Reality check

Millions dead is not competent leadership.

According to many national news sources, Musk and Trump’s shuttering of USAID food assistance programs for starving children will directly and immediately cost lives. Two million dead by the end of the year is the prediction.

Meanwhile 60,000 metric tons of food already in the system in warehouses and onboard ships is rotting away as U.S. foreign aid is halted. In a statement, Secretary of State, Marco Rubio confirmed 83% of USAID programs were cut permanently and (he) thanked Musk for reforming the “woke” agency.

Famine, starvation and disease is a horrifying way to die. Our country’s soft diplomacy previously paid huge long-reaching dividends across the world, providing critical intervention and leadership for needy fellow humans on this earth.

While our local newspaper is not the best arena to argue world events, I believe we need to be aware of how our local actions (voting) affect actions on the world stage.

I want to do a reality check on what we caused because it’s downright frightening. Musk and Trump’s USAID cuts will go far beyond the millions expected to die due to famine. It has been reported the cuts to combat viruses and epidemics will worsen, amounting to many times the amount of deaths from famine.

Foreign aid – giving away money and resources to help other nations’ economies — remains one of America’s greatest inventions after WWII. America’s soft power has now turned into a vicious killing machine. Maybe America’s only remaining world leadership tool is coercion. Is that still leadership?

Bill Biery

Sequim