Politics
Unlikely Alliance: Obama and Bush Speak Out Against Trump
By Jake Beardslee · July 2, 2025
In a rare bipartisan rebuke, former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush have publicly condemned President Donald Trump’s decision to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), calling the move a “colossal mistake” and a setback to global humanitarian efforts.
Trump’s administration, through Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), slashed 90% of USAID’s foreign aid contracts in February. The agency’s workforce shrank from 10,000 employees to under 300. Now, USAID will be absorbed into the State Department and replaced by a new initiative dubbed “America First.”
In a farewell video to USAID staff released Monday — the agency’s final day — both former presidents offered scathing critiques of the closure.
“Gutting USAID is a travesty, and it’s a tragedy. Because it’s some of the most important work happening anywhere in the world,” Obama said, in private comments obtained by the Associated Press. He acknowledged the dedication of the agency’s employees and predicted that “sooner or later, leaders on both sides of the aisle will realise how much you are needed.”
George W. Bush, who launched the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) during his tenure, was more pointed: “Is it in our national interests that 25 million people who would have died now live? I think it is, and so do you.” He praised USAID employees for demonstrating “the great strength of America… your good heart.”
Musician and activist Bono also addressed staff, reciting a poem that read: “They called you crooks / When you were the best of us.”
In response to the backlash, a White House spokesperson told The Daily Beast: “America remains the most generous country in the world because President Trump has a humanitarian heart, and partner countries want to be self-reliant… The Trump administration is ensuring all programs funded by American taxpayers align with American interests, just as this President was elected to do.”