Dylan Scott

And so I think they spent the four years out of power thinking a lot about how to dismantle that element of the civil service once they got back. And USAID, I think, is one interesting illustration of how that works.

In part because I think foreign aid is an incredibly important government function. I think it's important to spend every dollar as effectively as you can. And this has been a shared goal of USAID administrators during the Obama years. Trump's first USAID administrator, a guy named Mark Green, who was a former congressman from Wisconsin, said,

In part because I think foreign aid is an incredibly important government function. I think it's important to spend every dollar as effectively as you can. And this has been a shared goal of USAID administrators during the Obama years. Trump's first USAID administrator, a guy named Mark Green, who was a former congressman from Wisconsin, said,

In part because I think foreign aid is an incredibly important government function. I think it's important to spend every dollar as effectively as you can. And this has been a shared goal of USAID administrators during the Obama years. Trump's first USAID administrator, a guy named Mark Green, who was a former congressman from Wisconsin, said,

Under Samantha Power, who was Biden's, there's been just broad bipartisan agreement that not enough programs are grounded in high quality evidence like randomized control trials, that there's too much overhead with private contractors, that more programs should be run locally by specific countries rather than by Western contractors coming in. I think they made a lot of progress on that.

Under Samantha Power, who was Biden's, there's been just broad bipartisan agreement that not enough programs are grounded in high quality evidence like randomized control trials, that there's too much overhead with private contractors, that more programs should be run locally by specific countries rather than by Western contractors coming in. I think they made a lot of progress on that.

Under Samantha Power, who was Biden's, there's been just broad bipartisan agreement that not enough programs are grounded in high quality evidence like randomized control trials, that there's too much overhead with private contractors, that more programs should be run locally by specific countries rather than by Western contractors coming in. I think they made a lot of progress on that.

It's not perfect, but they launched sections like Development Innovation Ventures, which is a small unit within USAID that functions kind of like a venture capital fund and moves really fast and scales up sort of pilot programs.

It's not perfect, but they launched sections like Development Innovation Ventures, which is a small unit within USAID that functions kind of like a venture capital fund and moves really fast and scales up sort of pilot programs.

It's not perfect, but they launched sections like Development Innovation Ventures, which is a small unit within USAID that functions kind of like a venture capital fund and moves really fast and scales up sort of pilot programs.

They've done a lot to make it easier to apply for support in languages other than English or if you don't have government connections and don't know the magic words to say in your grant application.

They've done a lot to make it easier to apply for support in languages other than English or if you don't have government connections and don't know the magic words to say in your grant application.

They've done a lot to make it easier to apply for support in languages other than English or if you don't have government connections and don't know the magic words to say in your grant application.

What I think is particularly dangerous about this moment is that Trump has taken USAID, which used to be this like very bipartisan thing where there was like a broad bipartisan consensus that it's good. It needs to be reformed. We should do the following things to reform it. It'll take a while, but it's an important process.

What I think is particularly dangerous about this moment is that Trump has taken USAID, which used to be this like very bipartisan thing where there was like a broad bipartisan consensus that it's good. It needs to be reformed. We should do the following things to reform it. It'll take a while, but it's an important process.

What I think is particularly dangerous about this moment is that Trump has taken USAID, which used to be this like very bipartisan thing where there was like a broad bipartisan consensus that it's good. It needs to be reformed. We should do the following things to reform it. It'll take a while, but it's an important process.

He's taking it from something that everyone from like Lindsey Graham to every Democrat in Congress could agree on and made it a hyper-partisan political issue. That's really, really bad. When things have bipartisan consensus, they tend to get funded no matter what. When they are hyperpartisan, it fluctuates a lot.

He's taking it from something that everyone from like Lindsey Graham to every Democrat in Congress could agree on and made it a hyper-partisan political issue. That's really, really bad. When things have bipartisan consensus, they tend to get funded no matter what. When they are hyperpartisan, it fluctuates a lot.

He's taking it from something that everyone from like Lindsey Graham to every Democrat in Congress could agree on and made it a hyper-partisan political issue. That's really, really bad. When things have bipartisan consensus, they tend to get funded no matter what. When they are hyperpartisan, it fluctuates a lot.

And whether a kid in Kenya can get anti-HIV drugs depends on an election half a world away. It's a really grim situation to be in. However, the agency ends up at the end of this battle. Elon Musk said something about how it was finding the toughest guy in the prison yard and beating him up on your first day. The Musk idea really got under my skin because it's...