Why Kill USAID? Because Dictators Hate It.

It's no coincidence that the first agency to fall was the one built to stand up to authoritarians

Guest post by Dr. Sara Sullivan

Dr. Sullivan worked at and around USAID for 16 years across three continents and now brings attention to current foreign aid and government issues on Instagram and on Substack at

Average American

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From Obscure to Under Fire

Many Americans had never heard of the United States Agency for International Development until a disinformation campaign about the agency took over social media in February. Members of the aid community scrambled to address a sudden avalanche of lies and conspiracy theories about what USAID does and what it stands for.

To counter all the crazy claims, we worked overtime to tell the world the truth: about grain for hungry people rotting in American ports, medicines locked away in clinics, treatment for pregnant mothers halted, and children around the world literally dying because of USAID’s abrupt dismantling. We tried to explain the lifesaving, cost-effective work of the agency being gutted in front of our eyes.

And we kept asking why? Why was this small agency being brutalized with wild propaganda? Why was it the very first government agency attacked?

Amidst all the chaos and tragedy, we may have missed the most obvious reason.

You Don’t Dismantle Something This Powerful by Accident

USAID certainly didn’t seem like the obvious choice for obliteration. In addition to garnering massive amounts of goodwill for America from countries all over the world, the agency has long enjoyed bipartisan support, employed thousands of Americans, and brought real economic value to American companies and farmers.

Targeting USAID also wasn’t about waste and fraud, despite what the administration claimed. Well-known for scrupulous compliance and accounting practices, USAID represents less than one percent of annual federal spending. In FY2024, USAID’s budget was approximately $44 billion, while the Department of Defense received $816.7 billion—more than 18 times larger. Anyone truly interested in waste and fraud would have first spared a glance at the budget of our defense department, which has failed its last seven audits.

And aaaaaaaaaall the conspiracy theories spearheaded by Elon Musk and the White House about USAID funding democratic candidates or supporting sex trafficking or inventing COVID or staging transgender operas were all debunked. They just weren’t true.

But none of those facts slowed the administration’s roll: USAID remained target #1. Trump’s government moved with cold-eyed determination towards its goal of destroying the agency—ignoring Congress, due process, and the courts along the way.

An Authoritarian Playbook

So what could explain this relentless, single-minded pursuit? Here’s a clue: USAID has always been hated by dictators and authoritarian governments.

The agency was founded in 1961 because of the Cold War. John F. Kennedy wanted to bolster support for democracy and American ideals around the world, and so USAID was created. Yes, to help other nations and people who were suffering, but first and foremost to protect ourselves and the American democratic way of life.

This bears repeating: USAID was founded to fight Soviet disinformation, power, and influence. It was created to protect America’s national security interests in the face of the Soviet threat. And not just Soviets. Dictators everywhere love to hate USAID. Authoritarian regimes and autocracies have despised USAID as a thorn in their side since 1961.

Why? Because USAID doesn’t just build schools and deliver food—it strengthens independent media, supports civil society, funds election monitoring, and helps local activists push for transparency, accountability, and human rights. It partners with grassroots organizers, women’s rights groups, and democracy advocates—the exact people authoritarian regimes are trying to silence. It shines a light in dark corners. And for dictators, sunlight is dangerous.

The Threat to Democracy is Now Within

For decades, threats to American democracy have been mostly external, but recently, a different picture has emerged. From siding with Putin against Ukraine and Europe to ignoring court orders and the Constitution, threatening the press, bullying private institutions for perceived disloyalty, and deporting legal residents for dissent, every day Trump’s government gives us more reasons to be concerned about the survival of our democratic state.

The threat is now within.

So it just makes sense: if you are interested in moving towards authoritarianism, in undermining democracy, in choosing the rule of power instead of the rule of law, the first entity you need to destroy is the one created to fight those very things.

Why kill USAID? Dictators hate it.