Trump Revives Foreign Aid, Helping Needy Billionaires : Shared by Kul Gautam

A must-read article by the inimitable Nick Kristof exposing the irony & hypocrisy of DJT's policy on foreign aid and refugees. Kul

Trump Revives Foreign Aid, Helping Needy Billionaires
Nicholas Kristof
The New York Times
Click here for the article

Summary
Nicholas Kristof criticizes President Trump’s sudden embrace of foreign aid — not for humanitarian purposes but to rescue Argentina’s right-wing government and a handful of wealthy U.S. investors.

After years of slashing humanitarian programs that provided lifesaving medicines and refugee support, Trump has backed a $20–40 billion bailout for Argentina that primarily benefits hedge fund allies of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Kristof argues that the bailout lacks strategic justification, is unlikely to stabilize Argentina, and diverts vast resources from proven aid programs that save lives and advance U.S. interests. He also highlights new refugee policies favoring white South Africans and far-right Europeans over persecuted people from Africa and Asia, describing the overall approach as “humanitarianism turned into its opposite.”

Quotes

• “So the United States is cutting off the kind of foreign aid that keeps children alive for 12 cents a day, but it’s willing to invest far larger sums in a dubious effort to prop up a distant economy — while effectively subsidizing tycoons who made bad investments.”

• “Spending $20 billion or $40 billion on an Argentine bailout — it’s much more dubious that this is a good use of taxpayer money.”

• “Instead of feeding starving children, some foreign aid will reward hedge funds. And refugee status may go not to the world’s neediest, but to some of the world’s whitest.”