Pirate's Cove

Of course, CNN and most of the other outlets yammering about what Elon Musk said are mostly focusing on it being full of Democrats and Leftists doing Leftist things

Elon Musk said Donald Trump agreed USAID needs to be ‘shut down’

Development needs to be “shut down,” following days of speculation over the future of the agency after its funding was frozen and dozens of its employees were put on leave.

“With regards to the USAID stuff, I went over it with (the president) in detail and he agreed that we should shut it down,” Musk said in a X Spaces conversation early Monday.

Musk said he checked with Trump “a few times” and Trump confirmed he wants to shut down the agency, which dispenses billions in humanitarian aid and development funding annually. CNN has reached out to the White House and USAID for comment.

Sunday evening, before the X Spaces conversation, when asked for comment on USAID, Trump told reporters: “It’s been run by a bunch of radical lunatics, and we’re getting them out, and then we’ll make a decision” on its future.

In the X Spaces conversation early Monday, which he co-hosted with Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa and Vivek Ramaswamy – who was initially named co-chair of DOGE with Musk but has since left – the X owner called USAID “incredibly politically partisan” and said it has been supporting “radically left causes throughout the world including things that are anti-American.” (snip)

Other top Trump officials, such as Stephen Miller, who serves as deputy chief of staff for policy at the White House, have also taken aim at USAID, accusing its workforce of being overwhelmingly Democrats.

Blah blah blah. Let’s ask USAID

Factored into this challenge is the need for program offices to comply with existing policies and procedures, obtain and use reliable data, and hold implementers (nongovernmental organizations or NGOs, contractors, and public international organizations or PIOs) accountable for results. Simultaneously, USAID must strengthen its efforts to detect and prevent corruption, fraud, and sexual exploitation and abuse, as these serious issues compromise the integrity of Agency programs, create reputational risk to USAID, and betray the very beneficiaries its
programs are intended to assist.

Because the programs are rife with fraud, corruption, sexual exploitation and abuse, and USAID keeps giving money to the programs, countries, contractors, NGOs, and international organizations.

(Bureau of Investigative Journalism) Within its first two years of operation, the largest ever project funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) was in crisis.

The $9.5bn initiative was led by US contractor Chemonics International. Its aim was to transform global health supply chains – the sprawling system of procurement and transport that delivers life-saving products including HIV/Aids drugs, mosquito nets and contraceptives to millions around the globe. (snip)

By the spring of 2017, it was clear the project was failing. During its worst quarter, only 7% of its shipments arrived at their destinations on time and in full. Project leaders scrambled as multiple countries ran short of essential health products and faced stock-outs.

But interviews with those closely involved, as well as the rare instances of external scrutiny, suggest serious problems persist. Chemonics has received multiple extensions to continue implementing the project – until at least November 2024. And after eight years and billions of dollars, there is little independent evidence that USAID, Chemonics and its partners have actually strengthened a global supply chain that millions rely on for life-saving medical supplies.

It’s mostly a fail. USAID is pissing away taxpayer money for little reward. Of course, this is throughout the federal government.

Read: Media Freaks Over Musk Saying USAID Needs To Be Shut Down »