[delayed]

> DOGE revealed that USAID was funding political unrest in my home country (where activists recently overthrew the government)

Let's just focus on this part for a moment. Could you please share this evidence?

For context, you should read about how USAID historically has acted to interfere in the politics of other counties: https://foreignpolicy.com/2014/04/03/cuban-twitter-and-other... https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/04/15/when-is-for... https://www.jstor.org/stable/4017728

As to Bangladesh specifically: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/usaid-b... https://www.tbsnews.net/bangladesh/29m-usaid-fund-went-bangl...

There is no such thing as funding to “strengthen democracy” or whatever euphemisms USAID uses. It’s election interference directed against whatever administration is currently in power in a foreign country.

Neither of your articles have any proof or evidence the $20 million funds to Bangladesh are real. It's just what Trump claimed off the cuff.

Trump is a known liar. It's why his supporters are always telling other people not take him literally

They lied about $50 million for condoms in Gaza, just like he lied about Haitian immigrants eating pets and the dozens of other lies he spews out daily.

DOGE has posted a ton of lies about what they saved and cut, including contracts that were already canceled or completed, and including amounts orders of magnitude off.

That still doesn't match what Trump, DOGE/Musk or you claimed.

That organization has many employees, not 2 like Trump claimed.

It operates in countries around the world, not just Bangladesh. It's unlikely all those funds were spent in Bangladesh there like Trump was claiming.

Bangladeshi government officials can't confirm Trump's claim.

Musk/DOGE lied about what the funds were used for, and lied that they somehow saved the money by cancelling the contract - the funds were already almost entirely granted. Cancelling a contract doesn't mean those funds already spent are returned.

The org does monitor elections, but did you know that the US also has international observers during our elections?

There's no indication any funds went to election interference. A quick browse of their site shows they conducted a few surveys and held some workshops to encourage women to engage in the the political process - if you consider that election interference, I'm not sure what that says about you.

Seems like a great idea to me in a country that frequently ranks near the bottom in studies of global women's rights.

This is the problem. Trump and Musk spew out lies and make wild out-of-context claims, they get repeated thought because it fits a partisan view. But it takes effort to debunk lies so they spread faster than they can be responded to.

> it’s an excuse for the U.S. to impose its values on the rest of the world

Some of this is bad (war on terror), some of this is good (liberal democracy), and ultimately if you don't like a liberal international order wait until you see what the illiberal one looks like (e.g. Chinese overseas police stations).

No, “liberal democracy” is bad too. It involves doing things like involving western moral standards in muslim countries and interfering in elections under the pretext of “human rights.” Fighting terrorism is at least beneficial to the U.S.

Reading the most extreme advocates of progressivism here defend American imperialism just to oppose Trump is amusing to me.

I used to laugh at the idea of a “Trump Derangement Syndrome”, but now I’m not so sure anymore.