It was a quiet yet powerful protest, carried by respect, sorrow, and anger: two former U.S. presidents and a rock star bid farewell on Monday in an emotional video call to the staff of the U.S. Agency for International Development \u2013 and openly criticized its dismantling by the Trump administration. Barack Obama called the decision a \u201ccolossal failure.\u201d George W. Bush spoke of the loss of a \u201cgood heart.\u201d And Bono, the singer of U2, recited a poem. After more than sixty years as an independent agency, USAID ceased to exist on Monday \u2013 an institution once founded by President John F. Kennedy as a peaceful means of promoting American security through international development, prosperity, and goodwill. Starting Tuesday, USAID will be absorbed into the State Department \u2013 by order of Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The new name of the successor program: \u201cAmerica First.\u201d In a video conference, Obama, Bush, and Bono addressed thousands of employees. Many of them had been abruptly laid off in recent months \u2013 without warning, via mass email, locked out of systems, removed from offices. Their work, their careers, their life\u2019s mission: dissolved with a stroke of a pen. What remained was bewilderment. And now, on this final day, also comfort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Obama, who had largely withdrawn from public life during Trump\u2019s second term, spoke with unusual clarity. \u201cYour work has mattered and will matter for generations to come,\u201d he told the remaining and former staff. Then came the central sentence: \u201cDismantling USAID is a travesty \u2013 and a tragedy. Because it is some of the most important work happening anywhere in the world.\u201d Obama praised the agency not only as a lifesaver, but also as a driver of global growth: many countries that were once recipients of development aid are now trading partners of the United States. \u201cSooner or later,\u201d he said, \u201cleaders on both sides of the political spectrum will realize how much we need you.\u201d George W. Bush also addressed the staff via video message \u2013 and reminded them of one of the key programs of his presidency: PEPFAR, the initiative to fight HIV and AIDS, which is credited with saving more than 25 million lives worldwide. \u201cYou have shown America\u2019s true strength through your work \u2013 your good heart,\u201d said Bush. \u201cIs it in our national interest that 25 million people who would otherwise have died are now alive? I think so. And so do you.\u201d Among the speakers were also international voices \u2013 former presidents like Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia and Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia, as well as former UN ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield. A former aid worker tearfully recalled how, as an eight-year-old girl in a camp for Liberian children, she had seen USAID workers for the first time \u2013 with food, care, and hope. A visibly moved representative of the World Food Programme promised the community: \u201cThe U.S. aid mission will return someday.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then came Bono. Sunglasses, cap, a touch of irony \u2013 but the singer\u2019s appearance was anything but a gag. He jokingly referred to the USAID staff as \u201csecret agents of international development.\u201d Then he turned serious. Very serious. He spoke of dying children, of hunger, disease, despair \u2013 all of which, he said, would now increase because the U.S. was cutting its programs. He then read a self-written poem. A homage to those who had dedicated their lives to helping \u2013 and a denunciation of those who now defame them. \u201cThey called you crooks. When you were the best of us,\u201d said Bono. And he closed with a promise \u2013 that the idea of USAID would live on, in people, in actions, in memory. Trump had regularly attacked the agency during his second term \u2013 calling it \u201cfar-left,\u201d \u201ccorrupt,\u201d and \u201cuseless.\u201d His billionaire ally Elon Musk went even further \u2013 he called USAID a \u201ccriminal organization.\u201d Both had played key roles in stripping the agency of its power. On Tuesday, the State Department is set to unveil a new concept \u2013 \u201cAmerica First,\u201d the successor program, which is intended to \u201calign every tax dollar with national interests,\u201d according to the announcement. There is no mention of international solidarity. For decades, USAID was a symbol of an America that was more than power \u2013 an America that felt responsible for the lives of others. It funded water access in arid regions, distributed food in war zones, promoted vaccinations, education, democracy, agriculture. It was imperfect. But it was there. And it was important. Now it is history. What remains is a promise. And the tears of those who once were its voice.<\/p>\n
Es war ein leiser, aber kraftvoller Protest, getragen von Respekt, Trauer und Zorn: Zwei ehemalige US-Pr\u00e4sidenten und ein Rockstar verabschiedeten sich am Montag in einer emotionalen Videoschalte von den Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeitern der US-Entwicklungsbeh\u00f6rde USAID \u2013 und kritisierten offen deren Zerschlagung durch die Trump-Regierung. Barack Obama nannte die Entscheidung ein \u201ekolossales Versagen\u201c. George W. Bush […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6917,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[45,7,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-documentation","category-topstory","category-trump-s-world"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kaizen-blog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Kopie-von-Kopie-von-Photo-by-ZVG_1_.webp?fit=850%2C508&ssl=1","author_info":{"display_name":"Rainer Hofmann","author_link":"https:\/\/kaizen-blog.org\/en\/author\/admin\/"},"yoast_head":"\n