Bush, Obama Join Forces To Criticize Closing Of USAID By Trump
Former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama joined U2 frontman Bono on Monday to console USAID employees and take some final shots at President Donald Trump after the agency was shut down over fraud and mismanagement.
“Gutting USAID is a travesty, and it’s a tragedy,” Obama said in a video message to outgoing staff, The New York Post reported. “Because it’s some of the most important work happening anywhere in the world.”
He called the move “a colossal mistake” and added, “Sooner or later, leaders on both sides of the aisle will realize how much you are needed.”
Bush, Obama, and Bono all appeared via videoconference to speak directly to USAID staff as the agency was officially shuttered following a federal probe into corruption and abuse. Media were not present, but clips from the event were reviewed by the Associated Press.
USAID, founded under the Kennedy administration, was created to provide foreign economic aid. But earlier this year, it became one of the first targets of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which was established by President Trump to root out government waste. Then-DOGE head Elon Musk slammed the agency as “a viper’s nest of radical-left Marxists who hate America.”
USAID was officially absorbed by the State Department on Tuesday.
In a rare public rebuke, Bush, who has largely avoided criticizing Trump, said the closure ends a major piece of his presidency—the AIDS and HIV relief initiative that is credited with saving 25 million lives around the world.
“You’ve showed the great strength of America through your work—and that is your good heart,” Bush told the staff. “Is it in our national interests that 25 million people who would have died now live? I think it is, and so do you.”
Bono read a poem he wrote to mark the end of the agency, claiming it would lead to widespread suffering.
“They called you crooks. When you were the best of us,” he said.
The Associated Press said Bono and Obama were emotional in their remarks, and Bush stayed focused on legacy. Fox News Digital reached out to both former presidents’ offices but did not receive a response.
Bono already claimed that cutting USAID would lead to hundreds of thousands of deaths. In 2016, he slammed Trump as “potentially the worst idea that ever happened to America.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who served as USAID’s acting administrator in its final weeks, announced the State Department would take over all foreign aid functions moving forward.
“Beyond creating a globe-spanning NGO industrial complex at taxpayer expense, USAID has little to show since the end of the Cold War,” Rubio said in his announcement.
“Development objectives have rarely been met, instability has often worsened, and anti-American sentiment has only grown.”
“This era of government-sanctioned inefficiency has officially come to an end,” he added. “Under the Trump Administration, we will finally have a foreign funding mission in America that prioritizes our national interests.”
He said that as of July 1, USAID “will officially cease to implement foreign assistance.”
“Foreign assistance programs that align with administration policies—and which advance American interests—will be administered by the State Department, where they will be delivered with more accountability, strategy, and efficiency.”
USAID’s closure comes after DOGE led the charge in early 2025 to root out federal waste. Trump has praised DOGE repeatedly, including during a March address to Congress where he celebrated $22 billion in identified waste, including massive spending at USAID.
“Forty-five million dollars for diversity, equity and inclusion scholarships in Burma,” Trump said, listing examples. “Forty million to improve the social and economic inclusion of sedentary migrants. Nobody knows what that is.
“Eight million to promote LGBTQI+ in the African nation of Lesotho, which nobody has ever heard of. Sixty million dollars for indigenous peoples and Afro-Colombian empowerment in Central America. Sixty million. Eight million for making mice transgender,” he added.
BANNED' - Clinton Judge Reads Her Verdict - President Donald Trump Has Been Informed That He Just Beat Gavin Newsom...
JUDICIAL RECKONING
The return of national sovereignty and administrative lethality reached a new milestone this Thursday, April 9, 2026. A blockbuster ruling in Los Angeles has left the DNC establishment and globalist elite reeling.
A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against California’s controversial "No Secret Police Act," blocking the state from prohibiting ICE agents from wearing masks. Judge Christina Snyder ruled the law unconstitutional, marking a decisive victory for President Donald J. Trump and the Department of Justice.
The court affirmed the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, stating California cannot discriminate against federal officers while exempting its own law enforcement. Attorney General Pamela Bondi praised the ruling, emphasizing the administration’s zero-tolerance stance on harassment of federal agents.
This decision reflects the 2026 mandate: a legal framework prioritizing the safety of American officers over the sanctuary policies pushed by Governor Gavin Newsom. It signals a sweeping rollback of state overreach in immigration enforcement.
Meanwhile, in Texas, a federal jury delivered historic terrorism convictions against nine members of a radical antifa cell. The group was found guilty for a violent 2025 attack on an ICE detention facility that left a police officer shot in the neck.
Ringleader Benjamin Song faces potential life imprisonment after evidence proved the attack was a coordinated assault using explosives and rifles—not the “noise demonstration” the defense claimed. Prosecutors called the verdict a landmark affirmation of Trump’s domestic terror designation.
With Kash Patel at the FBI and Todd Blanche at the DOJ, the dismantling of extremist cells has accelerated. Federal agencies continue to secure detention centers like Prairieland against those attempting to destabilize the republic.
Governor Gavin Newsom attempted to spin the court ruling as a “win,” citing the upheld “No Vigilantes Act.” But the truth remains: the centerpiece of his anti-ICE agenda—the “No Secret Police Act”—has been effectively struck down.
The defeat exposes the weakening foundation of California’s sanctuary policies. While Sacramento prioritizes the “civil rights” of illegal aliens, the Trump administration is defending the constitutional rights of federal officers.
The week closes as a sweeping administrative triumph for the Trump-GOP platform. From Los Angeles courtrooms to Texas jury boxes, real results—not rhetoric—are forging the 2026 midterm shield.
With 5% GDP growth and a secure border, the nation is reclaiming its stability and sovereignty. America moves forward with vigilance, resolve, and a renewed commitment to law and order.
God bless the USA—and the leaders who refuse to bow to the swamp or the radical mob.
oFar Left 'Squad' Member Learns Her Fate As Her Primary Election is Called
Washington D.C. — The far-left “Squad” took another massive hit Tuesday night as Missouri Democrat Rep. Cori Bush was soundly defeated in her primary by challenger Wesley Bell, who led by double digits with 54.9% to Bush’s 41.8%.
Bush, one of the most extreme voices in Congress, joins Rep. Jamaal Bowman as the second Squad member to lose her seat this cycle. Her defeat is a clear rejection of the radical socialist, anti-police, pro-Hamas agenda she has pushed since entering Congress in 2021.
Bush rose to prominence after participating in the Ferguson riots and has spent years promoting false narratives about Michael Brown while calling for defunding the police — even as violent crime soared in her St. Louis district. She has repeatedly aligned herself with pro-Hamas protesters, blamed Israel for the October 7 massacre, and faced controversy over allegedly funneling thousands of campaign dollars to her husband for “security services” while demanding less police protection for her constituents.
Republicans celebrated the win with well-deserved mockery. Pro-Trump comedian Terrance K. Williams posted:
“A ‘BLACK JOB’ IS SOMETHING CORI BUSH DOES NOT HAVE. OH HAPPY DAY! She is the second Squad member to lose her seat! I can’t wait until they are all gone.”
Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz, who served with Bush on the House Judiciary Committee, sarcastically noted:
“I will miss Cori Bush missing every committee meeting.”
Students for Trump co-founder Ryan Fournier added:
“The Squad’s Cori Bush has LOST her primary. Join me in saying GOOD RIDDANCE! Hamas might be hiring, Cori!”
Even actor Michael Rapaport, a vocal Israel supporter, celebrated:
“Tonight at the rally they said let’s bring back ‘JOY’ to politics and boom CORI BUSH is done with Politics…. I feel JOY all of a sudden.”
This is the second straight blow to the radical Squad. Jamaal Bowman lost his primary earlier after endorsing pro-Hamas demonstrators on college campuses. Both Bush and Bowman blamed their defeats on pro-Israel funding from AIPAC rather than admitting the truth: their extreme, anti-American, and anti-Israel positions have become toxic to voters.
The radical left’s Squad is crumbling because the American people are rejecting their agenda of defunding police, embracing socialism, supporting radical Islamists, and putting foreign interests above American citizens. Voters want secure borders, safe streets, strong economy, and leaders who put America First — not performative radicals who miss committee meetings and push policies that hurt their own districts.
Under President Donald J. Trump’s leadership, the Republican Party is becoming the party of working Americans, law and order, and common sense. Meanwhile, the Democrat Party continues its death spiral — hemorrhaging voters, losing favorability, and watching its most extreme members get rejected at the ballot box.
Cori Bush’s defeat is not just a loss for one radical congresswoman. It is a rejection of the entire Squad’s toxic ideology. The American people are waking up and choosing sanity over socialism, strength over weakness, and America First over America Last.
More Squad members are on the ballot soon. The trend is clear: radicalism is losing, and the America First movement is winning.
