It's no secret that the propaganda war over Trump's cuts of government programs, particularly foreign aid, grossly distorts what Trump and Marco Rubio have actually done while eliminating USAID. 

If you follow the "news" put out by Pravda, you would be led to believe that people are dying in droves, children are left starving, and the entire third world will wither and die unless Rubio and Trump restore aid to...Internews, which purchases propaganda in countries around the world. 

USAID's primary purpose was to launder money to left-wing causes and further US intelligence goals, but that doesn't mean there were some genuinely useful expenditures buried among all the subsidies to censorship organizations, "independent" media outlets, and even US radical organizations. 

One such program is PEPFAR, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. 

Since President Bush created PEPFAR, the US has poured over $100 billion into tackling the AIDS pandemic in Africa, and while you could argue about whether the US bears too large a percentage of the burden for addressing AIDS in Africa, you have to admit that a lot of lives were saved and AIDS cases prevented.

Protecting Africa's children from extreme risk: a runway of sustainability for PEPFAR programmeshttps://t.co/M0wYjhWwOZ
PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), a landmark US foreign health policy, is recognised for saving 26 million lives from HIV. PEPFAR… pic.twitter.com/jqut94yoZJ

— Benjamin Ryan (@benryanwriter) April 8, 2025

Ever since USAID got cut, one of the refrains I keep reading is that Trump is going to wind up killing a zillion Africans by taking their AIDS drugs away. We could argue about just how much the US should kick in vs our allies and the African countries themselves, but PEPFAR is at least what we traditionally think of as foreign aid and has demonstrable benefits. 

The problem with all the screaming about killing Africans by eliminating USAID is that...well, it's not true. PEPFAR was never cut, and the only threats to it have been the normal budget fights that have been a reality since God invented government. Neither Trump nor Rubio has frozen the money, and Rubio made clear on day one that aid that saves lives has not and will not be cut by the closure of USAID. 

Yet the stories keep coming as if this is a real thing. Lefty journalists and nonprofits are hiding behind nonexistent cuts to PEPFAR to defend their own desire for money that doesn't go there. 

It's a great rhetorical tool--a misdirection. All good cons rely on misdirection; it's how magicians get you to buy into their illusions. 

You're killing people with AIDS! Were it true, my heartstrings might be pulled. But it's not, so I just get a bit more cynical and get back to the business of trying to get those super-wealthy NGOs and foundations to kick in a bigger share so the taxpayers don't have to pay as much. 

Unfortunately, many liberals still trust the media, and their hearts melt when some sleazy nonprofit with a nice-sounding name plays Sarah McLachlan music and tells us Trump is a meanie. 

So it goes.