Former US Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush have led to rare public criticism of the Trump administration – and singer Bono held back tears when he recited the poem – saying goodbye to staff at the US International Development Agency on Monday to an emotional video.
Obama called the Trump administration's dismantling of USAID a “giant mistake.”
Monday was President John F. Kennedy's final day as an independent body of a humanitarian development organization six years ago, created as a peaceful way to promote US national security by boosting goodwill and prosperity overseas.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered the USAID to be absorbed by the State Department as of Tuesday.
The former president and Bono spoke on video conferences with thousands of people in the USAID community. This was billed as a press event that political leaders and others closed to allow privacy for sometimes angry and often tearful remarks. Some of the video was shared with the Associated Press.
They expressed their gratitude to the thousands of USAID staff who lost their jobs and life jobs. Their agency was the first and most heavily targeted to cut governments by President Donald Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk, with staff suddenly locked up from the systems and offices, ending in massive emails.
Trump claimed the agency was run by a “radical left madman” and was attacked by “a tremendous scam.” Musk called it a “crime organisation.”
Speaking in a recorded statement, Obama provided assurances to aid and development workers.
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“Your work is important and it's important for generations,” he said.
President Obama has kept his mostly public profile low during Trump's second term and refrains from criticizing the monumental changes he has made on US programs and priorities both in the United States and abroad.
“Stopping USAID is a tragedy and tragedy because it's part of the most important work that's happening anywhere in the world,” Obama said. He believes that not only saves life, it is a major factor in global economic growth that has transformed countries that accept some aid into US markets and trading partners.
The former Democratic president predicted, “Sooner or later, leaders on both sides of the aisle will realize how much you need.”
Requesting comment, the State Department said this week it will introduce the department's foreign aid successor this week to USAID, known as America First.
“The new process ensures that there is adequate monitoring and that all taxes spent will help advance the national interest,” the department said.
USAID oversaw the program around the world, providing water and life-saving food to millions uprooted by conflicts in Sudan, Syria, Gaza and other countries, sponsoring the “Green Revolution” that revolutionizes modern agriculture, suppresses hunger and hunger, prevents disease outbreaks, promotes democracy, provides the people, and allows people to climb Povalti.
Speaking in a recorded message, Bush believed he went straight to cutting down the groundbreaking AIDS and HIV programmes launched by his Republican administration, saving 25 million lives worldwide.
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A bipartisan blowback from Congress helped save large amounts of money on the program by cutting down the president's emergency plan for AIDS relief known as Pepfarr. However, reductions and changes in rules have reduced the number of people getting life-saving care.
“You have shown great American strength through your work – and that's your good heart,” Bush told Usaid staff. I think so, and so are you,” he said.
Former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Surf, former Columbia President Juan Manual Santos and former US ambassador UN Thomas Greenfield also spoke to staff.
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Also humanitarian workers, including those who spoke about the advent of welcome staff members who had USAID staff members who had food when they were a scared eight-year-old in a Liberian refugee camp. Food Program officials around the world have vowed through sobs that the US aid mission will return one day.
A longtime humanitarian advocate in Africa and elsewhere, Bono was announced as a “surprise guest” in shades and caps.
He jokingly welcomed USAID staff as “secret agents of international development,” acknowledging the decline in the unofficial gatherings of the USAID community on Monday.
Bono sometimes held back tears as he recited the poems he had written to his agency and the courage it had given him. He spoke about children dying from malnutrition. This is what Boston University researchers and other analysts say is going to die because the US cut funding for health and other programs abroad.
“They called you a con man, when you were our best,” Bono said.
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