Millions of People Are Dying from USAID Cuts

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This site is focused on cleantech for a reason. So many people are champions of cleantech because we want to protect human life and safety (and also life on Earth beyond humans). Every tech site covers solar and EVs now, because tehy’re simply “cool new tech.” Every automotive site covers EVs now. However, there’s still that original core of us who championed EVs and solar because they are cleantech. It is, therefore, extremely disappointing, truly heartbreaking, and deeply upsetting that one of the giants of the cleantech revolution used temporary political power to essentially end the lives of millions of people.

Let me be frank — I don’t think Elon Musk actually thinks he’s caused the premature deaths of millions of people, but there are certainly people who do believe he knew what he was doing. Either way, though, this is the consequence. This is the result of Musk’s actions at “DOGE” (the “Department of Government Efficiency”). And it’s horrible, beyond horrible. What it is cannot be expressed in words.

As one person on X shares, “The craziest thing that I cannot get over is that Elon has caused 600,000 deaths, with a projected 14 million deaths over the next five years, because of his USAID cuts. That’s more deaths than the holocaust. Yet he still gets to walk around.”

This is in response to investigative reporting and deep, detailed analyses by various experts in the field.

You can dig into those links for the details. It’s not fun reading. It’s deeply heartbreaking.

This is why, of course, so many people turned against Elon Musk and Tesla earlier this year. Even beyond any ideological support for certain Trump policies related to gender or taxes on billionaires or deregulation, this was a cruel hit to countless people and beyond normal politics, far beyond normal politics. USAID received bipartisan support for decades, because it helped people in ways that Republicans and Democrats alike understood were important. Founded in 1961, USAID has helped millions upon millions of people, and it has also advanced the USA’s reputation, respect, and support in numerous nations.

Of all the ways Elon Musk could have helped to cut actually unhelpful waste from government budgets, why focus on USAID? Why do something so hurtful and harmful?

There are various theories that try to answer this — from not liking investigations into himself and his companies (there may be a link there), to conspiracy theories and misinformation about USAID, to deep South African ties that biased Musk against USAID.

Then there are also rumors and suspicions about drug use. “Trump chief of staff Susie Wiles says Elon is on drugs (as he downplays Hitler’s cruelty) and ‘no rational person’ could think how he slashed USAID (letting many people die across the globe and diminishing influence) was good,” one person commented in summarizing a recent Vanity Fair story and New York Times coverage of the same.

It’s incomprehensible and abhorrent. It also comes at devastating, extreme human cost. Chief of Staff Wiles also said JD Vance was a “conspiracy theorist for a decade.” Vance’s whole career has basically been funded by Musk buddy Peter Thiel. Conspiracy theories fly around in those circles like water, alongside desire for revolutionary dismantling of the US government. This feeds into the theory that Musk destroyed USAID because of conspiracy theories about what it did. And, in fact, USAID was surely not 100% angels and altruism, but closing down funding to help millions (while giving US farmers a place to sell their crops) because of a few conspiracy theories still doesn’t make the decision logical, right, or humane. It was an inhumane, disastrous policy decision that wasn’t even Elon Musk’s, or Donald Trump’s, to make. Yet it was made.

Musk still claims that DOGE was somewhat successful. But it was not. The costs for Americans outweigh the savings. In other words, there are not any net savings, just net costs. Here are some articles on that point:

The Huge Fraud of DOGE

It’s Official: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s “DOGE” Cost Taxpayers $21.7 Billion

DOGE Failed — Unless It Was About Ulterior Motives

With this all in mind, can it really be a surprise that millions of people have now sworn off buying a Tesla, not wanting to support Elon Musk in the slightest way?

If you still don’t understand how cutting USAID is costing lives, read this story, or this one, or this one, and then go from there.

Many people think of Jesus Christ at this time of year, because it is said that Christmas is about celebrating his birth, even though he was born at a different time of year. Is this how Jesus Christ would have behaved, cutting off aid to millions upon millions of poor and suffering people, refugees, unfortunate children, babies, and mothers? Is the heartless closure of USAID really something people think Christians should support?

Increasingly, people on the Christian right want government and church merged, acting together in concert. There was no other agency more in line with the teachings of Christ than USAID. Certainly not the new Department of War, which is where much of the US budget actually goes. But how many people on the right are going to support the illegal bombing of people on boats and a new war with Venezuela (a new oil war) while supporting the illegal closure of USAID? Rather than saving millions of lives, we are spending more money to kill people. “Though shalt not kill” is apparently being replaced with “though shalt not save lives.”

Featured photo by CleanTechnica.