Thursday marked one month since President Donald Trump officially took office. Since then, he’s signed dozens of executive orders. And the fallout from all his unilateral actions is starting to become clear. The administration’s funding cuts for foreign assistance have already hit millions of people receiving aid around the world through USAID, as well as many American businesses and nonprofits who do business with the agency. Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin, who resigned in protest as deputy head of communications in East Africa for USAID this month, describes the toll Trump’s cuts are taking on vulnerable people in Kenya.

And in headlines: The Senate confirmed Kash Patel as the new head of the FBI, former Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell announced he won’t run for re-election, and the administration slashes deportation protections for around 500,000 Haitian migrants.

Show Notes:

• Subscribe to the What A Day Newsletter – https://tinyurl.com/3kk4nyz8
• Support victims of the fire – votesaveamerica.com/relief
• What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcast

Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/

TRANSCRIPT

Jane Coaston: It’s Friday, February 21st. I’m Jane Coaston, and this is What a Day. The show that did not get invited to celebrate Black History Month at the White House and is actually pretty okay with that. [music break] On today’s show, Senate Republicans narrowly confirmed Kash Patel as the new FBI director, and Mitch McConnell says his time in Congress is coming to an end. But first, Thursday marked one month since President Donald Trump officially took office. Since then, he signed dozens and dozens and dozens of executive orders. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was practically giddy during her press briefing. 

[clip of Karoline Leavitt] This administration is off to a historic start. The president has already signed 73 executive orders. That is more than double the number signed by Joe Biden, and more than quadruple the number signed by Barack Obama over the same period. 

Jane Coaston: That’s not how any of this is supposed to work. And if I recall, Republicans said as much when Obama and Biden signed a lot of their orders. But Republicans don’t seem to care now, and neither does Trump. And the fallout from all these unilateral moves is starting to become clear. Case in point on Trump’s first day in office, he signed an executive order freezing virtually all foreign assistance from the US for 90 days. One of the organizations hit hardest was the US agency for International Development, or USAID. On Wednesday, USAID contractors asked a judge to hold Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the agency’s current leader, Peter Morocco, in contempt of court. They argued the two men are violating the judge’s order last week to lift the spending freeze. But funding cuts have already hit millions of people receiving aid around the world, as well as many American businesses and nonprofits. More than 80% of the companies that do business with USAID are based in America, according to the data company Development Aid. The cuts are also demoralizing for USAID Staffers. Earlier this month, Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin resigned as deputy head of communications in East Africa for USAID in protest over Trump’s dismantling of the agency. Crooked news editor Greg Walters spoke with him earlier this month from Nairobi, Kenya, about his decision. Knowles-Coursin spoke about a community health provider who cares for children between two and five years old who have been exposed to HIV. He says the freeze is keeping them from getting the medication they need. 

[clip of Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin] If these kids don’t get these, this medication, they will die. There’s no other way around it. Full stop. They will die. They won’t be able to suppress these viral loads. Their immune systems are going to get compromised. They’re going to get an infection from some opportunistic disease or bacteria or whatever it is. You know, they’re going to get meningitis or tuberculosis and they will eventually die. It’s a death sentence for these kids. 

Jane Coaston: We reached out to the State Department for comment. In a statement, a spokesperson said some core lifesaving USAID programs have been granted waivers from the administration’s funding freeze, including those for HIV treatment and care and prevention of mother to child transmission. The spokesperson said the department has approved nearly 200 waivers and that more are being granted every day. But they also defended the administration’s actions in true Trumpian fashion, arguing that the State Department, quote, “found that many activities that had previously been described as life saving humanitarian assistance have in reality involve DEI or gender ideology programs, transgender surgeries or other non life saving assistance and efforts that explicitly go against the America First foreign policy agenda.” When in doubt, this administration will always blame imaginary trans people. Knowles-Coursin acknowledged that yes, some programs have gotten waivers, including in the HIV space, but some are still struggling to get basic things like medicine to treat the disease, known as antiretrovirals or ARVs. Knowles-Coursin says he spoke to the head of a program that got a waiver. 

[clip of Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin] It still can’t pay its salaries. The um payment system for USAID is still down. They have basically three months of antiretrovirals. They can probably get another few months, but they’re not sure what to do after that. And really the damage has has already been done. You know on both staff and patients. The last three weeks, staff were crying and breaking down on a on a daily basis of, you know, trying to grapple with this moral quandary of do I disobey my orders? Do I let people die? 

Jane Coaston: Knowles-Coursin told a devastating story about how even this temporary pause is putting people in desperate situations. 

[clip of Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin] There was a woman who showed up at one of the clinics who said, please just give me 18 months of of ARVs, these antiretrovirals. She was HIV positive, so needs this medicine to survive. She said, please give me 18 months. I want to see my son graduate. You know, if I see my son graduate, I can die after that. And they’re having, you know, just lots of people that are showing up at their clinics the last three weeks terrified, you know, breaking down, saying, please give me six months, give me ten months, give me 12 months. 

Jane Coaston: Knowles-Coursin also says he spoke to a colleague overseeing a program in Kenya that treats around 100,000 tuberculosis patients each year. He says a lot of those patients have drug resistant TB, that’s especially hard to treat. 

[clip of Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin] This program has completely stopped. It’s not happening at all. And the consequences, I mean, they’re already seeing that. The the head of this program said, you know, over these last three weeks, they’ve had over 330 people die as a result of this stop work order so far. 

Jane Coaston: The State Department spokesperson did not directly respond to this claim about hundreds of people dying. Why is all of this happening? Because Elon Musk, the world’s richest man whose personal net worth is roughly ten times the entire budget of USAID. Who hasn’t been elected and hasn’t been confirmed by the Senate, says it’s time to feed the agency that helps the world’s poorest people quote, “into the wood chipper.” To do what? Decrease the national debt? Decrease the budget deficit? Eradicate wokeness? Is this really what Americans wanted? I thought they just wanted cheaper eggs. Knowles-Coursin says this should be a time for moral clarity. 

[clip of Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin] I think this is an existential moment for Americans and America. This is a moment where the rubber hits the road and we are deciding who do we want to be in the world? How do we want to engage with the world? Are we okay with famine? Do we not care when a disaster strikes and, you know, millions of people’s lives are at risk? Do we not want to respond? Do we care about containing global pandemics? 

Jane Coaston: There are people who will tell you that, no, they don’t care. They don’t care about people in foreign countries. They don’t care about containing pandemics. And contrary to what they argue on Twitter, when they demand the tiny amount of money we spend on foreign aid, stay home. The evidence is pretty clear that they don’t care about homeless veterans or low income families very much either. Some of these people might call themselves realists, but they’re nihilists, vice signalers who think that since they don’t care about anyone but themselves, no one else does either. Well, I do. And I bet you do, too. And we don’t have to be like them. We can stand up for USAID because we can stand up for what America can be at its absolute best. And we don’t need to listen to the people who want it to be, well, worse. We’ll get to more of the news in a moment, but if you like the show, make sure to subscribe. Leave a five star review on Apple Podcasts, watch us on YouTube and share with your friends. More to come after some ads. [music break]

[AD BREAK]

Jane Coaston: Here’s what else we’re following today. 

[sung] Headlines. 

[clip of unnamed Congress speaker] The yays are 51. The nays are 49. The confirmation is confirmed. 

Jane Coaston: The Senate voted Thursday to confirm Kash Patel, Trump’s pick to head the FBI. The vote was largely along party lines. Only two Republicans voted against Patel. Senator Susan Collins of Maine and Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Patel had some pretty contentious confirmation hearings. Democrats grilled him about whether he’d use his power as FBI director to prosecute Trump’s political enemies. In a back and forth with Hawaii Democrat Mazie Hirono, he refused to say he wouldn’t. 

[clip of Kash Patel] No one–

[clip of Mazie Hirono] Yes or no. 

[clip of Kash Patel] –that did not break the law will be investigated. 

Jane Coaston: Democrats also raised concerns about Patel’s pushing of right wing conspiracies, and he appeared to lie under oath during his confirmation hearings about his ties to conspiracy theorist and Holocaust denier Stew Peters. Patel had appeared on Peters’ podcast eight times, but denied knowing him to senators. Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island had some strong words for Republicans who backed Patel. Here he is speaking to reporters outside the FBI headquarters before the vote. 

[clip of Senator Sheldon Whitehouse] Kash Patel. Mark, my words will cause evil in this building behind us. And Republicans who vote for him will rue that day. 

Jane Coaston: Also on Thursday, Education Secretary nominee Linda McMahon inched closer to confirmation. A Senate committee voted to advance her nomination to the floor for a final vote. The Senate has confirmed 18 members of Trump’s cabinet so far. Four more are left, including McMahon. The president is set to hold the first cabinet meeting of his term next week. 

[clip of Senator Mitch McConnell] Representing our Commonwealth has been the honor of a lifetime. I will not seek this honor an eighth time. 

Jane Coaston: Republican Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said Thursday he will not seek reelection next year. McConnell made the announcement from the Senate floor on his 83rd birthday. 

[clip of Senator Mitch McConnell] I’ve never liked calling too much attention to today’s date, February 20th, but I figured my birthday would be as good a day as any to share with our colleagues a decision I made last year. 

Jane Coaston: McConnell stepped down as the Senate Republican leader last year. He’ll go down as the longest serving Senate party leader in U.S. history. The Kentucky Republican was first elected to the Senate in 1984. In 2016, he was instrumental in blocking then-President President Barack Obama from appointing Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court after the death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia. And during Trump’s first term, McConnell helped usher his three Supreme Court nominations through Senate confirmation, effectively cementing a conservative supermajority on the court. But his ties with Trump were more or less severed when McConnell blamed the president for the January 6th attack on the Capitol. McConnell said, quote, “there is no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day.” Still, McConnell did not vote to convict Trump in his impeachment trial over the insurrection. He also endorsed Trump for president in 2024. A profile in courage. McConnell’s empty Senate seat is set to spark a competitive GOP primary in Kentucky next year. The Department of Homeland Security announced Thursday it plans to end deportation protections for about half a million Haitian migrants living in the US. The decision reverses a Biden era extension of an immigration program known as Temporary Protected Status or TPS for Haitians. TPS gives people from certain designated countries the ability to live and work in the U.S. legally. But it doesn’t provide a long term path to citizenship. The Trump administration’s decision Thursday means these Haitian migrants could be eligible for deportation as soon as August. Some of them may be able to apply for other kinds of protected status. The White House has made similar moves recently regarding immigrants from other countries, too. An advocacy group is currently suing the administration over cuts to protected status for Venezuelans. The Israel Defense Forces Thursday accused Hamas of committing a, quote, “severe violation of the cease fire agreement.” It claims the militant organization did not return the remains of one of the hostages it agreed to. In fact, the IDF says the remains Hamas did return don’t match any of the hostages taken by the group. Earlier in the day, Hamas claimed it returned the bodies of four hostages to the Israeli government. The militant group said it returned the remains of a mother and her two young children, an infant and a four year old, as well as the remains of an 83 year old man. Israel later confirmed the identities of three of the bodies. The elderly man and the two children. But officials said that the fourth body did not belong to the mother or to any other Israeli hostage. As of our recording time Thursday evening, Hamas has not issued a response. It’s the latest stressor to the very fragile cease fire that’s so far been holding between the two sides, and its future looks increasingly uncertain. The first phase of the deal is supposed to expire next weekend. Israel and Hamas have not yet begun negotiations over its second phase. And that’s the news. [music break] One more thing. If you’re a person who really dislikes Donald Trump, you’ve probably at some point been accused of having Trump Derangement Syndrome. But no one seems to quite understand what Trump Derangement Syndrome is. See, if you ask Elon Musk, it’s whatever this is per his telling to Fox News’s Sean Hannity this week. 

[clip of Elon Musk] I was at a friend’s birthday party in L.A., just a birthday dinner, and it was like a nice, quiet dinner, and everything was everyone was behaving normally. And then I have to mention this is before the election, like a month or two before, after I mentioned the president’s name. And it was like they got shot with a dart in the jugular that contained like methamphetamine and rabies. Okay. And I’m like, wow, and I am like, what is wrong? Guys? Like you just can’t have like a normal conversation? 

Jane Coaston: But the idea of TDS is actually more interesting and more insidious than you might think, because before it was Trump Derangement Syndrome. It was Bush Derangement syndrome. The late conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer came up with the term in 2003. To him it meant, quote, “the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal people in reaction to the policies, the presidency, nay, the very existence of George W Bush.” In short, if you thought George W. Bush sucked and everything he did sucked no matter what it was, even the things you might have supported had someone else done them, you had Bush Derangement syndrome. However, that’s not what Trump Derangement Syndrome means. Trump Derangement Syndrome seems to mean that if you believe him, you have TDS. And if you don’t believe him, you have TDS. If Trump says that Ukraine started a war with Russia and you take him at his word, you have TDS. But also if you don’t believe him and think that he’s saying this because he’s trying to cozy up to his new BFF, Vladimir Putin. You also have TDS. The only way to demonstrate that you do not have Trump Derangement Syndrome is to support literally everything he does forever, but also not take him literally. But fortunately, that’s not how actual voters who actually vote see Trump or literally any politician. Here’s CNN on Thursday. 

[clip of unnamed CNN reporter] Well, I think they’re telling us that the honeymoon, as much as it may have existed, is over for Donald Trump at the moment. You see that he’s upside down here in terms of more people, a majority slim majority, 52% disapprove of how he’s doing in our brand new poll than the 47% who say that they approve of his job performance. 

Jane Coaston: See, everyday people vote for people to do stuff, and when those people don’t do the stuff voters elected them to do, they tend to be kind of annoyed about it. Trump won by convincing a lot of Americans that he wasn’t going to do things he clearly wanted to do, and that he was going to do things he had absolutely no interest in. And while that’s apparently a great election strategy, it is a difficult governing philosophy because most Americans didn’t vote to see veterans fired en masse from government jobs or to destroy foreign aid. I keep thinking about this Wall Street Journal article from earlier this week, where a woman told reporter Eliza Collins, quote, “when we said safer borders. I thought he was thinking, let’s stop the drugs from coming into the country. I didn’t know he was going to start raiding places. Now I’m like, dang, why didn’t I just pick Kamala?” I don’t have TDS and neither do you. What we are are Americans who generally don’t like what a politician is doing and don’t like how he’s doing it or why. So if someone accuses you of having Trump Derangement Syndrome, you can think about it another way. Someone sees that you’re exercising your free speech rights and is very, very mad about it. [music break] That’s all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe. Leave a review. Think about how the richest man in the world is actually extremely weird. And tell your friends to listen. And if you’re into reading, and not just about how Elon Musk is extremely rich, extremely powerful and also at CPAC on Thursday said the words I am become meme like me. What a Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at Crooked.com/subscribe. I’m Jane Coaston and money can’t buy cool. [music break] What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It’s recorded and mixed by Desmond Taylor. Our associate producers are Raven Yamamoto and Emily Fohr. Our producer is Michell Eloy. We had production help today from Tyler Hill, Johanna Case, Joseph Dutra, Greg Walters, and Julia Claire. Our senior producer is Erica Morrison. And our executive producer is Adriene Hill. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East. 

[AD BREAK]