Billionaire Elon Musk, who is heading US President Donald Trump’s efforts to shrink the federal government, gave an update on the effort early on Monday, saying they were working to shut down the US foreign aid agency USAID.
Musk, who is also CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, discussed the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in a Monday social media talk on X, which he also owns. Trump has assigned Musk to lead a federal cost-cutting panel.
The conversation, which included former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Republican senators Joni Ernst and Mike Lee, began with Musk saying they were working to shut down the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
“It’s beyond repair,” Musk said, adding that Trump agrees it should be shut down.
On Sunday, it was reported that the Trump administration had removed two top security officials at USAID during the weekend after they tried to stop representatives from Musk’s DOGE from gaining access to restricted parts of the building, three sources said.
The website of USAID appeared to still be offline on Saturday and some users could not access it on Sunday. USAID has a staff of more than 10,000 people.
Speaking more broadly about cutting US expenses and fraud, Musk estimated the Trump administration can cut US$1 trillion from the US deficit next year.
Musk did not offer any evidence to support his fraud claim or explain how he reached the amount of US$1 trillion.
Since taking office 11 days ago, Trump has embarked on a massive government makeover, firing and sidelining hundreds of civil servants in his first steps toward downsizing the bureaucracy and installing more loyalists.
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USAID was a tool for US imperialism. It may have done some good but the soft power was expended waging wars and committing genocide.
It’s good that it’s gone, but this makes me think US imperialism is going to stop trying to curry favor with soft power and kickbacks for compradors, and instead go full mask off and just coup or invade everyone they want shit from. I know that the hard power has been used excessively throughout US history for these goals already but I worry it could ramp up to new levels.
These are my concerns as well, there’s 0 chance this is an end to Imperialist aggression, just a change in character.
It may not be intended as an end to aggression, but the soft regime change tactic is a lot cheaper and more effective than direct aggression.
It used to be, for sure. It seems as though that hasn’t been working as well in recent years.
And now other countries like russia and china are taking up the slack.
yay, I guess?
How has China been picking up the slack? Who have they couped or invaded? Who have they sanctioned?
At worst it will be no different. The US installs fascists. Not liberal democracy, not freedom fighters, fascists. If the US were more competent the entirety of South and central America would be full of internally feuding Pinochets.
even russia is unlikely to cause as much harm as the US did (though it’ll likely be dogshit), and china’s effects will be mostly good.
so yay, i guess.
The slack in what?
What will Russia and China do on the global stage? Offer you cheap commodities? Continue not bombing the middle east?
Totalitarianism is when you don’t kill a million people abroad to make the line go up
You forgot what instance you’re on.
Heartbreaking: The worst person you know accidentally did something good
Us army next PLEASEE
how will musk coup anyone he wants if he shuts down the coup machine?
I don’t think musk understands the workings of the American empire. He has more important things to tend to than reading theory (get into fights on twitter).
Dumbass probably thinks he can save money by directly paying mercenaries and drug cartels to do clandestine operations instead of laundering that shit through NGOs
he prob wants to funnel all that money to X
Probably by creating a private company called “xovernance x” that just goes in and directly coups people.
Shut down a CIA covert operation masquerading as a charity?
Oh no…
i guess USAID was founded by an executive order, so maybe they can do that unilaterally
Do USAGM next
Genuinely curious why Trump is getting rid of historically the US’s most reliable source for regime change. For those who don’t know, the vast majority of USAID goes strictly to opposition groups in countries the US is on bad terms with, and to the ruling govrnments and millitaries of those we are on good terms with. It’s how the US maintains hegemony. Some USAID went to good people and projects, of course, but never for a second think that that was its primary purpose.
One theory I saw is that the US Imperialists have noticed many of their typical regime change attempts, such as in Bolivia and Venezuela, are failing, therefore it isn’t any longer an efficient use of funds. Now the US is pivoting to more open-faced aggression via tariffs and other forms of economic warfare, sanctions, and so forth. The reason, is because US hegemony is weakening, and other countries like the PRC are becoming much better alternatives to deal with.
I’m increasingly getting the impression that the US now realizes that the unipolar moment is over, and they’re basically cutting their losses in order to consolidate and retrench. The interview that Rubio gave was very telling. He openly admitted that the unipolar moment was an anomaly and there are now multiple great powers again. He also admitted in a different interview that the ability to use sanctions is coming to an end because of BRICS. This was a really good discussion on the whole thing https://glenndiesen.substack.com/p/did-the-us-declare-the-end-of-the
The US will continue doing fuckery around the world to be sure, but it looks like they’re pulling back to re calibrate their approach at the moment.
Thanks for the link, I’ll check it out. The US retreating to lick its wounds and re-establish itself as an industrial power doesn’t seem entirely feasible under Monopoly Capitalism, with everything so financialized, but if the US pulls it off then I think there’s a half-decent shot at genuine proletarianization within the Empire and a resurgance of Socialism as an alternative.
I very much agree. Reindustrializing the US is a Herculean task requiring decades of sustained effort. It demands restructuring supply chains, building infrastructure and factories, training workers, all needing massive investments with no clear funding source in today’s political climate and capitalist relations. However, it’s important to distinguish feasible goals from the ruling class’s aspirations. They frequently ignore material realities, opting instead for decisions rooted in wishful thinking.
Fair enough, that is very true as well!
I think that the opposition groups may very well be already established and thus no longer need the kickstart funding, for example LATINUS, (mexican disinformation media, based in the US) is already huge and likely makes a profit from its audience and private donors without the need of USAID or the NED.
That’s a worrying conclusion, but thank you. That would make sense.
There is another posibility, the national oligarchs are starting to fund these projects from their own pocket, Salinas Pliego in México, Bukele in el Salvador, Noboa in Ecuador… Bukele is a phenom in social media and is the blueprint for all these jackasses.
I don’t see why they would rather not have the US State and super-profits funding them, but that is a possibility too.
I mean its not their decision, its the US decision to keep funding them or not. Of course, these groups would love some sweet extra USD. Anyways, big man cult of personality is back stronger than ever thanks to social media.
Makes sense.
Because that’s a lot of money that isn’t going to his favorite charities.
Any question of why Trump does something that doesn’t seem to make sense has a very simple answer. He’s an idiot. And the answer to your following question is “Yes, he is.”
Trump is an idiot, but the United States isn’t structured in a way where the President can go against the will of the Bourgeoisie. Behind closed doors there are talks and strategies employed, this isn’t a new thing.
the United States isn’t structured in a way where the President can go against the will of the Bourgeoisie.
I think we are overestimating the amount of solidarity and power of the American bourgeoise, partly because that’s the image of strenght they love to project.
The state always holds a dominant position wrt the bourgeoise. If tommorow trump wanted American billionaires merced, there isn’t much anyone could do to stop him.
Yes the bourgeoise control american civil society and have some influence over various parts of the government, but trump is the commander of the armed forces and has a strong movement backing him.
I suppose, but ultimately I don’t think Trump would be given the levers of power if the people who put him there didn’t think he would do something like this.
Yeah, he’s openly very loyal towards bourgeois interests, but I do think it’s funny how billionaires have to walk on eggshells around him (meta changing it’s moderation policies for example). He’s clearly the one in charge. It’s an interesting 2 way relationship that I’m sure some marxist has written essays about in the past.
We will see how it all unfolds, eventually.
Remember that the role of the government is to mediate conflict between and among bourgeoisie interests. The one thing the bourgeoisie all agree on is preventing revolution, so that’s the state’s primary throughline. But the idea that a single member of the bourgeoisie can go against class interests in a meaningful way is an idea that flies in the face of history.
You are correct, however, that these decisions are likely a reflection of division in the bourgeoisie. Trump is acting out the will of a faction that he himself belongs to, possibly even contributes to at a high level. But that’s not going to be all of the bourgeoisie. That’s why there’s an inner circle of operators, a middle circle of supplicants and appeasers, and an outer circle of opposition.
USAID likely had some specific interests it was pursuing and likely was a pet project of a faction or camp in the bourgeoisie. Destroying it sends a signal to that camp. Most of the choices being made in the first couple of weeks are symbolic, and not being members of the bourgeoisie ourselves, we are likely not able to see all of the symbolism, because it’s contextual to them.
We are watching tech attempt to assert its self dominant over classical bourgeoisie power. Who was at trumps side? Information technology represents at much or more fundamental change as industrialization. Its not surprising that we are going to seeing a new struggle for power and a push to shed liberal democracy for something new.
We haven’t had a moron with this strong a cult of personality as president though. If anyone tries to challenge him he has an army of Red Hats who will punish anyone he tells them to
I’ll point you to good ol George W. Bush. He was also an idiot with a huge cult following, though different, and the levers of power were pulled in his admin purely for US Imperialist interests.
It might be simplistic, but I’m always going to go with Occam’s Razor on this: Trump and Elon are just that stupid.
Elon directly said that USAID had a hand funding covid biolab research
I thought COVID wasn’t real?
I don’t think that’s Occam’s Razor applied, though. We know the US is controlled by the interests of the bourgeoisie.
In a general sense. In the day to day business these ghouls can and will do things that will hurt their mid/long term interest because it fits their vibe or they don’t really get it/know the history.
Elon does want to lead a fascist empire, but the nonsense-ai-crypto-bazinga version in his ketamine-head, not the fairly boring but successful, actually existing empire.
I think we are at an interesting time, because it’s becoming clear that the Empire is no longer as successful as it once was.
Yeah, he is dumb enough to do it but why is he being allowed to?
Exactly.
So some of that was probably going to daddy putin’s opposition…
Potentially. It seems the Russo-Ukrainian war is coming to a close, perhaps by Summer, though USAID and aid for Ukraine are not inherently the same thing.
Musk is a malignant narcissist Nazi who believes himself to be nearly a god. He is so absolutely amazing that he just knows what it takes us mere humans decades to learn.
~~“It just burning money to ‘help people’, they’ve never been in the black. It’s a money sink hole. Completely useless.”
It’s a service that my tax dollars gladly pay for~~ I will not gladly pay for that same money to go into your pocket, you fucking nazi.
Edit: was clarified on the particular organization. Should wake up before reading bad news. I stand by my Nazi statement though.
The vast majority of USAID went to support regime change and help the ruling classes of those we are friendly with. A minority went to helping people. What this means, it is speculated, that the US has realized its last several attempts at regime change in countries like Venezuela and Bolivia have failed due to the emergence of alternatives, therefore it is cheaper to drop it entirely and focus on open economic warfare rather than subtle. Tarriffs, sanctions, etc.
The US has the largest economic bubble ever. This is a hillarious timing to start an economic warm
…. more than plausible. It’s worth noting just how useful a man like Trump is to the people in power.
He provides a lot of cover for long standing American hegemonic policies.
What’s most interesting IMO is that Biden played the epitome of the post-Reagan Imperialist, whereas Trump is trying to restart US manufacturing and isolationism as though we can hope to regain clear dominance via competing outright with Chinese industrial output. I don’t think that’s a game the US can even hope to win.
In theory the US can. The laborforce and resources are all here. But modern capitalists only know how to strip a company for parts
I don’t think we can catch up to the PRC without Socialism, or some form of expanded government planning.
The US economy has become so financialized (and its dollar so overvalued) it cannot hope to compete. Chinese industry has stupidly cheap access to energy, patents on groundbreaking solar technology, an enormous pool of specialized labor and the best supply chain in the world, with quick and cheap access to rare earth minerals, nickel, gold, and a global monopoly on key resources such as antimony and lithium.
What’s more, the fact that the state provides cheap public transport, universal healthcare, higher education, retirement benefits, and a litany of social services means that companies have to provide comparatively very little in the way of compensation or training. Don’t even get me started on how US companies get one successful product and immediately try to enshittify everything to pump the share prices as high as they can possibly go. Even when the US provides direct funding to companies the process is so corrupt you have no guarantees that they’ll do anything with that money other than give a fat bonus to the execs. How is the CHIPS act working out?
I sincerely hope the US tries to compete with Chinese industry internationally because it’s gonna get absolutely dogwalked. It has so much catching up to do to even get going while china is accelerating so much one has to wonder if they’ve even hit their stride yet.
The vast majority of USAID went to support regime change and help the ruling classes of those we are friendly with. A minority went to helping people.
Do you have a source for that? I honestly thought that USAID was one of the very few “good” things that US was doing (although as always with imperialist countries, it was ultimately in pursuit of soft power, but I digress). I’ve seen many USAID-sponsored hospitals, kindergartens and museums in poor/developing countries. The numbers they themselves produce (I could only find this 2016/2017 report easily: https://www.cgdev.org/publication/foreign-assistance-agency-brief-usaid) seem to corroborate that the plurality of spending goes towards Health, with Health + Disaster Assistance being the majority. “Development Assistance” + “Transition Initiatives” + “Complex Crises Fund” (part of which is probably all the political stuff) is slightly more than a third of their spending.
It isn’t transparent how the money is being spent, usuay it goes to the US approved people who can spend it how they like. A good amount of good is done by it, but the purpose is as you said, soft power and regime change. Ending the program entirely signals a drastic change in strategy, perhaps to hard power.
Ending the program entirely signals a drastic change in strategy, perhaps to hard power.
That’s… rather unnerving, but expected given the mask-off nazism now on display. I can only hope that this backfires quickly and not too many lives are lost in the process.
Also I will still mourn the loss of whatever funding USAID was providing, as now many of those facilities will inevitably close down. Life is rough in those places already, can’t imagine the horror of learning that you no longer have a hospital because a rich fuck on the other side of the world wanted to see his number go up.
I want to stress perhaps. We don’t know yet what this will look like. We know US soft power is waning, and Trump is trying to revitalize manufacturing and isolationism. We know peer nations like the PRC are rising as an alternative to the US. Ultimately, we need to watch very carefully, though I can see a hot war in Korea or China in the next decade.
They won’t give you a source because that would require them to have one.
Which would be such a laughable misreading of the economic climate lmao, in 2008 China couldn’t decouple from the US and as such couldn’t avoid bailing them out (by purchasing a shit ton of insolvent debt) after the bubble popped.
The messaging has been clear, this time there will be no rescue and this bubble is bigger than the one before the great depression. I understand that the bourgeoisie is running out of options in the international stage but surely there was a more subtle way than this lmao.
We’ll see how it all plays out!
Thank you for clarifying for me. Still don’t want that unelected nazi in control of anything in the government.
Oh, of course. I’m not saying this is necessarily a “good thing,” I am more pointing out what we need to watch for. This signals more open aggression, like the United States has been known for, potentially even going to war.
It is spelled ‘Lebensraum’
Or, “Manifest Destiny.” Nazi Germany did find great inspiration in the US, after all!
