“America First” is Suicidal in the Age of Global Disease Outbreaks (opens in new tab)

In early 2025, in a move that was “likely unconstitutional,” the Trump administration, via Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development. As a result, over 80 percent of USAID programs—around $60 billion overall—were eliminated. According to the United Nations, the United States was the single largest aid donor in the world and supplied more than 40 percent of the global aid that the agency tracked in 2024. Almost overnight, t...