Tag: Foreign assistance
The cabinet of horrors is getting confirmed
After an initial rejection of Matt Gaetz as Attorney General, President Trump is getting all of his nominees confirmed. Arguably several are as bad as Gaetz on the issues. But none of the others quite tops his paying for sex and doing drugs. They can nevertheless do a great deal of harm in office, so let’s review the bidding:
Attorney General Pam Bondi
Trump’s second choice intends to use the Justice Department’s tools against Trump opponents and in favor of his supporters. There is no pretense of independence in Bondi’s Justice Department. She has dropped criminal charges against New York City Mayor Adams because he supports Trump on immigration. She is suing New York State Governor Hochul and other officials because they don’t. The Justice Department is firing lawyers who participated in the prosecution of January 6 rioters.
We can expect this pattern to continue. A few more years of this and there won’t be independent-minded lawyers at Justice. They will all have caved to MAGAism. That is unprecedented. It also violates the principle of equal justice for all. What else would be expected from a President who has spent a career stiffing courts and evading accountability?
Health and Human Services Secretary Kennedy
An anti-vax zealot despite his denials, Kennedy will do his best to block vaccines and other public health measures. He will do nothing to protect the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health from Trumpkin purges. While both institutions no doubt need reform, the meat ax approach of Elon Musk is already doing them irreparable damage. Kennedy won’t lift a finger to prevent drastic funding cuts.
The real meat and potatoes of HHS is in Medicare and Medicaid. The Republicans intend to gut Medicaid, which provides health care to the poor. They’ll be more careful with Medicare, which provides hospital and doctors to older Americans. But there are a thousand ways they can cut benefits and increase costs. Kennedy will do it.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard
Even Republicans know she is a peril to national security. But except for Senator McConnell they did not have the gumption to vote no. Her flaking for Russian President Putin and Syrian President Assad has been blatant. She couldn’t get any security clearance were she to apply for a mid-level job in the intelligence community. She’ll leak like a sieve, in all the wrong directions.
FBI Director Kash Patel
Not yet confirmed, but the worst of the lot. He has sworn to pursue revenge against Trump’s political enemies and to purge the FBI. He is also a liar, a perjuror, and an enthusiast for the January 6 rioters. Not to mention his anti-Semitic podcaster pal and performing propaganda services for the Russians and consulting for the Chinese.
The rest
I won’t even bother with Pete Hegseth. He has already sold out the Ukrainians and put the US in Russian President Putin’s pocket. No other Defense Secretary in my lifetime would not have resigned rather than follow Trump’s instruction to do that.
Sad to say, Marco Rubio, who knows better, is going along with dismantling USAID. He is also flogging Trump’s nonsense about Panama, Greenland, and Gaza.
Linda McMahon, Trump’s nominee to be the last Education Secretary, is telling Congress closing the Department will require Congressional approval. She’ll forget all about that once confirmed and go along with Elon Musk’s firing of 90% of the staff.
This really is a cabinet of horrors. The most unqualified people serving the least serious president in the history of the Union. Almost all now approved in the Senate of the United States with almost 100% Republican support. And almost 100% Democratic opposition.
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Rescue USAID and refugee assistance now!
I signed on to this letter addressed to the Senate and House leadership with dozens of former colleagues and friends:
The Honorable John R. Thune, Senate Majority Leader
The Honorable Charles E. Schumer, Senate Minority Leader
The Honorable Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House
The Honorable Hakeem Jeffries, House Minority Leader
United States Capitol, Washington, DC
Dear Senators Thune and Schumer, and Representatives Johnson and Jeffries:
As former U.S. government officials who served in national security and humanitarian positions in both Democratic and Republican administrations, we write to ask you to take all steps in your power to urge rescission of the Trump administration executive orders and directives aimed at freezing U.S. foreign assistance and dismantling USAID. These directives inflict irreparable damage on hundreds of millions of people around the world, harm Americans by crippling our ability to protect U.S. citizens from disease and other harms, and invite China and other competitors to fill the gap we have created, thereby increasing their power and influence at our expense.
In the some 200 countries where hundreds of millions of people have benefited from U.S. aid, the bulk of such support has been economic and humanitarian assistance. When Presidents, Cabinet Secretaries, and Members of Congress are welcomed in countries of Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and South Asia, and Europe, the concrete manifestations of U.S. government support have been the humanitarian and development programs supported by USAID and the State Department’s humanitarian operations.
These operations represent less than one percent of the federal budget. At the same time, U.S. aid has amounted to between a quarter and a third of global assistance, roughly the same as the U.S. share of GDP among wealthy countries. It has given the United States enormous capacity for influence, while making our country the global leader in efforts to reduce human suffering and abject poverty.
These are the programs that President Trump and Elon Musk are decimating, as we write, while depriving the U.S. Congress of its constitutional and legislative roles.
It is difficult to capture in one letter the scope of what the Financial Times has accurately called the “willful sabotage of U.S. soft power.” But the human suffering that these cut-offs have caused is catastrophic and heartbreaking. Elon Musk’s measures have halted critical and highly effective life-saving initiatives, including programs that provide clean water to infants; healthcare to mothers who are expecting; food, shelter, and refuge for those fleeing persecution and disaster; and life-saving support to those suffering from disease.
In Kenya, Syria, Lebanon, and elsewhere, aid to survivors of torture was stopped in its tracks. Children and adult victims of war and terror who have relied on the United States have been left without care. And in poorer countries around the world, thousands of women and girls will die in the next 90 days due to complications of childbirth that might otherwise have been avoided through interventions funded by Congress and administered by USAID.
Even the highly visible PEPFAR program to combat AIDS, started by President George W. Bush and responsible for saving some 25 million lives, was frozen. Clinics were closed and HIV sufferers were denied access to antiretrovirals. While some services were resumed, crucial programs remained suspended and millions are affected.
In our own country, the suspension of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program has led to tragic stories of thousands who were ready to travel to the United States, including Afghans who helped to support U.S. goals in their country. This modest and carefully managed program has revitalized declining communities and strengthened the U.S. economy, and persuaded other countries to do their fair share.
The tragic stories go on and on and on, from the curtailing of remarkable U.S. efforts to limit the spread of tuberculosis and eradicate polio, to the ending of programs that have built local economies and have thereby discouraged migration to the United States, to the abrupt halt of the USAID-supported Famine Early Warning System (FEWS), the gold standard for anticipating and monitoring famines worldwide.
Due to horror stories shared with Members of Congress about the impact of the funding freeze, Trump administration officials have added some exemptions to the ban. But this piecemeal effort is a wholly inefficient, inadequate, and cynical way to proceed with reform. It has merely left hundreds of millions around the world in disbelief at how the United States could act in such an arbitrary and cavalier manner.
History will not look kindly on this avoidable tragedy – for the hundreds of millions in need, for U.S. leadership and moral authority around the world, and for U.S. national security, as global competitors like China and Russia rush to fill the gap we have created. It will be part of the legacy of this Congress if not reversed.
We implore you to urge President Trump to rescind the freeze, which curtails U.S. efforts to provide critical humanitarian aid and development support around the world, and undermines the Constitutional authority of Congress. In particular, we ask that you urge the President to resume the funding and operations of USAID and its overseas offices, as well as the humanitarian programs of the Department of State.
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Stevenson’s army, September 22
– To try to avoid a government shutdown, Sen. Schumer plans to take up the FAA re-authorization passed by the House as a vehicle for a CR to fund the government. Using a bill with an HR number avoids any blue slip problems because revenue measures must begin in the House and makes the question in the House whether to accept a Senate version.
– CRS has some good background pieces on how the USG functions in a lapse of appropriations. Some FAQs and some broader background.
– Academics at the old Monkey Cage site have launched a new site, Good Authority.
– Among their good first articles are: Sarah Binder on the Tuberville holds; Andrew Rudalevige on the Schedule F problems; and Michael Tesler on GOP isolationism.
– In 2016 candidate Donald Trump didn’t run a typical campaign, just media. LATimes notes this year his campaign has done the nitty gritty work to get delegates, and it’s working.
– This week I ran across an article from last March profiling Trump’s last, acting SecDef, Chris Miller. While it’s mildly sympathetic, I stand by my low opinion of his performance and his views.
I somehow missed yesterday’s edition:
– Unclear what happens next after confirming 3 Chiefs.
– Same with the budget, though House may use King of he Hill amendment process.
– GOP group opposes Ukraine aid. Here’s their letter.
– GOP also divided over expiring PEPFAR
– FT says India spy agency operates abroad
– WSJ says US wants Israel to support nuclear program for Saudi
– Atlantic has long article on Gen. Milley
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here, with occasional videos of my choice. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
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Stevenson’s army, June 2
– US plans trade deal with Taiwan.
– Greg Ip of WSJ sees value in IPEF approach.
– NYT has more on conditions on military aid to Ukraine.
– Andrew Exum sees weakening support for Ukraine.
– CFR had session on how war might end.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
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