Millions of US tax dollars sent to rightwing European thinktanks. Did any Trump supporters vote for that? | Arwa Mahdawi

It’s a great betrayal: poor communities neglected while multimillionaires peddle a global Maga agenda.

How is that America first? “THE CORRUPTION IS AT LEVELS RARELY SEEN BEFORE,” Donald Trump posted on Truth Social in February 2025 .

He was not referring to his own administration, but to the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

“CLOSE IT DOWN!” the president added.

Just a few hours later USAID was in effect closed down, with most of the staff placed on indefinite administration leave .

This was framed as part of Trump’s “America first” agenda.

USAID, the Trump administration and his sycophants in the rightwing media had argued, was wasting taxpayers’ hard-earned money on ridiculous projects abroad instead of improving life at home.

In the lead-up to the shuttering of USAID, for example, one of the most shameless lies about the agency, repeated without any evidence by the likes of Fox News , was that it was spending millions on condoms for Gaza.

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...