The "majority view" in #China sees some of #Trump's moves as an "own goal"

Da asserts that most Chinese people he talks w/viewed #USAID, the #ForeignAid agency, as one of America's strengths, improving its image & influence in the developing world. Virtually eliminating the agency was "in #China's interest."

The bipartisan letter, signed by 17 lawmakers & organized by Representative Greg Landsman, #Democrat of Ohio, said that “the #ForeignAid freeze has jeopardized, & may ultimately eliminate, our informational support of #Ukraine on this front.”

The #State Dept & the Yale center “had been preserving evidence of #abducted #children from Ukraine it had identified, to be shared w/ #Europol & the govt of Ukraine to secure their return,” the letter says.

The work on the #abducted #children by the #Yale School of #PublicHealth #Humanitarian #Research Lab was frozen when #Trump signed an #ExecutiveOrder in late January halting almost all #ForeignAid. Since then, #MarcoRubio & an official under him, #PeteMarocco, have ended the vast majority of foreign #aid contracts, including the one to the Yale lab.

#PeteMarocco, the #State Dept ofcl who oversaw the #Trump admin’s efforts to dismantle the main govt agency distributing foreign #aid, announced in an email on Tues night that he would be replaced at the agency by 2 officials who had been involved in making the cuts.

Marocco said in the email that he would remain at State as director of #ForeignAid, but that 2 other officials would handle what remains of the #USAID.

#Trump’s #ExecutiveOrder said those agencies should eliminate all operations not codified in #statute as well as "reduce the performance of their statutory functions & associated personnel to the minimum presence & function required by #law."

So far, #Musk's #DOGE has produced potential cuts of >100k #jobs across the 2.3M-member federal civilian workforce, the freezing of #ForeignAid, & the cancellation of thousands of programs & contracts.

#Trump in Jan ordered a stop to #ForeignAid, incl’g #military #aid, except to #Israel & #Egypt, w/o a waiver. On Fri, the admin said it was sending Israel nearly $3B in new #weapons, incl’g >35k new 2k pound #bombs, invoking an emergency rule under #US arms control laws.

Secy of #State #MarcoRubio in recent wks signed a waiver to exempt #Ukraine from the ban imposed on foreign assistance, but snr State ofcl #PeterMarocco hasn’t sent a required letter to the #Pentagon to allow the aid to flow….

But the move to potentially shut down the main pipeline for arms transfers to #Ukraine comes after a contentious meeting between #Trump & Ukrainian President Volodymyr #Zelensky…. The tense exchange Friday raised fears across #Europe that the US could be moving away from the wider Western #alliance.

Elisha Dunn-Georgiou, president & CEO of the #GlobalHealth Council, said the situation is "horrible." She said that even some of the programs that had received waivers for being "life saving humanitarian assistance”–including ones that provided #HIV medications–have now received termination notices.

"This is a global health #massacre," said one #humanitarian ofcl, who isn't authorized to speak on behalf of their org.

#SCOTUS Chief Justice #JohnRoberts granted the #Trump admin’s late Wednesday request to pause a lower court’s midnight deadline for the govt to resume nearly $2B in #ForeignAid payments suspended for weeks.

The brief administrative order, which did not address the underlying #legal issues, will allow time for a full #SupremeCourt review.

#law #USAID #aid #USpol #kleptocracy #TheCrueltyIsThePoint

So all of this ↑ just happened.

It went just as you’d expect.

DC Appeals Court said, no to the #Trump admin, you have to obey Judge Ali’s order to pay by midnight.

Then the #DOJ went straight to #SCOTUS, who – you guessed it – sided w/Trump.

“#SupremeCourt grants Trump request to pause #USAID payments order”

“The admin faced a midnight deadline for disbursing nearly $2B in #ForeignAid. The order giving ofcls more time is only temporary

#law #aid #USpol #kleptocracy
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/02/26/usaid-aid-supreme-court-payment-deadline/

@ChrisMayLA6 Starmer is doing the worst things the US is doing, and there’s no excuse for it. Siding with America in neutering #transrights, reducing the #NHS workforce, increasing spending on #military, reducing #foreignaid. He’s enabling the far right to take over government at the next election. I cannot express how awful his policies are.