Social media users are grilling President Donald Trump’s administration over the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) recorded in a report from The New York Times on Sunday.
During his first days in office, Trump froze funding for the global aid agency, and tech billionaire Elon Musk, who served at the helm of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), slashed nearly all awards and cut staff members as part of efforts to slim the size of the government. In a new report, The Times detailed how the agency was overhauled over the course of two weeks, marked by “rash demands, shock and confusion.”
It reported that Jason Gray, USAID’s chief information officer turned acting administrator, was ordered by DOGE to consent to locking employees out of accessing agency systems, including through phone and email. Although Gray refused, Musk repeated the demand by phone, and was still met with opposition, according to people familiar with the exchange. Gray said USAID members were evacuating due to civil unrest in Democratic Republic of the Congo, fighting Ebola in Uganda, and moving food into Gaza — and warned that any cut off could get people killed.
In another instance, The Times found that a State Department directive stopped all foreign assistance payments, but went a step further in ordering USAID to issue “stop-work orders” on its thousands of grants and contracts. The programs included preventing and treating diseases, providing food assistance, helping with climate disasters, and funding civil rights groups to support emergency democracies.
Social media users reacted to the report, slamming the reconstruction of the agency on X.
“This is one of the most sickening things any modern American administration has ever done,” one user wrote.
“Whenever you think both sides are the same, just ask yourself why the Democrats never did this,” they added.
A user responded, “Just absolutely evil.”
Another user posted: “Just read that NYT article on the death of USAID, I think I’m going to be sick.”
“Elon Musk has left Washington, but he leaves a legacy of suffering because Trump let him dismantle USAID, which did enormous good by fighting disease, building resilient societies, and undermining the sort of autocracies that Trump hopes to build at home,” someone said.
Earlier this month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered all U.S. embassies to fire remaining USAID staff members, putting foreign assistance programs under the State Department. It was one of the last moves of the administration to overhaul the agency, after more than 10,000 staffers and contractors.
In a separate report, The Times found that USAID employees still remain unsure of the administration’s goals regarding foreign aid. They noted that the remaining awards will not prevent countries from avoiding crises in the first place.
Stories by Rachel Cohen
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