Editor’s Note: All Opinion articles reflect the opinion of the writer only, not The Messenger or Johnson County Community College. JCCC students interested in writing for The Messenger’s Opinion page can contact us at themessengerjccc@gmail.com.

“It needs to die.” Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency, said of USAID. And with those words, began a now month long war against the US agency that oversees and distributes foreign aid around the globe. This act, in my opinion, is one of the greatest wars against decency and one of the largest abuses of power made by the Trump administration. If we have even an ounce of care for others, you should be outraged at this death sentence for USAID. 

“Elon Musk’s reckless and illegal shutdown of USAID isn’t lowering prices as promised — it’s hurting our economy, national security and hardworking Kansans,” Sharice Davids, representative for Kansas 3rd district said. “My team has heard from many who have lost their jobs, small businesses facing bankruptcy and Kansas farmers struggling to sell their crops. This level of irresponsibility cannot go unchecked.” I agree wholeheartedly with Rep. Davis and that’s why I stand: USAID must be saved.

If you’re a particularly empathic person, you could see the good of USAID, providing help to places where there is a need. Now maybe it’s the 13 years of Catholic School in me, but I see helping the less fortunate to be one of the greatest acts any person could make. Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick. These are all things that USAID accomplishes. 

For God’s sake, USAID provides HIV treatment to 20 million people, including 500,000 children. USAID was running over 30 clinical trials to fight disease like malaria and tuberculosis, but with this sudden cut in funding, there are now possible 100s of people out there who are stuck with medical devices in their body, and incomplete treatment. In fact, it was the USAID effort against AIDS that has saved upwards of 25 million lives throughout Africa. In South America, USAID funds programs to counter cocaine production keeping drugs off American streets. It funds hospitals in Syria, education in Mali, conservation efforts in the Amazon, and even has been the primary provider of wartime relief to Ukraine. 

Is this truly what Musk and Trump want to end? Is it what you want? More diseases, more drugs, a worse environment, hospitals and schools closed? Have empathy, these are people in need and we have just cut them off. You don’t need to be a Christian to care about this, but I find it to be extremely hypocritical if you are both Christian and against aid. 

USAID came at a crucial time in the world, created by John F. Kennedy, it has been one of the US’ greatest tools when it comes to international policy. Back in ‘61, its goal was to curb Soviet influence and power, and though they are long gone its purpose still stands. Enemies of state like Russia, China, and North Korea can now expand their influence into these regions with an absence of aid. 

“We’ve seen how food can be used as a weapon of war, as radical Islamic groups in Syria use food as a means to recruit soldiers,” US Republican Senator for Kansas, Jerry Moran said to congress this past month. “We’ve witnessed regions of the world that are critical to America’s strategic interest sent into chaos due to people not having access to affordable food. In a turbulent world stricken with conflict, American leadership is more than just our military and our economic might.” 

I feel that Moran is more than correct about the good of our aid, with him continuing, “Food aid provided by the United States reduces despair and increases stability within fragile countries by enabling economic productivity and minimizing the risk of radicalization. For countless individuals around the world, their survival is dependent upon the resources provided by the American people. These vulnerable populations rely on the strength and prosperity of the United States.”

Why should Haiti help or follow US policy when the Chinese are the ones keeping the power running? Why should countries throughout the middle east help with the US’ anti-terrorist operations while Russia is the one providing medicine? USAID is a form of soft power, and despite what may make you think it’s one of the most powerful tools, the US has internationally. We are killing our foreign relations, and for what? 

Lower taxes and responsible spending- one could argue that is the whole point of this purge, the reason over 2000 Americans will be fired from USAID, it’s the supposed reason why DOGE and the White House feel fine putting so many out of work and without aid. But what if I tell you that’s all a lie? Firstly, DOGE hasn’t even been saving American’s nearly as much as the claim- of the $55 billion dollars they said they have cut, on the “wall of receipts” they’ve posted onto their website many items that they have “saved” is actually contracts that have been awarded, the site includes duplicates of listings, listing cuts to programs that did not actually receive cuts, in fact one cut that they claimed saved $8 billion dollars was found to be a mistake and it only actually was $8 million. 

In one instance, they claimed to have saved $115 million dollars from a cut USAID contract to combat climate change, in reality only $35 million dollars of that contract had been spent, with the error occurring again with another USAID contact that DOGE killed where they overclaimed savings by $15 million. Despite their incompetence with counting- DOGE’s cuts still have a massive impact on Americans, just not in the way they are claiming.

In 2024, USAID picked Kansas State University to be the manager of its Climate Resilient Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab, sending $50 million dollars to be spent here in Kansas, with the goal of researching agricultural technologies that can increase yields on less land and thus helping farmers in Kansas. In fact, it was a K-State researcher who in 2022 found that $1.24 billion USAID efforts in agriculture research produced nearly $8.4 billion in economic benefits from 1978 to 2018. 

Outside of research, Kansas could lose upwards of $1.01 billion from the killing of USAID. Food for Peace is a federal program paid for via USAID that buys US made food and uses it for aid. Food for Peace purchases around $355.6 million of wheat and grain sorghum, otherwise known as milo annually from Kansas alone.

 “ The farmers that grow grain here in Kansas grow the grain, mainly wheat and then grain sorghum. They grow those grains, and then they sell the grain to either their local elevator, cooperative elevator or to a larger grain merchandiser, which then does contracts through USAID,” Nick Levendofsky, executive director of the Kansas Farmers Union said to WBUR. “ Kansas farmers are good people and they do what they do because they care about making sure that the world is fed.” 

Farmers in Kansas are now currently stuck with millions upon millions of dollars of unsold products, especially milo which Kansas makes nearly 57% of the total US supply of, however very little of that is sold domestically. “Right now, there’s no export market for it, and there’s no domestic market,” Kim Barnes, the CFO of the Pawnee County Co-Op in Larned Kansas said to the Topeka Capital-Journal. 

“Kansas is sitting on a tremendous amount of milo. The last milo that was sold of any value was Food for Peace, and that was in the month of December. Otherwise, there is no market,” Barnes added in another interview to KCUR. 

Due to this sudden death of USAID Barnes is now left with $5 million of milo with no one to buy it. Now it’s just sitting here in Kansas taking up more space and costing these Larned farmers money. 

“ People are forgetting that the things that we are making and developing and sending out of the country are made and developed by Americans who are being paid for that,” Levendofsky added. “ I found that roughly four billion people over this time period have been fed and and nourished because of this program, the Food for Peace program.”

Dave Salmonsen, the senior director of government affairs at the American Farm Bureau Federation, put it plain and simple in his statement to the Washington Post, “USAID plays a critical role in reducing hunger around the world while sourcing markets for the surplus foods America’s farmers and ranchers grow.” We are helping other countries while also helping ourselves. 

Senator Jerry Moran, equally concerned about this attempt at USAID, said “Food stability is essential to political stability, and our food aid programs help feed the hungry, bolster our national security and provide an important market for our farmers, especially when commodity prices are low.”

Senator Moran, alongside Kansas Republican U.S. Rep. Tracey Man has introduced a bill into Congress that would at the very least save the Food For Peace program by shifting it to be under the USDA, however this is only a band aid solution. Right now, all those who organize the purchase of food have been sent a notice of firing, the damage has been done. And if USAID is not saved from Musk and Trump’s wrath soon then the damage may become irreversible.

The final question surrounding this battle has been the legality of it. Killing USAID is not only an act of inhumanity, but also an illegal act. “Elon Musk’s claim that he has President Trump’s go-ahead to shut down USAID is flatly illegal and unconstitutional,” Laurence Tribe, a Harvard Law School professor, told Business Insider. “In our system of government, only Congress wields the power of the purse and the power to create or destroy entire agencies to disburse the money the government collects in taxes or borrows from bondholders.”

Unfortunately in this day and age, something being illegal does not seem to be enough to stop the President from doing it. Just this past week a Federal Judge cleared the way for the firing of all 2000 USAID employees. It is now at a point where without Congress intervention and assertion of their power over the executive branch, USAID is making its way to a fast grave, all courtesy of Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

Speaking of Elon, it should also be reminded that all of this was of his doing. All this only happened after USAID’s director of security, John Voorhees, refused to let DOGE access Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities, employee emails, and other top secret or sensitive information. The advisory board for DOGE claims that this was a perfectly legal act, the advisory board is also headed by Katie Miller, wife of Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller. We would call this a conflict of interest in the old days. 

Speaking of conflicts of interest, it should also be known that USAID had started a probe to investigate Starlink, a company created and operated by Elon Musk. The investigation seemed to center around the security of Starlink as a means of communication, as it was found that Russia was able to use and access Starlink, possibly compromising and endangering Ukrainian soldiers who were given Starlink with a promise of safety. 

Justifying the end of USAID, Musk said during a livestream on Twitter, “As we dug into USAID, it became apparent that what we have here is not an apple with a worm in it but that we have actually just a ball of worms. USAID is a ball of worms, there is no apple. And when there is no apple… you’ve just got to basically get rid of the whole thing. That is why it’s got to go. It’s beyond repair.” 

When you have a rat in your house, you don’t bulldoze the house down, so in the face of possible corruption why close down a whole agency? There has been no investigation into corruption, no proof. Yet that is all the justification needed to put literally millions in harm’s way? That’s because this isn’t about corruption, it’s about power, and taking this is the first of what I can assure will be many massive acts by Musk and Trump. Do expect this to become a trend if nothing is done about it. 

The president with a king’s complex and an unelected billionaire–naming agencies after decade old memes–are not your friends, actually they don’t care about you at all. If we let USAID die, we forfeit the power from we the people into the hands of a rogue oligarchy, we kill our relationships with foreign countries, we hurt our own farmers, and we start the transition into an idiocracy. Send letters to your representative, your senators, post about USAID online, bitch about how it’s closer to people you know, and fight against the killing of this agency. 

I leave you with this quote made by President John F. Kennedy when he signed the executive order that created USAID back in 1961, as I believe what he says holds true to this day.

“There is no escaping our obligations: our moral obligations as a wise leader and good neighbor in the interdependent community of free nations – our economic obligations as the wealthiest people in a world of largely poor people, as a nation no longer dependent upon the loans from abroad that once helped us develop our own economy – and our political obligations as the single largest counter to the adversaries of freedom.”