As part of President Trump's "America First" agenda, his administration worked to dismantle USAID and its billions of dollars of wasteful and unnecessary spending. For years, American taxpayers were footing the bill for insane programs across the globe.
On July 1, USAID was officially shut down. The Left claimed the cuts caused 300,000 deaths, including a woman in Thailand and kids in Sudan.
Earlier this month, Amy Klobuchar blamed these cuts for the death of a girl in the Congo, after locals couldn't transport malaria drugs seven miles.
The Associated Press is chiming in, too, and blaming the USAID cuts for problems with Lesotho's healthcare system.
The tiny African nation of Lesotho had victories in its HIV fight. Then, the US aid cuts came. Now Lesotho’s care system is crumbling. Clinics shut down, workers were let go, and patients stopped treatment. Experts are sounding alarms. https://t.co/evVi6qmsph
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 16, 2025
This Lesotho was unimaginable months ago, residents, health workers and experts say. The small landlocked nation in southern Africa long had the world’s second-highest rate of HIV infections. But over years, with nearly $1 billion in aid from the United States, Lesotho patched together a health network efficient enough to slow the spread of the epidemic, one of the deadliest in modern history.
Then On Jan. 20, the first day of U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term, he signed an executive order freezing foreign aid. Within weeks, Trump had slashed overseas assistance and dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development. Confusion followed in nearly all the 130 countries with USAID-supported programs. Nine months later in Lesotho, there’s still little clarity.
With the single stroke of a distant president's pen, much of a system credited with saving hundreds of thousands of lives was dismantled.
There is almost zero sympathy for Lesotho on social media.
"Guess I'll eat rice and beans because I can't afford meat. But luckily, people half a world away whom I've never met (and never will), who can't control themselves don't get [checks notes] AIDS!"
— A 6 Pack of Sam Adams (@37smadAmaS) October 16, 2025
For far too long, the US has propped up systems across the globe while other nations haven't lifted a finger for it.
Why can't any other first world country pony up?
— Yore Friend Whig 🇮🇱 (@WhigJust) October 16, 2025
Why is Lesotho such a basket case that thry can't stand on their own? https://t.co/CRdiA68io4
Far too many nations are incapable of standing on their own, and America has been the only one helping them.
Hey, how's the healthcare system in the US doing by the way? https://t.co/8L50HYXHc8
— Auron MacIntyre (@AuronMacintyre) October 16, 2025
The Democrats will tell you it's crumbling, and the Republicans are to blame. Imagine what $1 billion could do for Americans and their healthcare.