Foreign Aid, the Business of Giving

On today’s episode of The Blindspot, I take a hard look at Trump’s aggressive push to shut down USAID. We’re talking foreign aid from soup to nuts—military, humanitarian, and everything in between. I make my case for foreign aid: part cold realpolitik, part simple truth—sometimes we do good things for the world, and that’s worth doing.

I tackle anti-aid arguments (it’s wasteful, it’s charity) and explain why we’re not a global charity, nor are we electing Sunday school teachers to hand out free money. Aid serves U.S. interests—and how much we give is a political question.

I walk through how I’d recalibrate foreign aid, country by country. Some cuts? Obvious—like aid to North Korea and Cuba. But unlike Trump’s scorched-earth plan, I wouldn’t destroy the system to rebuild it later. I also break down Trump’s possible motives—best and worst-case scenarios—and where we might end up once the dust settles.

If you want to understand foreign aid—the good, the bad, and the WTF—this episode is for you.