Trump Infests USAID With Right-Wing Ideologues

Truth in advertising should be applied to USAID given the beliefs of Trump's current appointees. 

Although foreign aid provision features much lofty rhetoric—giving the rest of humanity a helping hand—its reality is much more mundane. Like a lot of things in life, a mixture of altruistic and self-interested motives drive official development assistance or ODA provided by the likes of the American government through its US Agency for International Development (USAID). Being a practical sort, I do not believe this situation is necessarily wrong. For instance, the George W. Bush administration spearheaded the highly effective HIV/AIDS initiative PEPFAR in Africa, partly out of the conviction that stopping its spread there would benefit the rest of the world—including the US. Who led that effort? None other than one Anthony Fauci.

That’s why I am exasperated when ideologues are put in charge at USAID. Their agendas can be quirky, driven more by loopy thinking than practical ideas about how to improve the well-being of people in poor countries. To begin with, Trump regards aid as a waste of money, and has tried to cut it ever since. After all, there’s no redeeming what he calls “shithole countries,” right? So now Trump has decided that if he cannot singlehandedly stop aid provision—Congress decides that—he might as well put in those harboring—how do I put this—unusual ideas.

Instead of being attuned to evolving understandings about gender and championing democratic principles as USAID traditionally does, Trump has appointed some nutter blathering about "homo empires" and the genius of Hungarian strongman Viktor Orban. I did not make this stuff up:

A new White House staffer appointed by President Donald Trump once suggested America was a “homo-empire” ruled by a “tyrannical LGBT agenda” in a slew of writings that have since come back to haunt her.

Merritt Corrigan, White House deputy liaison at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), wrote that “our homo-empire couldn’t tolerate even one commercial enterprise not in full submission to the tyrannical LGBT agenda” in a tweet posted to her personal account, Politico reported, which has since been made private.

Ms Corrigan, who previously worked at the Hungarian embassy in Washington, has also claimed the country’s leader Viktor Orbán “is the shining champion of Western civilization” in a separate post.

But wait, it get worse. USAID's new appointee on religious freedom is an unapologetic Islamophobe. What a guy to get for reaching out to nearly a quarter of the world's population of Muslim faith:

USAID officials confirmed to me that [acting USAID administrator John] Barsa chose Mark Kevin Lloyd to be USAID’s new “religious freedom adviser.” His first day was Tuesday. In 2016, the Associated Press reported that Lloyd (then the Trump campaign’s Virginia field director) had made and shared several Islamophobic posts on his personal social media accounts. On June 30 of that year, he shared a post on Facebook that called Islam “a barbaric cult,” the AP reported.

Four days after the Orlando terrorist attack that same June, he shared a meme saying potential gun buyers should be forced to eat bacon. In another post, Lloyd wrote that “those who understand Islam for what it is are gearing up for the fight,” the AP reported. Those post are no longer public, but Lloyd’s Facebook account as of Tuesday still shows public posts where he accuses Barack Obama of ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and says people who believe Islam is a peaceful religion don’t understand history.

If these very fine people weren't enough, USAID's deputy deputy chief of staff is an anti-transgender activist. Apparently you can't get a job there nowadays without being controversially offensive.

The honest truth is that, inside the Beltway and in much of the rest of the world, serving as a Trump appointee is a stain on your CV akin to being the nightwatchman on the Titanic or the navigator of the Hindenburg. Given this talent pool [sic], Trump is forced to hire assorted right-wing nutters who are oftentimes the only ones desperate enough to serve a madman hellbent on loyalty oaths.

As with most things, USAID's rot starts at the top, with its current head viewing the post as a springboard to some future right-wing career [away from these developing country shitholes, too!] The more outrageously right-wing you are, the more attention you get from Uncle Donnie:

The White House named Barsa acting administrator last month without even consulting the State Department, reaching down to elevate him over more qualified senior officials. In the brief period since his appointment, Barsa has already gotten into hot water by writing a harshly worded letter to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres demanding the removal of references to “sexual and reproductive health” from a recent U.N. pandemic response plan, and insisting that no funding be allowed to go to abortions.

That brought him rebukes both from Democrats in Congress, who took issue with Barsa’s characterization of the U.N. plan, as well as the Trump administration’s own U.N. ambassador, Kelly Knight Craft, who called Barsa to dress him down for not clearing the letter with top State Department and U.S. Mission to the United Nations officials in advance.

Barsa’s brazenness is fueling suspicion inside the administration that he is auditioning publicly for his next administration job, perhaps in the leadership of the Department of Homeland Security, where he worked during the first year of the Trump administration.

Let's see, USAID now prefers hiring those openly hating homosexuals, transgenders, Muslims, the idea of "reproductive health," and so on. Using Trump's language, I think the rest of the world would benefit if he kept these folks in America where they can do their best to f--k s--t up to impress the American president instead of inflicting their radically intolerant views abroad. If you just hate everybody unlike you, why even get into the business of claiming to help improve their well-being?