Former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama have once again united to express their disapproval of President Donald Trump, specifically regarding the reductions to international programs that they assert are crucial to U.S. interests.
In a recent video, Bush is seen alongside Obama and U2’s lead singer Bono, a vocal critic of Trump, commending the departing personnel of USAID, the international diplomacy agency that Trump significantly curtailed earlier this year. Bush has consistently advocated for funding initiatives aimed at combating AIDS and HIV in various regions of Africa.
Bush, who has largely refrained from criticizing Trump since he assumed office in 2016, utilized his video comments to lament the departure of staff members whom he credited with fostering global stability through their efforts against the spread of AIDS and HIV—a program recognized for saving 25 million lives over the last two decades.
“You have demonstrated the great strength of America through your efforts — and that is your compassionate spirit,’’ Bush remarked to USAID staff, as reported by the Associated Press. “Is it in our national interests that 25 million individuals who would have perished are now alive? I believe it is, and so do you.”
“Dismantling USAID is a disgrace, and it’s a calamity,” Obama stated in a video presented to departing USAID employees on Monday. “Because it represents some of the most critical work being conducted anywhere globally.” Referring to Trump’s decision as “a monumental error,” he further noted that “eventually, leaders from both parties will come to understand how essential you are.”
In collaboration with Elon Musk and the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, Trump effectively disassembled the extensive global agency, retaining only a minimal skeleton crew as operations were gradually terminated following the discovery of significant waste, fraud, and abuses.
Musk previously referred to USAID as “a viper’s nest of radical-left Marxists who despise America.” It became an initial target of the Trump administration’s initiative to reduce what the president described as a federal government riddled with waste, fraud, and misuse of taxpayer funds. The New York Post reported that the State Department officially integrated USAID earlier this week.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio juxtaposed the trio’s narrative of despair with a message of hope, emphasizing the potential of a streamlined government devoid of far-left political influence.
“Aside from establishing a global NGO industrial complex at taxpayer expense, USAID has little to demonstrate since the conclusion of the Cold War,” Rubio stated in his announcement. “Development goals have seldom been achieved, instability has frequently escalated, and anti-American sentiment has only intensified.”
“This period of government-sanctioned inefficiency has officially concluded,” he added. “Under the Trump Administration, we will finally establish a foreign funding mission in America that prioritizes our national interests. As of July 1st, USAID will officially stop executing foreign assistance.” Rubio further remarked: “Foreign assistance programs that are in line with administration policies—and that promote American interests—will be managed by the State Department, where they will be executed with greater accountability, strategy, and efficiency.”
