The Trump administration tore down USAID before figuring out what it actually did.
Because USAID was shuttered so quickly and with little warning, lots of people traveled for desperate medical care or food, just to find the USAID location shutdown. Lots of people died.
The State Department has not released the data needed to see how many people died.
Marco Rubio used to say if you want to know how important USAID is, just travel to Africa and see the many lives of children saved at relative low cost by the American taxpayer. Such people are less likely to be radicalized or become anti-American. Yet, Rubio didn’t, or couldn’t, save USAID under the Trump administration.
DOGE bros were uninformed and just smacked the table and yelled at people. Some of them thought USAID mostly did abortions. USAID doesn’t do abortions. DOGE tore down USAID because Elon Musk demanded it.
When it comes to understanding government policy, Elon Musk is incompetent and his actions have killed hundreds of thousands of people.
“Prices rose 3.8% in April compared to a year earlier, marking an increase from a year-over-year inflation rate of 3.3% in the prior month. Annual inflation jumped to its highest level in three years, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data showed.
As recently as February, inflation stood at 2.4%, clocking in just a tick above the Federal Reserve’s target level of 2%.
The jump in prices last month owed in large part to a sharp rise in costs for products impacted by a global oil shock. Gasoline prices were 5% higher in April than March, the BLS report said. Airline fares climbed 2.8% from the previous month.”
Japan is becoming its own hub in a hub and spoke model of quasi-alliances in the Asia-Pacific. It’s cooperating with many countries and selling needed weapons. Japan is the most trusted major power among ASEAN countries. Beating the EU, US, China, and India.
All realistic deals on the table that Iran might agree to look an awful lot like the deal Obama got without the costs and risks of war. Trump is reluctant to agree to such a deal because it will essentially be an admission that Obama and Kerry were right all along–this was the best deal possible and better than no deal or war.
Reporting was that Trump could have gotten such a deal before the war began, but Trump rejected it because he thought he was a great deal-maker who could do better than Obama. He was wrong, and we got war because of it.
Germany is starting to massively increase its military power. Europe needs German power. Once Germany has this power, some Germans will want to use it in ways that are not in America’s interest. We need Germany to pull its own weight, but we need to keep that weight on our side, and to do this, requires keeping America’s commitment to Europe strong and clear. German power is much less dangerous when embedded in a NATO structure that includes the United States.
Ukraine long-range drone strikes defeat advanced Russian anti-air by flying low, limiting the coverage of radars and confusing them with ground structures, while also using AI to target vulnerable and important targets.
Russia is moving air-defense assets to Moscow for their annual Victory Day Parade, making the rest of the country more vulnerable! This makes Putin and Russia look weak.
After the US escorted just two ships through the Strait before ending the program, insurance for shipping through the Strait went up! So what did this operation achieve? Quitting after two ships looks like giving up, not victory.