Something smells rotten
We are only a couple of weeks into Donald Trump’s second term, and already he is proving himself to be the reckless destroyer we expected him to be. A government watchdog report issued on Monday reveals that Trump’s abrupt USAID suspension is threatening to let nearly half a billion dollars of food spoil. This colossal, expensive waste could leave many people around the world hungry thanks to the whims of an aggrieved, amoral man-child.
When the Trump administration paused all foreign aid programs on January 24 for a supposed 85-day “review,” the broad, hasty decision meant even approved USAID programs had to stop. Although the administration belatedly issued a “lifesaving humanitarian assistance” waiver, much damage was already done. According to the USAID Inspector General report, “[t]his uncertainty put more than $489 million of food assistance at ports, in transit, and in warehouses at risk of spoilage, unanticipated storage needs, and diversion.”
Making matters even worse, Trump’s actions have left USAID without the ability to deliver aid in high-risk regions and properly vet humanitarian assistance awards for terrorist connections. The pause in funding has included an order to reduce over 90 percent of staffers, which “undermined two key oversight mechanisms to ensure accountability over humanitarian assistance funding,” according to the report.
This is the behavior we have come to expect from Trump, acting like a child who unboxes a toy wrecking ball and delights in testing its limits. Trump is the President of the United States, a position that he won without a mandate and that requires sober leadership. However, Trump’s motivation ranges from recklessness and indifference to callousness and cruelty, often with a heaping portion of negligence and incompetence mixed in. People are starving—on many levels—because of Donald Trump.
Ron Leshnower is a lawyer and the author of several books, including President Trump’s Month