Elon Musk Boasted of USAID Shutdown, a Move Linked to 14 Million Deaths by 2030

1 articles · Updated · Brooklyn Rail · Jun 26

A Feb. 3, 2025 Musk post saying DOGE had spent the weekend “feeding USAID into the wood chipper” is cited as a public celebration of the Trump administration’s shutdown of the aid agency.
USAID, created in 1961 under John F. Kennedy, was described as one of Trump’s first second-term targets, cutting off civilian foreign aid, food and medicine for vulnerable populations worldwide.
The report points to a Lancet estimate from a year earlier that the cuts could contribute to more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030, including 4.5 million children under five.
It frames the shutdown as part of a broader pattern of Trump-era decisions whose humanitarian and geopolitical damage could outlast the administration for years.