By John A. Tures, Professor of Political Science, LaGrange College

During the Cold War, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was created to promote international development via foreign aid, and win over countries in the Third World and later the former Soviet Union, to America’s side, preaching capitalism and democracy. Now USAID is under attack at home, to the delight of Russia, China, Iran and other American adversaries. Here’s why.

According to Chantal DaSilva, as reported in NBC News “Concerns are growing in Washington that temporarily halting assistance from the U.S. Agency for International Development “opens up a window for China and Russia,” George Ingram, a former senior USAID official, told NBC News in a telephone interview Thursday. He was one of several experts to caution that the decision would lead to American influence waning in Africa, South America and Asia where it addresses a range of needs from health care to clean water, distributing aid to nongovernmental organizations, aid agencies and nonprofits. USAID has also provided millions of dollars in military aid to Israel and Ukraine.”

At a time when Ukraine is being attacked by Russia, aided by North Korean troops, and missiles from Iran, with some encouragement (if not more) from China, I find it hard to believe that we would take the side of American adversaries. It’s a similar case in Gaza. USAID support for Israel is opposed by Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and Iran. Knocking out USAID gives those anti-Israeli and anti-American groups a “W” and the U.S. a “L.”

As DaSilva continues “Michael Schiffer, who served as the assistant administrator of the USAID Bureau for Asia from 2022 until January, was more blunt in his assessment in an opinion piece published on the online forum Just Security. “The Trump administration has just put America last, while handing a gift to our biggest adversaries, notably China,” he wrote. “America’s alliances will suffer. U.S. partners will be at risk. And America’s enemies will rejoice,” he said.

U.S. national security could “erode,” with abrupt changes to development programs risking instability in countries around the world, potentially influencing extremism and deepening migration crises, he added.”

That’s right. Destroying USAID could boost migration from countries, now that foreign aid to help countries and reduce the demand for immigration will be gone. And there’s the all-important question of whether the Executive Branch even has the right to gut an agency created by Congress, touching off yet another Constitutional crisis, the kind our enemies delight in.

DaSilva also cites Republicans who leery of such a destructive act as going after USAID. “During the Senate Budget Committee confirmation hearing for  Russell Vought, Trump’s pick for budget chief, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. warned last month of the importance of soft power as a “critical component of defending America and our values.” Graham added “If you don’t get involved in the world and you don’t have programs in Africa where China’s trying to buy the whole continent, we’re making a mistake,” he said. “The concept of soft power means a lot to me — and that’s coming from a pretty hawkish guy.”

I see some friends on Facebook sharing all kinds of lurid details about what USAID does; a number of these allegations aren’t true. Time and time again, we’ve seen allegations of what USAID has done been debunked by fact-checking, what we used to do when we wanted the truth. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out how much of this is coming from China’s Tik Tok, or Russian propaganda filtering in unfettered through social media. Even Iran is figuring out how to game the system, duping plenty of Americans on all sides of the political aisle who get their news from sources that don’t have to print retractions or face any sort of accountability when they’re wrong, and have every incentive not to make a mistake or tell a lie.

John A. Tures is a professor of political science at LaGrange College in LaGrange, Georgia. His views are his own. He can be reached at jtures@lagrange.edu. His “X” account is JohnTures2.