Summary
The Trump administration has upended USAID by abruptly freezing foreign aid spending and placing senior career officials on administrative leave, halting crucial disbursements.
The administration has implemented a 90-day freeze affecting life-saving programs such as PEPFAR and malaria initiatives, severely disrupting vital operations and international health efforts.
The administration’s impoundment strategy, widely rejected by courts, seeks to reclassify civil servants and contractors, undermining accountability and jeopardizing essential aid operations.
Critics warn that these moves create a climate of intimidation, endangering effective foreign aid delivery and weakening critical diplomatic and humanitarian efforts.
I think there was a fundamental misunderstanding by the founders about self-interested parties and balancing power.
In feudal societies many barons were happy to serve a king so long as the king kept them in power. They don’t necessarily need all the power to be satiated, just lording over their fiefdom is sufficient. This is basically what the US congress has become. They’ve realized that the president has out-sized power and as long as the president is on their side then they mutually benefit.
The president just needs to keep the keys to power happy.