A CONMAN OF THE WORLD

Donald Trump’s decision to pause U.S. aid to other countries could put thousands of aid workers out of a job within months.

• President Donald Trump signed so many executive orders his very first day in office that many of us still have whiplash. It’s hard to keep track of which ones really matter, and which ones are just empty posturing, likely to disappear in a cloud of legal vapor as soon as the first lawsuits drop. But here’s one that’s received relatively little coverage — and looks set to have a real-world impact on thousands of aid workers and countries around the world. It’s Trump’s decision to suspend U.S. foreign assistance for 90 days, so his administration can review whether the money is being given to programs he likes.

• The U.S. gives a lot of money to these programs — upwards of $70 billion a year — in over 200 countries and regions. Think: Providing safe drinking water to people in Myanmar, helping tuberculosis patients in India and Cambodia, assisting women who’ve experienced gender-based violence in Nicaragua, and sending relief to countries affected by natural disasters. These programs also support tens of thousands of jobs in non-profits, non-governmental organizations, and foreign aid programs, many of which are based in the U.S. and Washington D.C.

• Those programs now appear to be in big trouble. Lawyers who’ve spoken with Trump administration officials — from the White House and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) — believe the pause in funding is a worst-case scenario for this sector, according to a person briefed by those lawyers yesterday. The person provided What A Day with slides from the firm, which represents government contractors.

• Without aid from the United States, most of these multinational foreign aid organizations don’t have the cash to meet payroll for three months, and it’s unlikely any bank would extend credit to them, the person said. USAID alone works with more than 4,000 organizations. Thousands of jobs around the world could be at stake, not to mention the catastrophic humanitarian and health implications.

• Trump didn’t specify what organizations would be affected (spoiler alert: Because he didn’t think this shit through in the first place!) but some details have started to leak: He’ll freeze assistance to United Nations agencies, peacekeeping initiatives and refugee support programs, according to Ukrainian officials. Ukraine and other countries receiving military support won’t be cut off, the officials added.

The three-month ‘pause’ alone may be so financially disastrous for the aid sector that only the largest contractors survive, even if funding kicks back in afterwards, the person added.

• Experts agreed that Trump’s pause looks like a big trouble: “It’s hard for me to imagine this won’t be deeply disruptive the people working in projects on in the field, partly because it creates profound uncertainty about what happens after the review is over,” Jon Alterman, a foreign policy expert who’s held positions in the State Department and on Capitol Hill, told What A Day.

• Trump’s ire seems aimed at USAID programs, according to Politico. That could spell trouble for them, Alterman added, since Trump hasn’t even named a USAID administrator yet — who you’d think would be an important player in deciding how foreign aid gets spent!

• Republicans have long aimed to slash aid projects around the world. In his first term, Trump cut funding or suspended payments to several United Nations agencies. The U.S. foreign aid industry is “not aligned with American interests,” Trump wrote in his statement announcing the pause. During his confirmation hearing last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers that foreign aid must meet three requirements: “Does it make America safer? Does it make America stronger? Does it make America more prosperous?”

• The point of providing aid to other countries — aside from helping their citizens — is to form tight relationships around the world, Alterman said. By scrapping assistance, countries might not feel as inclined to support the United States.

Making buddies around the world doesn’t seem to be Trump’s goal, yet again.

NEWS NEWS NEWS

Donald Trump breezily ended his team’s debate over pardoning even violent January 6 rioters by saying:  “Fuck it: Release ‘em all,’” one of his advisers told Axios. Later, Trump told reporters he wasn’t sure if violent offenders should’ve been pardoned. This is going great already.

On that note, Joe Exotic of “Tiger King” fame — who is still in prison for hiring hitmen to kill animal rights activist Carole Baskin — ranted on Instagram over Trump’s continued failure to pardon him. Exotic has been publicly pining for a Trump pardon for years, and once even felt so confident about getting one that his supporters hired a “Monster Ram Truck Limo” to pick him up from prison and then go get some McRibs. “If I was a crack dealer, maybe if I broke in the capital or even have been related to the Bidens. I might have gotten some relief,” Exotic complained. That’s some twisted logic… but is he wrong?

Self-proclaimed “First Buddy” Elon Musk shot down Trump’s plan to have AI companies invest $500 billion in U.S. data centers over the next four years. “They don’t actually have the money,” Musk wrote on X. Anyone taking bets on when Musk gets frog-marched out of Mar-a-Lago?

Trump ordered the Department of Justice to investigate and possibly prosecute local officials who don’t cooperate with his plans to carry out mass deportations. He also expanded ICE’s ability to quickly deport undocumented immigrants who can’t immediately prove they’ve been in the country for more than two years.

Defense Secretary-elect Pete Hegseth would regularly pass out from drinking, behaved abusively toward his ex-wife, and often made racist remarks, his former sister-in-law alleged in a sworn affidavit. He also allegedly believes women shouldn’t vote or work. An attorney for Hegseth, a Fox News weekend host, denied the accusations.

Trump placed all government employees who work on diversity, equity and inclusion on paid leave today. They’ll eventually be laid off or reassigned. Trump has called federal DEI programs “radical and wasteful,” moving quickly to undo the Biden administration’s work on the issue.

Trump’s executive order to force federal employees back to in-person work five days a week is expected to lead to an exodus of talented workers. That’s actually the point, as Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy wrote in an op-ed last year about cutting government costs. Geniuses at work!

Parts of Florida received more snow in the past day (8.8 inches) than Minneapolis, Chicago and New York have all winter. The number shattered Florida’s previous single-day record of 4 inches. Well, that’s fucked up!

Southern California is expected to see strong winds this week, which could worsen more small wildfires that have popped up in recent days. The area’s also expected to see a small rainfall over the weekend.

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