Viral Showbiz Pinay (2025)

13/02/2025

BERLIN — German political leaders have reacted with alarm to U.S. President Donald Trump’s bombshell announcement that his administration will conduct peace negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the head of European leaders.

“To be clear, peace must last over the long term. It must secure Ukraine’s sovereignty,” said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday. “That is why we will never support a dictated peace. Nor will we accept any solution that leads to a decoupling of European and American security. Only one person would benefit from that. President Putin.”

Scholz, whose Social Democratic Party (SPD) is in third place according to polls ahead of a Feb. 23 national election, called for more spending on Germany’s defenses and military aid for Ukraine, and urged conservatives to relax the country’s strict spending rules — a theme he has touched on repeatedly during the election campaign.

“Today, we must face the reality of what the U.S. government’s actions and announcements mean for Ukraine, for Europe and for the world,” Scholz added. “Not to act would mean putting the security of our country and our continent at risk.”

Germany’s conservatives, who are leading in the polls, also called for more robust military spending while criticizing Scholz for not doing more during his tenure.

“If Ukraine is left in the lurch now, we will soon be next,” Roderich Kiesewetter, a senior lawmaker with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), told POLITICO. “What is needed now is a coalition of the willing in Europe that is prepared to do everything possible to support Ukraine and invest massively in its own security.”

On Wednesday, Trump’s administration announced that it is willing to effectively cede Ukrainian territory to Russia as part of peace negotiations with Putin, while also insisting that Europe should provide the lion’s share of military and financial aid to the embattled country.

German leaders were caught completely unawares by the Trump administration plan despite the important role Berlin has played in supplying arms and aid to Kyiv.

Scholz also appeared to be in the dark about Trump’s plans, telling POLITICO in a Wednesday interview that his discussions with Trump had led him to conclude that “we can hope and assume that the U.S. will continue to support Ukraine.”

Other German leaders also expressed shock.

“What is objectionable is that Ukraine has not been informed about this and neither has Europe,” German liberal MEP Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann told POLITICO. She attacked Scholz for failing to bolster Germany’s defenses more aggressively during his time as chancellor, saying his government had “criminally failed to implement a true turnaround. Now we are paying the price.”

Other German lawmakers said they believe it is still possible to find common ground with Washington.

“We now have to wait and see what happens at the Munich Security Conference,” said Falko Drossmann, a lawmaker for Scholz’s center-left SPD and a former air force officer. “We have made the European position clear. We have made the German position clear, and we hope that our partner, the U.S., will take it just as seriously.”

Asked whether Europe would be able to replace U.S. military aid to Ukraine, Drossmann said: “No, of course not, because a large proportion of the weapons systems — including those we have supplied — are weapons systems that have been developed jointly with the U.S.”

In Munich, members of Trump’s administration are expected to present their plans to Europe’s leading politicians, while several top meetings — including one among U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy — are scheduled.

Not all German politicians were disappointed by Trump’s plan, however. Politicians with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which is currently polling in second place and has long been sympathetic to the Kremlin, were in a celebratory mood.

“We are, of course, pleased that peace negotiations are happening,” said Gerold Otten, an AfD defense lawmaker and former colonel. “That has always been our demand.”

‘We will soon be next’: German leaders sound alarm on Trump’s Ukraine plan

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BERLIN — German political leaders have reacted with alarm to U.S. President Donald Trump’s bombshell announcement that his administration wi...

13/02/2025

LONDON — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer stood by Ukraine joining NATO just a day after Donald Trump’s defense secretary rejected the idea.

Starmer made the comments as he was questioned on the U.S. president’s announcement that he’ll begin to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Pressed on whether he backed U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s assertion that Ukrainian membership of the military alliance is not a “realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement,” Starmer told ITV News: “My position is the NATO position.”

He added: “This was discussed at the summit that we had last year in

Washington, where it was agreed amongst all NATO members that there should be an irreversible path of Ukraine to NATO membership.”

Pressed on whether the U.K. would now back away from this aim in light of Hegseth’s comments, Starmer said: “No, obviously nobody was expecting [NATO membership] to be immediate. It was a pathway over time. But what matters most, I think, is that we stand by Ukraine.”

Elsewhere in the interview, the British prime minister pointedly did not echo Trump’s praise for Putin, who the U.S. president has described as a “genius” and “savvy.”

Starmer said: “Putin is the aggressor here.”

He added: “This conflict could be ended tomorrow if Putin withdrew his troops. And so for me, that would be the simplest and the quickest way to end this conflict.”

UK’s Starmer insists Ukraine should join NATO after Trump scotches idea

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LONDON — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer stood by Ukraine joining NATO just a day after Donald Trump’s defense secretary rejected the id...

13/02/2025

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola crossed into the Gaza Strip from Israel at noon Thursday to “witness firsthand the humanitarian assistance delivery at the border region,” her office told POLITICO.

Palestinian militant group Hamas reached a deal with Israel in mid-January to bring a cease-fire to the Gaza Strip and release dozens of hostages following 16 months of retaliatory onslaughts by Israel to the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023, which have ravaged the region and killed tens of thousands of people.

“Her crossing of the border at a crucial moment in time is meant to highlight the EU’s critical role in supporting humanitarian efforts in Gaza (notably through the EUBAM operation) and the EU’s commitment to continue supporting the ceasefire and hostage exchange deal,” Metsola’s office added.

EUBAM is the European Union Border Assistance Mission. Metsola entered from the Kerem Shalom border crossing, after which she returned to Israel for a briefing by EUBAM on their mission at the Rafah crossing and on their ongoing efforts to support humanitarian aid in Gaza.

According to her office, Metsola is the first EU leader to enter Gaza in more than 10 years.

On Friday she will visit Ramallah in the West Bank, where she will meet with Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary-general for the executive committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

She will also meet with Sakharov Prize nominee Reem Al Hajajra — director of the Women of the Sun NGO, a Palestinian group working toward a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

European Parliament president enters Gaza

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European Parliament President Roberta Metsola crossed into the Gaza Strip from Israel at noon Thursday to “witness firsthand the humanitaria...

12/02/2025

DUBLIN — If you want to accuse someone of telling lies in Ireland’s parliament, Prime Minister Micheál Martin has just shown the way — by saying it in Irish.

Ireland’s official language is Gaeilge (a.k.a. Irish Gaelic), known simply as Irish here. The trouble is, only a minority of citizens can confidently speak Irish in what is, overwhelmingly, an English-speaking country.

As a consequence, Martin — a fluent Gaeilgeoir, as native speakers are called — enjoys speaking at length in Irish when replying to questions from the leader of the opposition: Mary Lou McDonald of the nationalist Sinn Féin party. That’s because, usually, she can’t understand him until he switches to English.

It’s become a greater advantage for Martin in Ireland’s new parliament. Unlike her predecessor, speaker Verona Murphy can’t speak enough Irish to adjudicate disputes over use of the language in Dáil Éireann, Ireland’s parliament, where Gaeilge is supposed to be encouraged.

This strange situation was highlighted Wednesday when Martin, replying to a McDonald barrage of criticisms of government housing policy, began his Irish remarks by telling her: “Tá an Teachta Dála ag insint bréaga arís.”

It took a largely uncomprehending Sinn Féin bench seven full minutes to mount a protest, once party lieutenants and Irish speakers Pearse Doherty and Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire supplied McDonald the translation of what Martin had said: “The Dáil deputy is telling lies again.”

Under Ireland’s parliamentary rules, members aren’t supposed to use the L-word — but Murphy wasn’t clear what to do about Martin’s deployment of the B-word, “bréaga,” meaning lies.

Murphy admitted she hadn’t heard, or understood, what the prime minister had said. Turning to Martin, she asked: “I would like you to withdraw, if you made those remarks, I am not aware that you — did you call Deputy McDonald a liar?”

This set the Sinn Féin benches ablaze with indignation as a Mona Lisa smile crept across Martin’s face.

Doherty refused to take his seat as Murphy — whose official title is Ceann Comhairle, meaning “head of the council” — banged her deskside bell in vain.

“He cannot accuse the leader of the opposition of ‘ag insint bréaga’,” Doherty said of Martin. “He took advantage of the fact that the Ceann Comhairle has no Irish. And it’s an absolute disgrace!”

Murphy told Sinn Féin to file a written complaint and, if the official transcript and translation ultimately confirmed the offense, she would ask the prime minister once again to withdraw the remarks.

Even though Sinn Féin is the most aggressive promoter of rights for Irish speakers, particularly in neighboring Northern Ireland, McDonald has struggled with the language, even when saying the Gaelicized name of at least one of her own party comrades.

Doherty posted an edited clip of Martin’s comments and Sinn Féin’s eventual protests — all thankfully subtitled.

Outcry in Ireland’s parliament as PM slams opposition ‘lies’ … in Irish

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DUBLIN — If you want to accuse someone of telling lies in Ireland’s parliament, Prime Minister Micheál Martin has just shown the way — by sa...

12/02/2025

BERLIN — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday accused the opposition Christian Democrats of artificially whipping up accusations of racism to smear him in the run-up to an election on Feb. 23 in which his party is facing a heavy defeat.

The news magazine Focus reported that, at a private event last week, Scholz referred to Joe Chialo, a Black politician from the Christian Democratic Union, as his party’s “court jester.” The term sparked outrage from senior CDU politicians, who leapt to the defense of the senator for culture from Berlin, who is the son of Tanzanian diplomats.

Scholz retorted he was misrepresented and said the allegations were “absurd and artificially constructed.”

Scholz’s comment reportedly came during a discussion about the CDU’s decision to pass migration-related measures in parliament with votes from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, a development that has dominated the election debate and which Scholz has also sharply criticized in public.

Arguing the CDU alignment with the AfD broke a major taboo in German politics, Scholz was cited as saying it was evidence the CDU was sliding further toward fascism. Chialo challenged him, asking whether he really believed the CDU was a racist party when he sits in the party’s leadership.

“Every party has its court jester,” Scholz was quoted as replying.

In response to the Focus report, Scholz defended the word he used: Hofnarr.

“The term I used here does not have racist connotations in everyday language. The accusation of racism raised is absurd and artificially constructed,” he said. “Personally, I value Joe Chialo as an important liberal voice in the Union.”

But members of Chialo’s CDU and other parties insisted the exchange was racist.

“With his racist comments, Olaf Scholz has proven yet again that he lacks the character required for his job,” said Ottilie Klein, the CDU’s general secretary in Berlin.

Julia Klöckner, a former agriculture minister and senior CDU politician, tweeted: “The current Chancellor assumes that ⁦Joe Chialo only has his position because of his skin color as a fig leaf for an inherently racist party. Whatever has become of Mr. Scholz …”

Scholz and his center-left Social Democratic Party are already expected to face a bruising election in 11 days. Polls show the SPD in third place, with 17 percent, behind the Christian Democrat camp with 30 percent and the AfD with 22 percent.

Germany’s Olaf Scholz hits back at racism accusations in election race

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BERLIN — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday accused the opposition Christian Democrats of artificially whipping up accusations of ra...

12/02/2025

BRUSSELS — The European Union’s top trade official stressed the bloc’s commitment to constructive dialogue in a first call with his U.S. counterparts on Wednesday, ahead of an emergency meeting of the bloc’s ministers to discuss how to respond to President Donald Trump’s imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminum.

Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič spoke with Trump’s pick for Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, designated U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, his spokesperson Olof Gill confirmed.

“Cooperation is our preferred option. So, we remain committed to constructive dialogue and finding negotiated solutions, while protecting the EU interests — the same way the U.S. is protecting theirs,” Gill said in a statement. “The counterparts have agreed to meet soon.”

The EU executive, which is in the lead on trade policy for the bloc, vowed on Tuesday to respond to what it called the “unlawful” U.S. tariffs in a firm and proportionate manner. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also met with Vice President J.D. Vance on Tuesday.

The Polish presidency of the Council of the EU called a virtual meeting of the bloc’s 27 trade ministers to brief them on how the Commission will respond to Trump’s trade offensive, which is also expected to include sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs that could severely disrupt the $1.3 trillion transatlantic trade relationship.

Lutnick, yet to be formally confirmed as Commerce secretary with strategic oversight over trade policy, has also threatened to go after EU business regulations like its supply-chain oversight rules. After his nomination, Lutnick said it would not make sense to put tariffs on products that the U.S. doesn’t produce domestically.

This story has been updated with comment from the European Commission.

EU trade chief calls Team Trump, urges dialogue as tariff tensions escalate

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BRUSSELS — The European Union’s top trade official stressed the bloc’s commitment to constructive dialogue in a first call with his U.S. cou...

12/02/2025

Friedrich Merz, front-runner to be Germany’s next chancellor, warned that Europe must be united in foreign, security and trade policy, stressing that the EU can’t afford to be weak in its dealings with Washington.

Speaking at a campaign event in his home region of Hochsauerland, in western Germany, Merz argued that Brussels should focus on strategic priorities rather than micromanaging citizens’ lives.

“The EU must not come to Washington as a dwarf — because then it will be treated as one,” he said, urging European leaders to muscle up.

Merz expressed concerns over American President Donald Trump’s recent decision to impose a 25 percent tariff on all steel and aluminum imports, effective March 4, which has escalated tensions between the U.S. and its trading partners.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen — who comes from the same German conservative Christian Democratic Union as Merz — condemned the move as “unjustified” and vowed that the EU would implement “firm and proportionate countermeasures” to protect its economic interests.

According to POLITICO’s Poll of Polls, the CDU and its Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) hold a comfortable lead ahead of the Feb. 23 election, putting Merz on track to win the chancellery — and the hot seat for dealing with Trump’s unpredictable leadership.

The tariffs mark a dramatic expansion of Trump’s protectionist trade policies, effectively canceling earlier tariff deals with the EU, the U.K., Japan and other allies. Trump defended the move, calling it “the beginning of making America rich again.”

The new tariffs have prompted emergency discussions among EU trade ministers, with potential retaliatory measures being considered against American industries.

The EU must not be a ‘dwarf’ in Washington, says Germany’s likely next chancellor

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Friedrich Merz, front-runner to be Germany’s next chancellor, warned that Europe must be united in foreign, security and trade policy, stres...

12/02/2025

BERLIN — The EU’s most populous country is heading to the polls on Feb. 23 to elect a new parliament. The vote will almost certainly trigger a change in national leadership, with Friedrich Merz’s conservatives in pole position to lead the next government.

The chief significance of the election is that it will determine how sharply the world’s third-largest economy veers to the right. (The campaign has been characterized by fierce exchanges over restricting migration.) Merz also looks set to prioritize Germany’s traditional industrial strengths over climate-change policies.

While the Christian Democrat camp is comfortably leading in the polls, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is expected to finish a strong second — a prospect that is not only shaking up the race but also stirring heated debate over the country’s postwar identity.

Merz has sought not only to siphon off AfD votes to bolster his party, but even — more controversially — to push through tougher migration rules with support from the AfD, thereby undermining a long-established Brandmauer, or firewall, that prevented co-operation by mainstream parties with the far right.

Here’s a rundown of what has happened so far and what to keep an eye on before, during and after the vote:

Why is the far-right firewall so important?

In the wake of a deadly knife attack last month in the Bavarian city of Aschaffenburg, allegedly perpetrated by an Afghan refugee who should already have left the country, Merz vowed to lead a major crackdown on irregular migration.

During a Bundestag session in January, his conservatives — for the first time since World War II — pushed through parliamentary proposals to restrict migration with support from the AfD. It was a stunning moment for those who believed Merz would never break the talismanic postwar taboo.

Merz appears to have gambled that by acting tough on migration, his conservatives could claw back voters from the AfD in the final weeks of the campaign. Some of the most recent polls, however, have suggested the strategy did not pay off: The conservatives lost 2.9 percentage points in a survey aggregate published last Friday, while the AfD gained the same amount.

Since the parliamentary vote, Merz has vowed not to cooperate with the AfD after the election and instead to seek to diminish the radical party.

“We want to do everything we can, especially in this election campaign, to make this party as small as possible again,” he said at a CDU convention in early February. “There’ll be no cooperation, no acquiescence, no minority government.”

His opponents, however, say his credibility is shot.

Merz’s conservative alliance is set to win by a solid margin, and is currently polling at 30 percent. | Maja Hitij/Getty Images

And although it’s highly unlikely the AfD will win power, the party is already on track for its strongest-ever national election outcome as it grows increasingly normalized.

That mainstreaming has been helped by international heavyweights such as U.S. billionaire Elon Musk and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who have endorsed the party and paraded their shared political platforms with party leader Alice Weidel.

The nuts and bolts

Germany holds parliamentary elections every four years; the next one was originally scheduled for September 2025. Germans now head to the polls ahead of schedule, however, following the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition late last year.

Some 630 parliamentary seats are up for grabs, to be distributed proportionally. Parties need to secure at least five percent of the vote to enter the Bundestag.

Each voter gets two votes: One is cast for their local representative, and the other for a party. In most cases, candidates who win their district get a seat. But the overall share of seats that parties gain in parliament is determined by the percentage of second votes they win, so this is the number most widely reported on election night. The parties fill up the seats they win through second votes based on regional candidate lists.

On election night, the first exit poll is expected at 6 p.m., with initial results coming half an hour later. These tend to give a good idea of the winners and losers, while the final results and the exact distribution of parliamentary seats are usually determined overnight.

What do the polls say?

Merz’s conservative alliance — which consists of his Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) — is set to win by a solid margin, and is currently polling at 30 percent.

The AfD is expected to finish second with 22 percent, which would be the party’s best score in a national vote and more than double its result in the 2021 election.

The Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Greens — both seen as possible junior coalition partners to the conservatives — are polling in third and fourth place on 17 percent and 13 percent respectively.

The AfD is expected to finish a strong second — a prospect that is not only shaking up the race but also stirring heated debate over the country’s postwar identity. | Maja Hitij/Getty Images

The liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), The Left, and the leftist-populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), meanwhile, are all struggling to make it into parliament while polling around the 5 percent threshold for representation.

What happens afterwards?

While Merz’s conservatives seem well positioned to win the election, that’s just the beginning of the the story. The next question is what the coalition will look like.

Politicians from Merz’s party say their least-favored outcome is a three-way coalition, given the infighting that would inevitably follow, and say they would prefer a coalition with either the Greens or the SPD. Such an option would significantly strengthen the negotiating position of the conservatives.

But a three-party alliance could be hard to avoid if some of the smaller parties currently in the parliament ― the FDP, The Left and BSW ― again win seats.

If none of the smaller parties clear the 5 percent hurdle for winning seats in the Bundestag, around 40 percent of the vote could be enough to control a majority of seats in the parliament (316). But if, conversely, two of the smaller parties re-enter parliament, some 46 percent of the vote will be needed for a majority, significantly decreasing the likelihood of a two-party alliance. More on coalition possibilities here.

I’m not German. Why should I care?

What happens in Berlin doesn’t stay in Berlin, but tends to ripple around Europe and the world.

A very close-run final result — with the AfD on the heels on the Christian Democrats — would deliver a major signal, given Germany’s history, and would stoke the political momentum of right-wing forces across the continent.

In terms of European diplomacy, Merz has pledged to take a lead role in uniting the continent in its response to U.S. President Donald Trump. He has said he’ll travel to Paris and Warsaw, uniting the so-called Weimar trio, on his first day in office to smooth Germany’s relationship with its most important neighbors.

But Merz also promised German voters he would tackle irregular migration by pushing people back at the country’s borders — which would affect the same neighbors he wants to befriend, while calling into question the EU’s long-negotiated asylum reform.

While Germany, under Scholz’s leadership, has been among Ukraine’s strongest supporters in terms of military aid, second only to the U.S., the incumbent chancellor has often been criticized for acting too hesitantly (an image he has embraced, and which led him to campaign on his “prudent” approach). In the same spirit, Scholz has consistently vetoed sending long-range cruise missiles such as the Ta**us to Kyiv.

By contrast, Merz’s conservatives have long demanded the Ta**us missiles be delivered and say they would have taken a harder approach to the Ukraine war than Scholz did.

“When this war started, I would not have thought that it would last three years. I believe it could have ended earlier if Ukraine had been helped more courageously and less hesitantly,” Merz said during a speech on foreign policy.

How to watch the German election like a pro

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BERLIN — The EU’s most populous country is heading to the polls on Feb. 23 to elect a new parliament. The vote will almost certainly trigger...

10/02/2025

The Trump administration’s dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development may be the first step in a broader plan to use foreign aid as a support system for fossil fuels.

Since taking office, President Donald Trump has put a 90-day freeze on most foreign assistance, ordered an end to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, and deployed Tesla CEO Elon Musk to slash federal agencies and personnel. It’s all in line with Project 2025, the policy handbook produced by the Heritage Foundation with input from more than 100 conservative organizations.

The administration’s attempts to entirely dismantle USAID — led by unelected billionaire Musk — go beyond what Project 2025 proposed. Musk has said he is “feeding USAID into the woodchipper,” and the Trump administration has moved to fold the agency into the State Department. A federal judge Friday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from putting thousands of the agency’s employees on leave.

It’s unclear whether Musk and the Heritage Foundation are on the same page, and neither responded to requests for comment. But Project 2025 offers insight into what Trump allies want out of U.S. foreign aid: the promotion of fossil fuels and the elimination of foreign country regulations that American industry finds burdensome.

The conservative blueprint calls for downsizing the agency’s work, rescinding its climate policies and shuttering programs aimed at curbing global warming. It pushes anti-labor union reforms in Latin America, admonishes USAID for cutting off “clean fossil fuels” in Africa and proposes using taxpayer dollars to “promote private-sector solutions to the world’s true development problems.”

“USAID should cease its war on fossil fuels in the developing world and support the responsible management of oil and gas reserves as the quickest way to end wrenching poverty and the need for open-ended foreign aid,” the blueprint says.

A State Department spokesperson did not respond directly to questions about its intentions for USAID, saying Secretary of State Marco Rubio is initiating a review of all foreign assistance programs to ensure they are efficient and consistent with Trump’s America First agenda. The agency referred any questions about USAID to the statement on its website about personnel cuts.

The executive order that prompted the 90-day aid freeze calls for Rubio and other agency heads, in consultation with the director of the Office of Management and Budget, to determine which programs to cease or modify. Newly confirmed OMB head Russell Vought was a key architect of Project 2025.

During the Biden administration, USAID took on a greater role in addressing climate change — through projects focused on resilience and renewable energy — though it devoted only a fraction of its budget to the issue.

Under Trump, USAID — if it survives — could become an agency just tasked with providing global food and humanitarian assistance, with international fossil fuel promotion doled out to other agencies.

For example, the U.S. International Development Finance Corp., which provides private sector funding for development in lower- and middle-income countries, could be expanded to support bilateral efforts on fossil fuel projects, said Karen Mathiasen, a project director at the Center for Global Development.

The Department of Energy also has a beefed-up Office of International Affairs after it got more funding and personnel during the first Trump administration. The office works across government to advance U.S. energy goals. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, a former fracking executive, has said global energy poverty could be achieved in part by increasing U.S. fossil fuel exports.

“I can see the Trump people just repurposing aid to be some sort of pro-energy promotion kind of thing,” said Kurt Donnelly, former deputy assistant secretary of State for energy diplomacy during the first Trump administration.

On it’s face, he said, helping provide poorer countries with reliable access to energy is a good idea.

“But if the real goal of that program is just to sell them oil and natural gas as the solution to this, and they have to buy ours of course … that’s really a bad approach,” Donnelly said.

The Musk factor

Aid has long been a “tool of foreign policy,” said Max Primorac, who wrote the Project 2025 chapter on USAID and is senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation. Primorac, who served as a senior USAID official in the first Trump administration, did not respond to requests for comment for this story but spoke to POLITICO’s E&E News last year.

“It’s perverse that, on the one hand, we’re talking about alleviating poverty through foreign aid, but adopting climate policies that actually aggravate poverty for the simple reason that we’re preventing them from investing their own oil and gas technologies and industries that could finance their own social services, to create wealth, jobs and be more sovereign,” he said last year.

Some Republican lawmakers share that sentiment. During Rubio’s confirmation hearing for secretary of State, Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso asked the then-nominee if he was committed to ensuring the State Department promoted all forms of energy across the globe, including oil, gas and coal.

“In fact, it should be a centerpiece … of our economic diplomacy,” Rubio responded.

Rubio has tapped Peter Marocco, who heads the Office of Foreign Assistance at State, to be acting deputy administrator of USAID. The conservative movement’s plan for USAID is to ramp up funding to local faith-based organizations while dramatically slashing money flowing to international NGOs.

But reshaping the agency into one that helps the U.S. achieve Trump’s vision of American energy dominance overlooks how markets have changed, argue former officials.

“USAID isn’t pursuing its own agenda on renewable energy versus fossil fuels,” said Gillian Caldwell, the former chief climate officer at USAID under Biden. “We’re responding to a demand signal from partner governments around the world, almost all of whom are operating in a scenario in which the price of solar has dropped by 85 percent and the price of wind has dropped by 50 percent.”

The moves to remake USAID have gotten muddied by Musk’s intervention. Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency have been given unprecedented access to government infrastructure — including a critical Treasury Department payment system — and have moved quickly and possibly illegally to cut programs and personnel across the government.

Congressional Republicans have largely stayed silent amid concerns that Musk’s moves violate Congress’ constitutional power of the purse. But lawsuits are starting to emerge, and Sen. Susan Collins, the Maine Republican who leads the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Wednesday that Musk has gone too far.

Democrats have called the moves to shutter USAID corrupt, cruel and unconstitutional.

“Getting rid of [USAID] makes us all less safe. It is also downright illegal,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md) said during a rally outside the Capital on Wednesday where a crowd chanted “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Elon Musk has got to go.”

Even some conservative critics are concerned with the Trump administration’s blunt approach to downsizing government.

Neither Musk nor Trump has the power to simply cut agencies or programs that have been funded by Congress, said Jessica Riedl, an economist at the conservative Manhattan Institute who has spent more than two decades identifying government waste.

“I am sympathetic to the idea that there is significant waste and unnecessary expenditures in the federal budget, but the way to cut spending is to go through Congress and pass laws either rescinding or preventing the future appropriations of these programs,” she said. “The president can’t unilaterally cancel spending that has been approved by Congress and signed into law.”

The Trump administration’s attempt to gut USAID has also stoked worries that without experts in place to administer foreign assistance, there will be more opportunities for fraud, waste and abuse, said Chris Milligan, a former USAID counselor during Trump’s first term.

“Handing billions of dollars to a department that doesn’t have the right experience is not going to protect taxpayers’ money, is not going to make America safe and is not going to be effective for our foreign policy,” he said.

Trump could remake USAID to promote fossil fuels

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