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A Nation Without Mercy: Trump’s Budget of Death and the Collapse of USAID

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — The Trump administration’s decision to dismantle the United States Agency for International Development has triggered a humanitarian catastrophe that can only be described as state-engineered cruelty.

Published

12 months ago

November 10, 2025

Stacy M. Brown

By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

The Trump administration’s decision to dismantle the United States Agency for International Development has triggered a humanitarian catastrophe that can only be described as state-engineered cruelty. Reports from The New Yorker, KFF, ABC News, and humanitarian groups reveal a grim portrait of what happens when governance becomes an instrument of vengeance rather than stewardship.

President Trump’s second term began not with promises of compassion but with an executive order freezing all foreign aid, a move that would become the prelude to the deliberate erasure of the world’s largest aid agency. Within weeks, USAID was gutted—its workers dismissed, its programs dismantled, its warehouses of medicine and food left to rot. As of November, estimates show that more than 600,000 people—two-thirds of them children—have died from the ripple effects of that act. This is not the invisible hand of fate. It is the heavy hand of policy. The Trump administration didn’t merely stop aid—it severed a lifeline for the world’s poor. Clinics once sustained by USAID have shuttered across Africa and Asia. Health workers who used to deliver antiretrovirals and malaria nets are now unemployed. The World Food Programme, stripped of U.S. support, operates at less than half its needed capacity in places like Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp, where starving mothers now cradle their dying children in silence.

The cruelty of this moment lies not just in the deaths but in the lies used to justify them. Trump’s lieutenants—Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk—called USAID a bloated relic. They claimed they were rooting out waste. Yet the numbers tell another story. The administration spent $40 billion to prop up Argentina’s far-right junta, $170 million on two private jets for South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, and even allowed FBI Director Kash Patel to use a $60 million government aircraft to attend a wrestling event where his girlfriend performed. Trump himself has spent over $30 million in taxpayer funds playing golf while slashing food aid for American families and cutting health care for the poor. He poured $300 into destroying the White House’s east wing and creating a vanity ballroom while gutting funding for global nutrition programs. Meanwhile, USAID—an agency that costs each American about twenty-four dollars a year—had saved ninety-two million lives since its founding. Its programs helped cut child mortality in half, controlled outbreaks of HIV and tuberculosis, and lifted entire nations from the edge of despair. The Trump administration snuffed out that light in a single stroke of the pen.

The results are biblical in scale and bureaucratic in method. In Myanmar, where 20 million people depended on U.S. aid, HIV and malaria deaths are climbing again. In Bangladesh, more than a million Rohingya refugees are now on the brink of starvation. Across sub-Saharan Africa, clinics that once thrived under USAID’s maternal health programs have closed, leaving women to give birth in the dark, unaided, and unseen. Even in the Caribbean, where Hurricane Melissa tore through Jamaica and Haiti, the consequences of the agency’s destruction were immediate. The State Department, now responsible for aid delivery, scrambled to respond with barely $24 million in assistance, less than what USAID could have mobilized in a day. Officials in Washington hailed it as a success, blind to the reality that lives were lost because the machinery of mercy had been dismantled.

At home, the hypocrisy is just as staggering. The administration argues it cannot afford to sustain food programs like SNAP and WIC, while the federal deficit has ballooned by nearly $7.8 trillion under Trump, and has been driven by tax cuts for the wealthy and reckless spending disguised as nationalism. The debt, the deaths, the decadence, they are all part of the same rot. The death of USAID marks more than the end of an agency. It is the end of a promise that America would use its wealth to heal, not to harm. The cruelty is the point, but cruelty has a cost. It stains the conscience of a nation that once sent doctors where there were none, food where there was hunger, hope where there was despair. Atul Gawande, writing in The New Yorker, called it “public man-made death.” He described the children of Kenya’s Kakuma camp, dying for lack of a peanut-paste packet that once cost sixty cents. He warned that these deaths, though quiet and dispersed, are no less real than those caused by bombs or bullets. “We cannot let the people affected—health workers like those of Clinic 7, families like Rovina Naboi’s—go unseen,” he wrote. “And we cannot let the consequences go unaccounted for.”

In the end, Trump’s legacy may not be written in the walls he promised to build, but in the graves of those he let die, not out of necessity, but out of indifference.

Stacy M. Brown

Posts by Stacy M. Brown

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61 years since Selma, Houston leaders say the bridge remains to be crossed

61 years after Selma, Houston leaders say the fight for equality continues. The issues that sparked the marches still impact Black Americans today.

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Oakland Post

Houston leaders discuss the ongoing struggle for civil rights 61 years after Selma, emphasizing the need for continued action.

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Here is what you need to know about finding unique white elephant gift ideas that everyone wants to steal

The best white elephant gift ideas are funny enough to get a reaction but useful enough that people actually want to steal them. Look for gifts with a surprise factor, broad appeal, an inside joke, and just enough personality to spark some friendly competition. The wrapping paper comes off, the room goes quiet for half […]

Published

3 weeks ago

October 4, 2026

Oakland Post

The best white elephant gift ideas are funny enough to get a reaction but useful enough that people actually want to steal them. Look for gifts with a surprise factor, broad appeal, an inside joke, and just enough personality to spark some friendly competition.

The wrapping paper comes off, the room goes quiet for half a second, and suddenly everyone wants the same gift. That is the sweet spot. A great white elephant pick should make people laugh, lean in, and start plotting their next steal before the turn is even over.

Should a White Elephant Gift Be Funny or Useful?

A white elephant gift can be funny or useful, but the strongest choices usually give people a reason to laugh and a reason to keep the item. A practical gift with an odd design, unexpected feature, or playful theme can get a reaction without becoming something the recipient immediately wants to give away.

The right balance depends on the group. Close friends and family members may enjoy a ridiculous gag gift because they already understand one another’s sense of humor.

A workplace exchange, neighborhood party, or mixed-age gathering usually calls for something with broader appeal. In those settings, humor works better when it is built into an item people could still use afterward.

It also helps to think about how quickly the gift will make sense once it is opened. A strangely shaped kitchen tool, oversized mug, quirky desk accessory, or unexpectedly fancy everyday item can create an immediate reaction. Guests understand the joke right away, while the item still has enough practical value to attract a steal.

Pure gag gifts can be harder to pull off. Something that exists only for the punchline may get a big laugh during the reveal and then sit untouched for the rest of the game. If the goal is to bring one of the gifts everyone keeps fighting over, usefulness gives the joke staying power.

Memorable Present Ideas: Creating Inside Joke Gifts

Inside joke gifts can make a white elephant exchange feel much more personal, especially when most of the group shares the same stories. The trick is choosing a reference that people will recognize quickly instead of building the entire joke around something only two guests understand.

You can turn a memorable vacation mishap, office catchphrase, family story, or long-running group joke into the theme of the gift. A personalized comic book can work especially well when it turns familiar people or a ridiculous shared moment into part of the story.

Think carefully about who the joke involves before ordering anything permanent. The gift should make the person feel included in the fun, not singled out for the wrong reason.

Can You Bring Something You Already Own?

Holiday gift exchanges can be a good place to re-gift something you never used, especially if it is unopened and clean.

The following can all work if they still look presentable:

A duplicate kitchen gadget
An untouched game
A decorative item
A sealed gift set
An unopened candle
A new travel accessory

The goal is to give the item a second chance, not use the exchange as an excuse to clear out damaged or unwanted clutter.

Take a close look at the packaging before wrapping it. Faded boxes, missing pieces, visible wear, or anything that looks obviously used can make the gift feel careless.

Wrapping Budget-Friendly Gifts

Wrapping can make gifts more entertaining before anyone even knows what’s inside.

Misdirection works especially well for fun party games. Put a small gift inside a much larger box. Use packaging from an unrelated household item.

Add harmless weight so guests cannot guess what they are holding. The reveal becomes part of the joke without changing the gift itself.

You can also lean into the theme of the exchange. Bright paper, oversized bows, reusable bags, or deliberately over-the-top wrapping can make an ordinary item feel more memorable. If the gift itself is already funny, simple wrapping may work better so the surprise stays hidden until the last second.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Picking Last an Advantage in White Elephant?

Picking last can be an advantage because you get to see almost every gift before making your move. Instead of choosing blindly from the remaining wrapped presents, you can steal something that has already caught your attention if the rules still allow it.

That advantage depends on the house rules. Some games limit how many times a gift can be stolen.

Others lock an item once it reaches a certain number of steals. If the most popular gifts are already unavailable, the final player may have fewer strong options than expected.

The first player can also get another turn at the end in some versions of the game. That rule can balance things out, since the person who started with the least information may get one final chance to steal.

How Do You Plan White Elephant for a Large Group?

For a large white elephant exchange, set a firm spending limit and establish the stealing rules in advance.

Create a clear turn order before the game begins. Drawing numbers as guests arrive can save time once everyone is ready to start.

Keep the number of steals per gift limited so the game does not drag on. It also helps to have one person track which creative holiday presents have been stolen and when they are locked, especially if dozens of people are participating.

Can You Play White Elephant Virtually?

A virtual white elephant exchange can work over a video call, with one person keeping track of the turn order and each steal. Guests can either mail physical gifts ahead of time or use digital gifts that can be delivered once the game ends.

Set the spending limit and stealing rules before everyone joins. It also helps to decide how gifts will be revealed and who is responsible for sending each one afterward so the exchange does not become confusing.