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Let Them Die: Trump and Musk’s War on USAID Leaves Myanmar Earthquake Victims Trapped and Forgotten [1]
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Date: 2025-04-01
A catastrophic 7.7-magnitude earthquake just tore through Myanmar, leveling cities, killing over 2,000 people, and burying thousands more under rubble. It’s one of the deadliest disasters to hit Southeast Asia in years. The kind of moment that used to prompt swift, visible action from the United States.
Instead, Donald Trump and Elon Musk stood back—and watched.
Because this is what they wanted. This is what they planned. This is what happens when you murder foreign aid in cold blood.
The Wreckage of USAID—By Design
Under normal circumstances, the U.S. would be leading the response: dispatching USAID’s elite disaster assistance teams, coordinating airlifts of food and medicine, deploying field hospitals, and rallying allies. Instead, we sent a weak, delayed $2 million pledge—a drop in the ocean compared to what’s needed.
Why? Because Trump and Musk destroyed the agency that was supposed to do that work.
USAID has been gutted. Fired. Defunded. Liquidated. Rolled into a neutered shadow bureaucracy under Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), whose only real mission is turning humanitarian catastrophe into a libertarian fever dream. There are no systems left. No staff. No surge capacity. Just press releases and excuses.
And they’re proud of it.
China Acts. America Tweets.
As American response teams stumble and stall, China has already swooped in—offering food, medical supplies, and political cover to the brutal Myanmar junta. Russia’s following suit. The global balance of power is shifting in real time, and Trump and Musk are helping it happen.
They love to scream about China. They fearmonger about “Communist influence” and “global dominance.” But when the moment comes to stand up and lead, they vanish—or worse, they actively hand over the reins.
This isn’t weakness. This is sabotage.
Trump, Musk, and the Cult of Cruelty
Let’s stop pretending these are policy disagreements. This is ideological warfare. Trump and Musk don’t just want to dismantle foreign aid—they want to destroy the very idea that the U.S. should care about people who aren’t white, wealthy, or waving an American flag.
The people dying in Myanmar? They don’t matter to this administration. Not to Musk, who sneers at aid workers and calls global health “a scam.” Not to Trump, who thinks the world only deserves help if it pays up front or praises his name.
They don’t hate USAID because it’s inefficient. They hate it because it’s compassionate. Because it saves brown, queer, poor, stateless lives without asking permission from billionaires. That’s the real threat.
America the Indifferent
Every second counts after an earthquake. And every second Trump and Musk have delayed has cost lives. Children trapped in collapsed schools. Elderly people freezing in makeshift camps. Pregnant women bleeding out without care. These are not abstractions. These are real people, now left for dead because of a political movement that sees foreign aid as weakness—and cruelty as strength.
This is what “America First” looks like: America alone, and everyone else abandoned.
What You Can Do
Please tell your Members of Congress to support humanitarian aid. You can find their name and phone number here .
The U.S. foreign aid freeze has forced many frontline organizations to halt operations, impacting millions globally. Without HIV/AIDS treatment provided by the US, 6 million people could die over the next four years. Unlock Aid is raising an emergency fund with no overhead to help sustainable organizations resume their work. Please consider donating .
Because if we don’t fight for the world we’re supposed to lead—Trump and Musk will burn it down. And they won’t stop at the rubble in Myanmar
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