Conspiracy-theorists and cranks did
The New York Times ran a column yesterday explaining that conservatives killed foreign aid because they were provoked by wokeness and because progressive polluted foreign aid with “sexual politics.”
The author of the column claims a turning point was when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said “gay rights are human rights” in 2011. But conservatives have been injecting sexual politics into foreign aid for decades before that. For example, in 1984, Ronald Reagan implemented the Mexico City Policy (also known as the “Global Gag Rule”) that requires recipients of US foreign aid to certify they will not perform or promote abortion as a method of family planning. Reagan did that nearly three decades before Hillary Clinton said something to support gay rights. Still, foreign aid survived.
It’s true that conservatives have always been more skeptical of foreign aid. But they have also supported and expanded foreign aid over time. Foreign aid has always been subject to domestic political agendas and fads. Reagan imposed the Mexico City Policy, but then Bill Clinton reversed the policy. Bush reinstated it, Obama reversed, Trump reinstated, Biden reversed.
Through conservative and liberal governments, foreign aid has survived and grown over decades. Different administrations would come into office, and put their imprint and priorities on foreign aid. Congress would add new ideas and flavors.
Foreign aid got big boosts under George W. Bush, who was once considered conservative. He launched PEPFAR and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. He also created an entirely new foreign aid agency, the Millennium Challenge Corporation.
Democrats and Republicans often disagreed, but more often cooperated recognizing that the core purpose of foreign aid serves US interests and is an expression of American values, generosity and goodwill.
In polling, conservatives, are more negative about foreign aid. They tend to support cutting the budget, although that’s not to say they want to eliminate all foreign aid. And conservatives support some forms foreign aid, depending on the issue and how the question is asked. For example, majorities support international disaster assistance and counter-terrorism.
While they have different priorities and perspectives, both liberals and conservative politicians support foreign aid. Until a few months ago, Marco Rubio was such a conservative, saying “we must recommit to supporting critical programs through @USAID” and “Foreign aid is a very cost-effective way, not only to export our values and our example, but to advance our security and our economic interests.”
What changed was not that US embassies flew pride flags, but that paranoid conspiracy theorists have taken power and are now in charge. People like Peter Marocco, who is in charge of foreign assistance at the State Department and who speaks darkly of “nefarious actors in the agencies that were trying to push out hundreds of illegal payments." Or Tim Miesburger, currently in charge of USAID’s humanitarian work, who writes that foreign assistance is partisan and promotes a “domestic radical social agenda”. Elon Musk, who bragged about feeding USAID into the wood chipper, is prolific spreader of misinformation and conspiracies about USAID.
Foreign aid has been seized by people in thrall of bizarre and obscure theories that USAID is a “criminal organization” and foreign aid is “a systematic infrastructure of consciousness manipulation.” They believe waste, fraud and abuse is rife, even if they can’t produce evidence to support their beliefs.
These are radical views and not part of the conservative mainstream. Even the right-wing Heritage Foundation in the Project 2025 blueprint didn’t suggest eliminating USAID or gutting foreign aid; they called for reforms to USAID’s operations and priorities.
Now, some conservatives in the New York Times are inventing rationales for gutting USAID and foreign aid ex post facto. But it doesn’t really hold water.
Was Hillary Clinton supporting gay rights in 2011 the final straw and conservatives could no longer support foreign aid? It’s true a lot of conservatives hate gay people and don’t think they should have rights. But foreign aid survived many years, including a whole Trump presidency with a fully Republican Congress since then. So, it seems like something else is going on.
What happened is conspiracy-addled radicals who do not share bipartisan, mainstream values are in charge and destroying what has taken Democrats and Republicans decades to create and refine.
ENDS///
