Driving the news: Iran’s government has seemingly welcomed the agency’s overhaul and freezing U.S. foreign aid, with state media reports suggesting the moves will cut off support pro-democracy activists, APreported.
- Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev praised Elon Musk — Trump’s righthand man who has led the charge against USAID — for “trying to plug USAID’s Deep Throat.”
- Russian ultra-nationalist Alexander Duginpraised the USAID’s takedown as a “critical blow to globalism” in the right-wing outlet Arktos.
All the evidence is that Trump has no concept of soft power. Elon Musk probably doesn’t get it either. It requires a certain sophistication of thought and ability to understand how other people function that these men lack.