Notorious RINO and former President George W. Bush teamed up with Barack Obama and U2 frontman Bono to criticize Trump’s decision to close USAID. They labeled the decision a “colossal mistake” and a “travesty” in a June 30, 2025, video conference.
For context, Obama defended the corrupt agency by emphasizing USAID’s global impact, and Bush claimed its AIDS program saved 25 million lives. Thoroughly embarrassing himself, Bono recited a poem defending staff against accusations of corruption.
In any case, Barack Obama said, “Gutting USAID is a travesty, and it’s a tragedy. Because it’s some of the most important work happening anywhere in the world.” He added that it was “A colossal mistake,” and predicted that, “Sooner or later, leaders on both sides of the aisle will realize how much you are needed.”
Responding to his predecessor, George W. Bush stated, “You’ve shown the great strength of America through your work — and that is your good heart.” Returning to the controversial USAID program, Bush said, “Is it in our national interests that 25 million people who would have died now live? I think it is, and so do you.”
Echoing these remarks, failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton declared, “In all my years of service, I found that foreign service officers and development professionals were among the most dedicated public servants I encountered. Their work saves lives and makes the world safer. Today, and every day, I stand with them.”
Explaining why the Trump administration shuttered USAID, Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed, “Beyond creating a globe-spanning NGO industrial complex at taxpayer expense, USAID has little to show since the end of the Cold War. Development objectives have rarely been met, instability has often worsened, and anti-American sentiment has only grown.”
Concluding his condemnation, Rubio asserted, “This era of government-sanctioned inefficiency has officially come to an end. Under the Trump Administration, we will finally have a foreign funding mission in America that prioritizes our national interests.”
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Donald Trump made similar remarks, saying, “Forty-five million dollars for diversity, equity, and inclusion scholarships in Burma. Forty million to improve the social and economic inclusion of sedentary migrants. Nobody knows what that is.
Still not done, the president joked, “Eight million to promote LGBTQI+ in the African nation of Lesotho, which nobody has ever heard of. Sixty million dollars for indigenous peoples and Afro-Colombian empowerment in Central America. Sixty million. Eight million for making mice transgender.”
Offering more context on the USAID scandal, Rep. Keith Self (R-TX) described how DOJ was planning to punish USAID staffers, saying, “They intend to refer USAID officials to DOJ. [Fraud] is a criminal act. If they are detecting outright fraud, not just bad programs, not just ignoble programs, not just programs that don’t support the national interest of the United States, if they’re finding fraud, then, absolutely, they need to face consequences.”
Adding to his case, the Republican said, “You’re going to have to have a paper trail to prove that,” And I doubt that they would refer anyone without a very strong paper trail.” Another politician noted that the fraud included “$2 million to conduct sex change surgeries in Guatemala through a trans led organization” and “$22 million to increase tourism in Tunisia and Egypt.”