Ex-Biden Staffer Calls Trump’s USAID Purge ‘Probably’ Illegal, But Says Democrats Shouldn’t Resist: ‘I Learned This From Watching The West Wing’
An ex-adviser to former President Joe Biden said Democrats should not object to the ongoing purge at the United States Agency for International Development because of lessons he learned on The West Wing.
President Donald Trump and his adviser Elon Musk have taken a wrecking ball to several government agencies, including USAID, which Musk has bragged he “put through the wood chipper.” Despite being funded by Congress, Musk has frozen the distribution of funds for several initiatives. On Tuesday, the agency’s website was shut down and replaced with a message stating that staff had been placed on administrative leave. Government officials have insisted the moves are illegal.
The attack on USAID has outraged Democrats, who are also alarmed at the unprecedented amount of power Musk is wielding throughout the government. However, Michael LaRosa, who served as a spokesperson for Biden’s 2020 campaign and later Press Secretary for Jill Biden, said Democrats’ energy would be better placed elsewhere.
“We keep losing the battle over the perception of commonsense to the Republicans, and it starts here,” LaRosa said on Wednesday’s edition of The Will Cain Show on Fox News. “Look, we don’t have power. Is he violating the law? Probably. This is what got him impeached in the first place, right? Halting congressional aid that was appropriated.”
LaRosa then added:
We don’t have power. This is not the hill we wanna die on, right? The country does not really like foreign aid. I learned this from watching The West Wing in the ’90s. It is not a popular subject with mainstream America, nor our federal workers. We don’t wanna be caught on our heels defending spending on DEI in Serbia, which is what is gonna happen to a lot of these members if they don’t move on and start focusing on things that matter. Play the long game and stop being distracted by these shiny objects.
LaRosa wasn’t the only Democratic strategist who called on the Democrats to take a dive on Trump’s “illegal” acts. On Tuesday, David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel said the issue of foreign aid is a loser for Democrats – even if Trump is illegally withholding it.
“My heart is with the people out on the street outside USAID, but my head tells me: ‘Man, Trump will be well satisfied to have this fight,’” told Politico. “When you talk about cuts, the first thing people say is: Cut foreign aid.”
Americans routinely and drastically overestimate how much the federal government spends on foreign aid. One 2018 survey found that on average, Americans believe 28% of the federal budget goes to foreign aid, but the number is around one percent.
