The Trump administration has claimed that no one has died because of its cuts to humanitarian aid, and it is now trying to cancel an additional $4.9 billion in aid that Congress already approved. Yet what I find here in desperate villages in southwestern Uganda is that not only are aid cuts killing children every day, but that the death toll is accelerating.
Stockpiles of food and medicine are running out here. Village health workers who used to provide inexpensive preventive care have been laid off. Public health initiatives like deworming and vitamin A distribution have collapsed. Immunizations are being missed. Contraception is harder to get. Ordinary people are growing weaker, hungrier and more fragile. So as months pass, the crisis is not easing but growing increasingly lethal — and because children are particularly vulnerable, they are often the first to starve and the first to die.
It’s difficult to know how many children are dying worldwide as a result of the Trump aid cuts, but credible estimates by experts suggest that the child death toll may be in the hundreds of thousands this year alone — and likely an even higher number next year. In short, President Trump’s cuts appear to be by far the most lethal policy step he has taken.
I obtained a June 3 State Department memo, headed “sensitive but unclassified,” saying that the shutdown of the U.S. Agency for International Development will cost taxpayers $6.4 billion over two years. The memo, the subject of earlier reporting by Bloomberg Government, said the money is necessary to manage “litigation, claims, residual payments and closeout activities.” That’s enough money to save more than one million children’s lives. Instead, it is being used to shut down programs that save lives.
Indeed, one tangible consequence of Trump’s presidency is child-size graves being dug around the world. While Secretary of State Marco Rubio has claimed that the aid cuts haven’t killed anyone, he should look up from his talking points and learn the truth.
The mortality rate for newborn babies has doubled this year in both the refugee settlements in Uganda I visited, Nakivale and Rwamwanja, according to Medical Teams International, which is trying to provide medical care despite the cuts. The upshot is that about three additional newborns are dying each week in Nakivale alone — and that is just one of 13 refugee settlements in Uganda facing similar problems.
While Secretary of State Marco Rubio has claimed that the aid cuts haven’t killed anyone, he should look up from his talking points and learn the truth.
When you are indifferent to children dying in Uganda (and Gaza) you can do anything to people, including your own citizens.Note, I liked your post (as important knowledge to disseminate), not what Trump is doing.
This is the fascist curse we are threatened by. People who don't understand the playbook don't understand this is the precursor to what is coming domestically.
And if you're going to link to a paywalled article, post the whole thing so we can read it, instead of just the parts you want us to read.
Sickening read from Nicholas Kristof on this Saturday morning. The death toll from Trump's foreign aid cuts is mounting.
"Indifferent" would be the kindest appellation to apply to MAGA. It doesn't begin to describe the depravity of Trump himself, but it is the characteristic that ties him to his followers. Whether rhetorical or not, they uniformly display their indifference to the plight of others not themselves. It's called sociopathy, "a pattern of antisocial behaviors and attitudes, including manipulation, deceit, aggression, and a lack of empathy for others. Sociopathy is a non-diagnostic term, and it is not synonymous with "psychopathy," though the overlap leads to frequent confusion. Sociopaths may or may not break the law, but by exploiting and manipulating others, they violate the trust that the human enterprise runs on." Psychology Today.When you are indifferent to children dying in Uganda (and Gaza) you can do anything to people, including your own citizens.
He will burn!
When you are indifferent to children dying in Uganda (and Gaza) you can do anything to people, including your own citizens.
You realize nothing the TDS left left predicts comes to be? There's a clue.Note, I liked your post (as important knowledge to disseminate), not what Trump is doing.
This is the fascist curse we are threatened by. People who don't understand the playbook don't understand this is the precursor to what is coming domestically.
I donate to a synagogue and church that support refugees new to Canada. They save lives.What percentage of your wealth have you donated to prevent children from dying in Uganda and Gaza?
I donate to a synagogue and church that support refugees new to Canada. They save lives.
When you are indifferent to children dying in Uganda (and Gaza) you can do anything to people, including your own citizens.
What have you done?
So you are indifferent to the children dying in Uganda and Gaza, just like Trump is:
Doesn't it feel good to have something in common with orange man?
Nothing.
It's really hard to side with the left on the question of billions of foreign aid spread around for care for children when they seem to have no problem killing a million unborn babies a year through abortion here at home. We need to spend less, we need to spend less abroad. Less spending means cuts. That 37 billion dollar debt isn't going away by itself.Sickening read from Nicholas Kristof on this Saturday morning. The death toll from Trump's foreign aid cuts is mounting.
Trump’s Most Lethal Policy
Slow rolling the cuts would not ever get it done. We just have to stop spending so much. Congress seems to think we have unlimited funds and at some point it's going to ruin us. Cut spending, prioritize where are aid package goes. We can't give to everybody.Of course, it's not just the US. Foreign aid to these countries has decreased pretty much across the board. A lot of that has to do with Ukraine - aid dollars that go there are aid dollars that aren't spent elsewhere.
Even with the drop in funding, our contributions per capita are pretty significant, and I imagine we're still in the top three when you consider both public and private funding.
Not against the pullback, but I certainly would not have done it so abruptly.
Choosing not to spend US taxpayer money overseas is no more "murder" than you buying a steak dinner instead of donating to oxfam.
Kristof is an idiot.
And if you're going to link to a paywalled article, post the whole thing so we can read it, instead of just the parts you want us to read.
It's really hard to side with the left on the question of billions of foreign aid spread around for care for children when they seem to have no problem killing a million unborn babies a year through abortion here at home.
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