China is doing to try to elbow us out for minerals and precious resources in Africa.”
“If we look at what Russia’s constantly trying to do to undermine our position, what Iran is trying to do, man, this is just a great value,” Scarborough continued. “It is a great value that we saw after World War II, we see time and time again. Hearts and minds are changed and the United States power grows exponentially. What is right actually leads to might in many, many ways.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the decision to dramatically reduce the agency’s workforce Monday during a press conference in El Salvador, saying that his concerns about its oversight began when he was in Congress and noting that the agency is “completely unresponsive” and “not functioning” as intended. The agency reportedly spent over $100 million in Afghanistan as part of a “democracy project,” and also provided funding for the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), an outlet whose reporting on former Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani of New York City was cited by then-Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman in the whistleblower complaint that led to Trump’s first impeachment.
One of the projects frozen by Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order mandating a review of foreign aid was a $50 million grant to Gaza for condoms, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a Jan. 29 briefing. USAID additionally spent $45 million on grants to promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) scholarships in Burma and $21 million for renewable electricity in Lebanon, the Washington Times reported.
“This is a strategically smart thing to do moving forward with this program. Cut the waste, fraud, and abuse. But God, don’t gut it. And if you’re a Democrat, why not defend it?” Scarborough asked.
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