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Politics & Government

Jarrett Stepman-Trump Freeze of USAID is Blow to Global Leftist Empire

'The Trump administration is putting a stick of dynamite under the deep state, and Democrats are apoplectic' Jarrett Stepman Claims

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L. A. "Tony" Kovach, Neighbor
Base image credit: USAID logo. Text and collage credits: this writer for MHProNews and this Patch.
Base image credit: USAID logo. Text and collage credits: this writer for MHProNews and this Patch.

From the Daily Signal to this writer for MHProNews and this Patch is the following in Part I which will be bolstered by additional insights plus other topics covered in Part II.

Part I

Commentary
Trump’s Freeze of USAID Is a Blow to Global Leftist Empire

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Jarrett Stepman | February 04, 2025

The Trump administration is putting a stick of dynamite under the deep state, and Democrats are apoplectic.

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On Tuesday, President Donald Trump put nearly all District of Columbia-based employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development on leave. According to Politico, this amounts to about 1,400 people in addition to 600 employees who were put on leave starting Sunday.

This comes after the Trump administration put a 90-day freeze on all foreign assistance.

Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and entrepreneur Elon Musk—who runs the newly created Department of Government Efficiency—have spent the last few days excoriating USAID for wasting millions of taxpayer dollars on useless or downright pernicious projects around the globe.

Rubio explained what the problem with USAID is in an interview with Fox News on Monday.

“They have evolved into an agency that they believes that they’re not even a U.S. government agency, that they are … a global charity, that they take the taxpayer money and they spend it as a global charity, irrespective of whether it is in the national interest or not,” Rubio said.

He noted that embassies around the world complain that USAID is not only uncooperative but that it undermines the governments the U.S. wants to work with. Rubio said that the agency operates as if its master is the “globe” and not the U.S., which is a departure from the intent of the original statute that created it.

Rubio, who is putting the operation of USAID under his authority, said the goal has been to reform the agency, but right now, there is “rank insubordination.” The attitude of the employees, Rubio said, is that they work for themselves, not the American people or their elected officials.

This is why the administration had to take dramatic steps to temporarily freeze the agency, Rubio explained. It’s a significant blow that’s stunned Democrats who aren’t used to Republicans challenging the Left’s unaccountable administrative machine so directly.

The Left is banking heavily that it can make the USAID freeze an issue to turn the American people against the Trump administration.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. warned that DOGE and the Trump administration may not stop at USAID but might investigate …. the IRS.

Oh no, not the IRS!

I have my doubts that the Left’s strategy on this will work. The move mostly effects a narrow band of federal workers who hardly reflect the larger American public. The deep state #Resistance hasn’t been nearly so robust or effective as it was in 2017. Even more importantly, when Americans generally learn what USAID actually does, they aren’t likely to be upset that Trump will reboot it.

USAID is a product of the Cold War in which the U.S. was engaged in a global battle against the forces of international Marxism. It was created through a 1961 executive order by President John F. Kennedy as a tool of the federal government to aid American soft power by influencing other nations with financial and other assistance.

But what was the purpose of the agency once the Cold War and the Soviet threat came to an end? It’s during this post-Cold War era that U.S. foreign policy changed, and the goals often became nebulous humanitarian “democracy” promotion. Its politics veered far to the left despite operating under the guise of nonpartisanship.

Organizations like USAID became enlisted in what can be described as no less than the creation of a global leftist empire. No longer would it be tailored toward narrow American interests or containing the global communist threat. Instead, it would be a conduit to siphon U.S. taxpayer dollars to various leftist projects, many of which are deeply resented by other nations.
It became, at minimum, a jobs program for hordes of American left-wing activists.

In just the last few days, there has been increasing scrutiny into what USAID has been funding. Proponents of the agency often tout that it delivers lifesaving drugs to developing countries, but that is the front for all the other explicitly ideological projects it is engaged in.

For instance, The Washington Free Beacon reported that in 2023 under President Joe Biden, USAID spent $1 million “on a project to help disabled people in the Central Asian country of Tajikistan become ‘climate leaders.’”

The Biden administration supercharged the efforts of USAID and the State Department to promote far-left social goals. For instance, according to The Wall Street Journal, the State Department was funding “culture grants” to promote drag queen performances in Ecuador. Meanwhile, China was investing heavily in the country’s copper mining production.

The Free Beacon also reported that USAID spent millions of dollars on various diversity, equity, and inclusion projects, including a program created to “engage with indigenous-led institutions to implement an indigenous language technology program” in Guatemala where over 95% of people speak Spanish.

It also spent money on groups that praised terrorists.

“In November 2022, USAID sent $78,000 to the Community Development and Continuing Education Institute (CDCEI), a Palestinian activist group based in the West Bank. Its leaders praised a terrorist who murdered a U.S. military attaché as a ‘hero fighter,’” the Free Beacon reported.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., sent a letter to USAID in October 2024 saying that some of the more than a billion dollars being used for humanitarian relief in Gaza was likely being funneled to terrorists.
“As I predicted would happen from the outset, credible reporting indicates that Hamas terrorists have diverted this aid; indisputable evidence demonstrates that the aid was always at high risk of diversion,” Cotton wrote, according to Fox News Digital.

Under Biden, USAID even spent money funding abortions in Africa through programs billed as AIDS relief, Fox News reported.

Proponents of USAID often say that the agency is necessary to counter the influence of China, but how are we doing ourselves any favors when China is spending money on economic and resources development and we are spending money and delivering lectures about transgenderism?

Perhaps most damning of all, USAID has funneled money to Chinese organizations working on coronavirus research, including the infamous Wuhan Institute of Virology.

And to top it all off, as my colleague Tyler O’Neil reported, USAID has worked closely with George Soros’ Open Society Institute over the years.

That the United States has an agency like USAID isn’t inherently bad. There are benefits to being able to deliver aid to potential international partners and to promote American values abroad.

But the current iteration of USAID isn’t really doing that. Instead, it’s operating like a rogue agency, furthering a left-wing ideological project that’s unpopular at home and abroad.

Striking a blow to USAID—and at the very least, forcing it to focus on its original core mission—will be a major boon to the U.S. and a blow to the Left. It’s a win-win situation and indicative of Trump’s seriousness in going after the deep state in his second White House go-around.

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Part II - Additional Information and other Topics


Politico is deemed a left-leaning media outlet. If that is true, that post below is fascinating.

https://patch.com/florida/lakeland/romano-u-s-trade-war-mexico-canada-lasted-1-day-trump-won

Romano-U.S. Trade War with Mexico and Canada Lasted 1 Day. Trump Won.

https://patch.com/florida/lakeland/urge-senate-work-7-days-week-until-trumps-cabinet-confirmed

Urge Senate to Work 7 Days a Week Until Trump's Cabinet is Confirmed!

https://patch.com/florida/lakeland/endemic-mismanagement-hud-manufactured-housing-program-nom-turner

‘Endemic Mismanagement of HUD Manufactured Housing Program’ Nom Turner

'Restoring and Expanding Affordable Housing Role of Manufactured Homes'–MHARR Letter Cites 2000 Reform Act, "Enhanced Preemption" Much More...

https://patch.com/florida/lake...

Big Govt, Big Pharma, Big Food made Americans Overweight and Unhealthy

> Virginia Bishop for ‘Well-Regulated Borders’ Amid VP J.D. Vance Rumble

> Romano-Trump Bans DEI In Federal Govt—States And Corporations Are Next

> How Republicans Should Follow Through on Tough Talk on Immigration

> NPR=87 Registered Democrats in Editorial Positions and No Republicans

> President Donald J. Trump’s Official 'America First Priorities'

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> Rubio Senate Replacement Ashley Moody (FL-R) Gets Key Assignments

> Trump Plan: Make America Safe, Affordable, Restore U.S. Values for All

> NPR=87 Registered Democrats in Editorial Positions and No Republicans

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> Official Manufactured Housing Production from 1995-2023-Why it Matters

> Anna Paulina Luna (FL-R) and Barry Loudermilk (GA-R) MERIT Act Insight

> Executive Orders on Investigating Biden Censorship & Weaponization

> Floridian Dr István Dobozi Strikes at Trump Again in Magyar Article (Another critical analysis - fact check).

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> Why do Liars Lie? Why do those Engaged in Paltering and Spin Palter?

> Controversy-Manufactured Housing Institute-Lesli Gooch-Mark Bowersox

> ‘Mobile Home Values Rising Faster Than Single-Family’ House-Wow Fact$

> Realtor-What Is a Manufactured Home? The Next Step Beyond Mobile Homes

> Orlando RE Agent Smith-Younger Adults Will Need $8500 Monthly for Rent

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> Rob Romano-Time To Declassify Everything, Or Another RussiaGate Ahead

> Contemporary Tips from Legend Paul Harvey-Surprising Rest of the Story

> Alert: Is Affordable Housing Linked Scandal at Champion Homes Brewing?

> Report: Biden-Harris Federal Agencies Spent Millions Torturing Cats

> Lesli Gooch Ph.D.-Award, Coverup, Headfake, Scandal? Rest of the Story (Manufactured Housing Institute linked)

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> ALG Unpacks Trump Pitch to Cut Drug Costs by Cutting PBM Middleman

> Is there Evidence that God Exists? Evolution vs. Intelligent Design

> Democratic Voters-Closer Look at Biden’s Acts Before Biden-Harris Exit

> Christian Leaders-Signs of 4th 'Great Awakening' Millions go to Jesus

> Attorney John Morgan - Democrat Megadonor on Kamala Harris Campaign

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> USA Today - David Plouffe and Dem Advisers on Kamala Harris Revelation

> Majority OK Trump Transition-Mass Deportations-Tariffs- Is it Hopeful?

> Niskanen Center Praises Manufactured Home ‘Cost Savings’ and ‘Quality’

> Alice Carter-The Northern Forum-Deporting Immigrants & Housing Crisis

> Cartoons-Kamala Day 1, DOGE the Swamp, Brainwashing, & Out In the Cold

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> The Creepy Line-Peter Schweizer-Dr. Jordan Peterson-Dr. Robert Epstein

> Secret State Miniseries - Fictional TV Series Shed Light on Reality

> Trump Transition Team Asked to Prioritize Affordable Housing Issues

> Top 10 States for Homelessness & Top Cities for Crime=Shocking Lessons

> WashPost-American Dream Fades But Assoc CEO Mark Weiss Shows Solution

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> Blankley-Goodbye American Dream? Only 10% Polled Can Buy a House; But

> Frank Rolfe-Special Interests ‘Don’t Want to Solve Affordable Housing'

> TARK-‘I’m a Teen and Know the Solution to Affordable Housing Crisis’

---> Renting? Rent too High? Odds Are DOJ Suit vs RealPage Matters to You

> New-Certified “Half Price Homes” - Affordable Housing Solution Redux

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> Solution: “Would-Be Homebuyers Need 80% More Income Than 4 Years Ago”

L. A. “Tony” Kovach is a publisher who has earned multiple awards in history. He and his family live in a manufactured home on private property in Winter Haven, FL. He is the co-founder of Manufactured Home Living News.com (MHLivingNews.com) and Manufactured Home Pro News.com (MHProNews.com), trade publications serving segments of the manufactured home industry. Having worked in several segments of the manufactured home industry for over 3 decades, Kovach is a widely acknowledged and often praised expert on manufactured housing. ###

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