By pausing foreign funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development, President Donald Trump has dealt a major blow to the ecosystem of nonprofits that promote woke ideology against America’s interests.
It is no accident that USAID’s funding has dovetailed with the grantmaking of leftist billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Foundations—and the foreign funding pause will undermine his efforts.
Trump placed a 90-day freeze on foreign assistance on his first day in office. This weekend, agents of the Department of Government Efficiency entered the USAID facility and the USAID website shut down. On Sunday, Trump named Secretary of State Marco Rubio acting head of the agency.
The administration placed about 600 USAID staff on leave Sunday night, and it will place 1,400 more on leave Tuesday, Politico reported. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment to confirm or deny this report.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt condemned the “insane priorities” that USAID has funded, mentioning “$1.5 million to advance DEI in Serbia’s workplaces, $70,000 for a production of a DEI musical in Ireland, $47,000 for a transgender opera in Colombia, $32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru.”
“I don’t know about you, but as an American taxpayer, I don’t want my dollars going towards this crap,” Leavitt added.
Leavitt’s remarks echo the White House’s policy against funding woke projects. As the now-rescinded memo from the Office of Management and Budget put it, the administration aims to stop funding “Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies.” (While the administration rescinded that memo, the White House clarified that its overarching goals remain unchanged.)
The Soros Connections
Yet this “crap” is exactly what the Left’s most notorious donor—George Soros—intends to fund. Soros, a Hungarian American billionaire who has funded nearly every leftist cause, established the Open Society Institute, which later became the Open Society Foundations. Open Society Foundations has worked with USAID to fund these kinds of programs.
“Biden’s USAID and George Soros’s Open Society Institute frequently partnered by co-funding joint programs that promoted radical social agendas throughout the developing world,” Max Primorac, former acting chief operating officer at USAID, told The Daily Signal in an interview Tuesday. Primorac served at USAID from February 2018 to January 2021.
Former USAID Administrator Samantha Power met with Open Society Foundations at least twice and with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation at least five times between 2021 and 2023, Fox News Digital reported. She also met with the Ford and Rockefeller foundations, left-leaning nonprofits that operate in similar orbits as Open Society.
Foundations in the Open Society umbrella have worked with USAID for decades. In 2001, the Soros foundations network listed USAID among its “donor partners,” alongside other government aid agencies in countries such as Britain, Sweden, Canada, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, and Austria.
2 USAID Supreme Court Cases
The Open Society Foundations’ connections with USAID run so deep, an Open Society nonprofit actually sued USAID not once but twice—and both cases reached the Supreme Court.
The story traces back to 2003, when Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed the United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act. The law provided federal funds to private groups to combat AIDS and other diseases across the world, but it came with one condition. Congress and Bush wanted to restrict funding to groups that pledge to oppose prostitution. Specifically, the law required “a policy explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking.”
AIDS agencies preferred to remain neutral on prostitution to avoid alienating prostitutes who would spread the sexually-transmitted disease.
Alliance for Open Society International sued, and the case reached the Supreme Court. In 2013, the Supreme Court struck down the anti-prostitution pledge, ruling that it violated the First Amendment.
“By demanding that funding recipients adopt—as their own—the Government’s view on an issue of public concern, the condition by its very nature affects ‘protected conduct outside the scope of the federally funded program,’” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority.
Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented, warning that to strike down the requirement as unconstitutional would significantly hamstring the federal government’s ability to fund anything.
“The First Amendment does not mandate a viewpoint neutral government. Government must choose between rival ideas and adopt some as its own: competition over cartels, solar energy over coal, weapon development over disarmament, and so forth,” Scalia wrote. “This Policy Requirement is nothing more than a means of selecting suitable agents to implement the Government’s chosen strategy to eradicate HIV/AIDS. That is perfectly permissible under the Constitution.”
Yet the Alliance for Open Society International sued again, this time arguing that requiring Open Society’s foreign affiliates to take an anti-prostitution pledge violates the First Amendment. This time, Open Society had gone too far. In USAID v. Alliance for Open Society International (2020), the Supreme Court ruled that foreign nonprofits affiliated with U.S. nonprofits do not have First Amendment rights under the Constitution.
The fact that USAID did so much work with the Open Society network that Alliance for Open Society sued not once but twice reveals the extent to which George Soros’ network has been working with USAID. The Open Society Foundations did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment.
Why It Matters
As I expose in my book “The Woketopus: The Dark Money Cabal Manipulating the Federal Government,” the Open Society Foundations is part of the Left’s dark money network that funnels millions of dollars to the far-left nonprofits that staffed and advised the Biden administration.
Alex Soros, the son of George Soros, took over at Open Society Foundations in 2022. Soros also accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom from then-President Joe Biden on behalf of his father in January. The foundation has bankrolled groups that advocate for critical race theory (the notion that America is systemically racist against black people), gender ideology, climate alarmism, and a preference for technocratic government.
Under Biden, it worked like this: The Open Society Foundations bankrolls a leftist group, say the Center for American Progress. That group then feeds staff into the federal government—more than sixty officials in CAP’s case. Working with those staff and via guidance documents, the group pushes the administration to take extreme stances on climate, immigration, gender ideology, and more.
My book highlights how these woke activist groups influenced policy on education, labor, energy, LGBTQ issues, the weaponization of law enforcement against conservatives, immigration, Israel, and elections.
None of these groups have disappeared since Biden left office. In fact, many of the woke activists who went from a nonprofit into the administration have since returned to woke nonprofits, creating a sort of government in exile. Others are planning to stay in the administration and oppose Trump’s agenda from within. A recent poll found that 64% of the D.C.-based federal bureaucrats who voted for Kamala Harris in the last election said they will refuse to follow a lawful Trump order if they consider it bad policy.
By temporarily closing USAID and restructuring it long term, Trump is undermining one of Open Society Foundations’ key partners in pushing its woke agenda. Let’s hope the restructure lasts.
Reprinted with permission from The Daily Signal by Tyler O’Neil.
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
Soros is Satan personified…there is NOT one thing that is good with this man…
Revoke the American citizenship of George Soros and family. Then designate them as a terrorist group. This should also be done with CAIR located in DC.
If you look at the simple concept of USAID, it of course sounds great from a very high-level perspective devoid of any substantive details. Even as President Trump said yesterday, the concept of USAID may sound fine on the surface, but the execution has been deeply flawed and corrupt for decades. It’s about time someone finally had the courage to do what is right and clean up this mess. There are many other federal agencies, departments and programs that need similar treatment.
When you dive into the details of how the USAID organization has operated for decades and who the agency has consistently aligned itself with, the overt, embedded left-wing political bias would literally be staring you in the face. This is NOT what the American people’s tax dollars should be spent on.
It is crystal clear USAID should have been shut down many years ago, but we simply lacked a President, until now, of sufficient courage and commitment to the American people to do the job. Thank you, President Trump, for finally doing what so many other Presidents lacked the political courage to do until now.
Would love to see it bankrupt Soros or better yet expose him for the tyrant he is.
Good move by Trump. The motives of Soros clan (bolshevik Bernies favorite billionaire) are not in Americas interest.
We can’t turn back the time, what’s done is done, but we can stop the continuity of evil. Trump is only doing which he was sworn to do, protect the interests of the country, it’s security and safety of it’s citizens. Had the predecessor done the same we would not be in this horrific mess Cut of the all dead wood and shut down the agencies that do more harm than good. Let those bleeding hearts crying over foreign aid open their purses for a change instead of their mouths and have at her. Pour your own millions in the sink hole.
The bureaucrats who refuse to follow a lawful order from the president are traitors who should be immediately treated accordingly. Time to put an end to the anti-democratic swamp in Washington D. C.
someone needs to tell George Soros that if he want to support all this crap, he should PAY FOR IT HIMSELF WITH HIS OWN MONEY AND LEAVE AMERICAN TAXPAYERS THE HELL ALONE! ,
“I don’t know about you, but as an American taxpayer, I don’t want my dollars going towards this crap.”
Music to my ears!!!
Defund more like US Aid
Lord help President Trump and his team in their fight against the true traitors and threat to our Republic. Everyone of these folks need to be rooted out of our federal government. Our federal government is suppose to be a government by the people and for the people. We The People only have a short time to save our Republic from these traitors before it’s too late.
“Soros accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom”…gack, cough, gack!! Soros is a nation destroyer! A monster. When I first learned about Soros and how low life and evil he was it was an interview by the late Steve Kroft on 60 Minutes. Soros recounted a past experience as a boy of 12, considered a man in the Jewish faith. He was in a concentration camp with so many others Jews. He had become “buddies” with the Gestapo and was helping by taking the belongings of other Jews being forced into the concentration camp. During this interview he was smiling! This as the Germans were sending his own people to the “showers”…. showers of CS gas! Not like the CS gas now, but flat out excruciatingly painful and deadly.
I’ve seen numerous photos taken by General Eisenhower’s Army photographers that would make your insides come up of human bodies stacked like cordwood waiting to be burned. Photo’s of gouges in the concrete walls…from bare fingers!! And then he looked down, still “smiling” and said: “I have such fond memories of that time.” The look on Kroft’s face was literally one of a barely concealed need to vomit. If Soro’s spawn is as evil and vile as he is, God help anyone who comes in contact. Oh, a news article about 3 or so years back also chronicled how he’d destroyed 4 small nations.
The great news for the “Left” is that Soros and Gates back so many of these USAID policies that they are likely to pick up the slack (in funding) after USAID disappears. Maybe not as we all know the left very strongly prefers to spend OPM (other people’s money – which usually means taxpayer money).
The Great news for taxpayers is that once again Elon and the DOGE gang have identified an entity spending billions of taxpayer dollars a year (like $40 B/yr) on things we can live without. Can anyone say with a straight face that our grandchildren will be proud to pay interest on the debt that Congress has accumulated by agreeing to pay for the insane priorities of the USAID folks?
It’s time for the younger generation to stand up and demand a balanced budget, many of us will be glad to stand with you!
This guy is a perennial troublemaker. It’s deliberate and it is obvious he enjoys the notoriety.
The entire soros family, all their minions and all their NGO’S belong in Gitmo. Even $oro’s native Hungary will not take him or any of his NGO’S back.
Isn’t interesting that the points mentioned in this article are never brought up by major media or any social media
No wonder the democrats are so vocal about this. Their own Oligarch(Soros) is in danger of losing it’s influence. Well played President Trump (with a little assist from Musk).
The USAID is run like a money laundering outfit and for someone like George Soros involved in the US government is a danger to our liberty. His own country threw him out of his country and now we have let him come here to build up his evil empire to use against us. All those politicians like Chuck Schumer are yelling and screaming because that’s where the get money they bring back to the states, not to help but to make it harder for normal people. Look at NYS and you will see how Schumer has ruined our state.
Let Soros flush his own money down the sewer, not the US Taxpayers.
Given a chance…I’d take out George Soros
Maybe this is why Democrats are so nervous about Musk and the payment system – this could be devastating for Democrats if they have been playing games with the payment systems for they own enrichment!!
Unfortunately, many of the readers are concerned with the billionaire leftist Soros. What you should be concerned with the illegal money scam by the U.S. Government. Imagine we are paying out all this money to entities that are anti-American, paid for by your tax dollars. How stupid are we? How long has this been going on? Does it date back to Baby Bush, Clinton, Daddy Bush – damn think about it folks our own government ripped us off.
DEFUND USAID – THEY FUNNEL OUR TAXPAYER FUNDS TO SOROS AND HE IS EXTREMELY EVIL!!!
I just hope its not too late to submit my Taliban version “Captain Trans-America” comic book for some of that USAID funding. Show me da money!
soros should have been tried as a war criminal long ago.
George Soros must REALLY be in poor health that he didn’t go in person to get that medal from Libtard Biden!
Time for this corruption to stop and that will mean to stop funding all these programs that includes anything that deals with Soros and others. Tax payers work hard enough something Soros never did and others in these government agencies that fund all the corrupt deals so the come out millions ahead for themselves they run this country into the ground they care nothing about the people of this country, President Trump I hope stops all this and shuts it down for good. Shut down USAID way to corrupt.
It would be a serious help if Soros’s organizations could somehow be stiffled, curbed, denied or somehow put an end to. Surely, there is a way to push this group into a box somewhere and keep them at bay. Is there not some matter in his past that will take him down? Is there anything on the books that can be used to shut down the Soros effect in this country. I hear they have purchased a giant radio network in the U.S. Do we have to wonder why? The billions put forth in the past election cycles and planned for the ones to come need to be questioned, looked at closely. He and his family are not our friends. I feel they need to be treated as a clear and present danger to this Republic. The question is how and by whom?
george soros is nothing but vile garbage. He’s a Jew who turned his own people over to the Nazis when he was just a young boy. How has he been allowed to keep his US Citizenship and remain in our Country when he’s openly defied our government and is doing everything he can to destroy your Country and overthrow our duly elected POTUS and government? Why hasn’t this pig been prosecuted for sedition or treason, along with his rotten offspring? Throw him back to the wolves in Europe. I hear they want him and have every intention of prosecuting him if they get their hands on him. Send him back to Hungary, gift-wrapped with a big red ribbon.
USAID should be shut down and all employees laid off permanently. The Soros family should be rounded up and jailed. We don’t need this wasteful spending.
soros and his non-sentient minnions tried to overthrow our country for the past 70 years. destination leavenworth, ADX Florence or better, Gitmo.
I do believe in helping other countries, just not in the way this satanic organization has become. My God, why should we give these countries this money for things not to really benefit humanity, like food, shelter, clothing, etc? FEMA could not help our own citizens when the hurricanes whipped out North Carolina. I get all kinds of things in the mail every single day begging fr donations.. Mercy Ships, Indian schools, and on and on. If I get 10 pieces if mail, 8 or 9 of them, if not all 10, are asking for donations. There are way too many organizations who need money in this country we could help. To hell with George Soros. Biden is an idiot for giving him a medal!
Our taxpayer dollars are funding Soros entities to ,in part, sue our government?
So long as DOGE doesn’t throw the baby out with the bath water I fully support their efforts to eliminate wasteful government spending.
DRAIN BABY DRAIN!
So in the very beginning of this article AMAC uses Politico reporting as its source. Does anyone else find that funny? Ironic? Sad, maybe?
Guantanamo bay for the Soros family! Traitors of the USA. Death penalty is still on the books for traitors. Hope the DOJ looks into their activities, follow the money.
It appears that Mr. Sorryass has been using – OUR – money to attack – OUR – COUNTRY. Let him use his own now. Oh and LET THE TRIBUNALS BEGIN.!!
If the American people do not support denying these affiliations access to our taxpayer dollars, this process will continue. A leader like Trump needs strong allies, such as Elon Musk and other congressional staff, by their side to implement effective changes. We have powerful supporters across the states—people with the professional talents necessary to protect, secure, and enforce these efforts. It is time to fight for and safeguard the freedoms we believe in at all costs.
Soros is an enemy of America. His dirty money should be forever banned from entering America. Buerocrats who decide to remain and fight Trump from within should be terminated immediately. Dragged away in handcuffs and shot.
I’m with Trump. And while he’s at it, can’t he deport Soros to some deserted island? or send him to Gitmo for crimes against the US?
Soros must be exposed for the evil monster he is. He has personally been responsible for the destruction of at least 3 small nations. A while back having watched the last 10 or 15 minutes of a 60 Minutes program with Steve Kroft… I learned that Soros’ evil goes back several decades. He “recounted” having been put in a prison camp by the Nazi’s. He was 12, considered a man in the Jewish faith. He talked “fondly” about throwing in with the Gestapo and taking the belongings of fellow Jews coming into the “camp”. They were “ushered” into the “showers” where they were CS gassed in a horrific and agonizing death. After Soros talked about this he “smiled” and said: “I have such fond memories of that.” Steve Kroft looked a bit pale and like he wanted to throw up. Ugly and evil doesn’t even describe Soros. He must never ever be allowed to set up even an outhouse in this country!!
I saw photos of the gashes in concrete walls in those “showers”… left by the fingers of those who died so painfully.
Refusing to follow a lawful order is grounds for immediate termination. So go for it, leftards We won’t miss you.
Really, who GAS about any Soros….?
USAID is also funding various “Non-profits” including the Clinton Foundation in the amount of $83 Million just last year! These people are laundering money & using it for personal use. There are others as well that receive kickbacks from money to USAID.
Generous people give from themselves, not take from others and pretend that the gift is from themselves.
USAID should be shut down. It has always been a blackhole where the money put into it was definitely not “reasonable and necessary” and that was 25 years ago!
Go to you Constitution and read Article 1. section 9, paragraph 6.
Go to the Constitution and look up Article 1. section 9. paragraph 6.
Of course, stop funding DEI initiatives. That’s a given.
But at the same, can’t we continue the distribution of food and medical services ?