DOGE-y behavior
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What is USAID and its historical significance?
It was way back in 1961 that John F. Kennedy, uncle of fluoride, established USAID.
The people who are opposed to aid should realize that this is a very... powerful source of strength for us. Its motto?
From the American people. And the American people gave a lot, hundreds of billions, for removing landmines in Vietnam, combating Ebola outbreaks in Africa, reconstructing Iraq and Afghanistan, more recently, humanitarian support in Ukraine and Gaza, and all for less than 1% of the federal budget. But if you go to USAID's website today... All you see is blank space, just a wall of white. Without the explicit authority to do so, the president has gone and dismantled the agency. We're going to ask a guy who used to run it what a world without USAID looks like on Today Explained.
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What happens when USAID is dismantled?
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You're listening to Today Explained.
Andrew Natsios served as deputy chief of staff for George H.W. Bush. And then when H.W. Bush's son became president, Natsios got to run USAID for several years. We asked him what he makes of all the USAID RAMA.
Well, I'm appalled by all of this stuff because it's damaging the foreign... affairs apparatus of the US government and this just beginning, they're going after the CIA, the FBI. We have people all over the world that are very sympathetic because they know the American system because they used to work for us in high positions of power. The training ground for the developing world were our scholarship programs and the foreign service nationals who worked on the staff. All of that is being wiped out now. The Chinese, by the way, during the Cold War, we used to give 20,000 scholarships a year to people who get their master's degree and PhDs in the US. A lot of countries like South Korea and Taiwan, those PhDs ran the country for 30 years. And they're all very pro-American. There's a reason for it, because they went to the United States to get their education. That was 20,000. They've cut the budget back, and now it's getting wiped out. Guess who does 40,000 scholarships a year? The Chinese government does to promising students.
So the Chinese now are taking over the world order, and there's no way of countering it because they're shutting down the agency that works on this.
Can you help us understand what exactly happens around the world when a presidential administration in the United States comes in and says, we are cutting USAID off immediately, effective immediately? What does that mean for people around the planet?
We are 40, the international humanitarian response system and famine, civil wars, and natural disasters like earthquakes, 40% of it is USAID. And our response capacity is enormous. That's all collapsed completely. We used to send out DART teams. Whenever there's an emergency, DART team is Disaster Assistance Response Team. We can send them out in 48 hours. All gone.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is USAID and its historical significance?
0:01–1:15
2
What happens when USAID is dismantled?
1:15–5:29
3
How does the dismantling of USAID affect global humanitarian efforts?
5:29–10:12
4
What are the political implications of cutting USAID funding?
10:12–17:39
5
What is the future of USAID under current administration?
17:39–21:23
6
How does public perception influence USAID funding decisions?
21:23–26:01
7
What role does USAID play in US foreign relations?
26:01–28:14