Tracing Brief: Two Realities on U.S.A.I.D.
A man named Mike Benz claimed Trump probably lost the 2020 election due to content monitoring from the likes of U.S.A.I.D. and other groups
Briefly: Today is the last day for the Trump administration to comply with a court order to resume funding of U.S.A.I.D., an agency that runs under the U.S. Department of State.
You may have heard or read of the many U.S. farmers who are already affected by the abrupt illegal funding freeze of U.S.A.I.D. Or the people abroad who are already affected. That’s one reality. In the other reality, a few individuals spin tales that the agency metastasized into a global hegemonic internet censorship operation. And these tales trace back to, for one, Mike Benz who worked at U.S. State for only a few months.
Recall that conspiracy inspires more anger than coincidence, and anger curtails the ability to reason. Also, U.S.A.I.D. (which podcasters pronounce US ay eye dee) is an international soft power agency. Whereas the military carries out hard power, often costing lives.
This influencer hasn’t gotten much attention from people advocating for USAID to live on.
In other censorship news, RFK Jr. is suing a blogger for pointing out the HHS secretary is an antivaxxer. This story is interesting because the suit happened in a state with an anti-SLAPP statute, but it has not been dismissed.
Dec 03 2024 Joe Rogan Experience #2237 - Mike Benz (Joe Rogan Experience on YouTube) - “And the fact is, is Trump probably only won this election because for the same reason, he probably only won the 2016 election, which was, in both cases, there was largely a free Internet. It was when Trump got censored into oblivion in 2020 by the US government under his nose, working with webs of outside NGOs and Pentagon front groups to mass censor virtually every narrative that he was putting out that he lost.”
Feb 25 Judge tells Trump administration it has less than 2 days to resume USAID funding (NPR Illinois) - "WASHINGTON , D.C. -- A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to resume hundreds of millions of dollars in payments for U.S. Agency for International Development projects across the globe. U.S. District Judge Amir H. Ali gave the government until the end of Wednesday to comply. The defendants, USAID and the State Department, have appealed the order to the U.S. Court of Appeals."
Feb 19 RFK Jr. sues Cape Elizabeth man over social media posts (New Hampshire Union Leader) - "Kennedy's suit accuses Vickrey of making false claims on X and ‘in statements to third parties and the public’ that Kennedy opposes all vaccines, that he helped cause a measles outbreak in Samoa and that he wanted to cause the death of Black people....In his motion to dismiss, Vickrey said the suit violates Maine's anti-SLAPP statute, which protects people from retaliatory lawsuits that target free speech."
Feb 20 Letter: For the sake of farmers who feed the world, support USAID and remove tariffs (Grand Forks Herald) - “To the editor, I'm confused. President Trump has recently closed USAID, a humanitarian organization that provides food in famine, medicines for preventive care for diseases like TB, measles, AIDS, etc and grants to help people in developing countries grow their own food. Yet the very same week that USAID was closed President Trump called on Americans to be more religious. Being religious means action — to help our fellow human beings, "love your neighbor as yourself”.
Feb 26 The U.S. Is Cutting Off Foreign Aid. My Youngest Patients Are Paying the Price (Time) - “The sun is barely rising in rural Burundi when we begin our medical rounds in the pediatric ward.... On the orders of the worlds richest man, USAID halted its operations seemingly overnight. It was the only supplier of ready-to-use therapeutic food in many countries like Burundi. In the wake of this startling termination, those of us working on the front lines are left with only what was already in our stores.”
Feb 25 Serbia’s police raid civil society groups over USAID funding (WTOP Radio Maryland) - “BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia’s police raided the offices of at least four civil society organizations on Tuesday as part of a probe into allegations of abuse of U.S. Agency for International Development funds in the Balkan country. This comes after the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump froze foreign funding for 90 days in January and has since taken steps to dismantle the aid agency, firing over a thousand workers.”
Feb 21 Fact check: No basis for corruption accusations about USAID administrator (WVIT NBC 30 New Britain CT) - “President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk have suggested without evidence that officials at the U.S. Agency for International Development may have siphoned off taxpayer money for themselves, echoing false social media claims about the former administrator’s net worth. The Trump administration — largely through the new Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE — has targeted USAID for closure, and we’ve written about several false or misleading claims from the administration aimed at discrediting the agency or foreign aid.”
Feb 26 What Will Become of U.S.A.I.D.s Funding? A Billionaire’s Son Has Some Ideas. (New York Times) - “Mr. Black, whose father is Leon Black, a co-founder of the private equity firm Apollo Global Management, has said he wants the development finance agency to be able to use money that previously went to U.S.A.I.D. for international projects that explicitly benefit American interests.”