It is perfectly understandable why USAID is getting defunded. Regardless of what some people here may be calculating in terms of utilitarian gain, the truth is that this kind of cold neutrality is not why they were being funded to begin with. Building a decisive political skew into a program that redistributes billions of dollars from a nation's citizenry to people they will never realistically meet, is fatal. It reputationally damages efforts of this sort into the indefinite future.
This should serve as a lesson for EA as well. If there is no commitment to political neutrality, even when it might look like a bad choice at times, there will always be somebody else with the political will and ability to end you. A dangerous prospect.
It is perfectly understandable why USAID is getting defunded. Regardless of what some people here may be calculating in terms of utilitarian gain, the truth is that this kind of cold neutrality is not why they were being funded to begin with. Building a decisive political skew into a program that redistributes billions of dollars from a nation's citizenry to people they will never realistically meet, is fatal. It reputationally damages efforts of this sort into the indefinite future.
This should serve as a lesson for EA as well. If there is no commitment to political neutrality, even when it might look like a bad choice at times, there will always be somebody else with the political will and ability to end you. A dangerous prospect.