Former U.S. presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama have once again found common ground — this time to condemn Donald Trump’s dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). In a joint appearance with U2 frontman and longtime humanitarian Bono, the two leaders voiced deep concern over the loss of programs they say were vital to America’s global influence and moral leadership.
In a recently released video, Bush and Obama praised outgoing USAID employees, whose efforts against AIDS and HIV in Africa have been credited with saving more than 25 million lives. Both former presidents framed Trump’s decision not only as shortsighted policy but as a moral failure.
“You have shown the great strength of America through your efforts — and that is your compassionate spirit,” Bush told staff. “Is it in our national interest that 25 million individuals who would have died are now alive? I believe it is, and so do you.”
Bush, who has largely refrained from publicly criticizing Trump since 2016, looked visibly emotional as he thanked the departing workers. He helped establish the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) during his administration, a program still regarded as one of the most impactful humanitarian efforts in modern history.
Obama followed with sharper words. “Dismantling USAID is a disgrace and a calamity,” he said. “It erases some of the most essential work being done anywhere in the world. Eventually, leaders from both parties will realize how crucial you are.”
Their comments came after Trump, working with billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, formally shut down most of USAID’s international operations earlier this year. Only a small skeleton crew remains as the agency’s functions are absorbed by the State Department.
Musk had publicly attacked the agency months earlier, calling it “a viper’s nest of radical-left Marxists who despise America.” The Trump administration, citing years of waste and corruption, made USAID one of its first targets in its campaign to cut down what it described as bloated government bureaucracy.
The New York Post reported that the formal transfer of USAID’s functions to the State Department was completed this week. In the new structure, foreign assistance programs will be managed directly under Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who insists the move is about efficiency — not abandonment.
Rubio, announcing the change, pushed back against Bush and Obama’s criticism. “Aside from creating a global NGO industrial complex at taxpayer expense, USAID has little to show since the end of the Cold War,” he said. “Development goals have rarely been achieved, instability has often increased, and anti-American sentiment has grown stronger.”
He went on to describe the shift as a necessary course correction. “This era of government-sanctioned inefficiency has come to an end,” he declared. “Under the Trump administration, we’re building a foreign aid strategy that puts American interests first.” According to Rubio, the new policy will ensure “greater accountability, strategy, and measurable results.”
Still, Bush and Obama’s rare show of unity resonated deeply with the international community and longtime aid workers. For many, it represented something larger than partisan politics — a defense of America’s reputation as a global humanitarian leader.
During their respective presidencies, both men had built on each other’s global health initiatives. Bush’s PEPFAR and Obama’s expansion of USAID’s educational and agricultural programs helped reshape perceptions of U.S. engagement abroad. Bono, who worked closely with both administrations, described USAID as “a quiet army of compassion” that saved lives without seeking credit.
“America’s greatness was never just about power,” Bono said in the video. “It was about generosity — about people like those in USAID who believed in helping others, even when nobody was watching.”
Critics of the cuts argue that eliminating USAID will have ripple effects far beyond humanitarian aid. Without the agency’s infrastructure, programs supporting clean water, education, disaster response, and women’s health in developing countries face collapse. Experts also warn that pulling back U.S. engagement in fragile regions could open the door to increased influence from rival powers like China and Russia.
“The irony,” one former USAID regional director said, “is that this was one of the few federal programs that delivered results — measurable lives saved, governments stabilized, communities rebuilt. To call that wasteful is to misunderstand what American leadership really means.”
Supporters of Trump’s decision, however, argue that the agency had become politically entrenched and unaccountable. They claim millions of dollars were spent on projects with little transparency or direct benefit to U.S. citizens. Musk himself tweeted that consolidating USAID under the State Department would “end decades of corruption and restore accountability.”
Inside the agency, morale reportedly plummeted in the months leading up to the closure. Longtime employees described the final weeks as “funeral-like.” One senior staffer said, “We weren’t just losing jobs — we were losing the mission that defined us.”
For Bush and Obama, the issue goes beyond policy. Their collaboration — rare in today’s political landscape — underscored a shared belief that America’s role in the world depends not just on power, but on compassion. Both leaders framed global aid not as charity, but as strategy: a way to foster stability, reduce extremism, and strengthen alliances.
Bush summed it up best: “Our compassion isn’t weakness. It’s strength. It reflects who we are.”
As USAID’s operations wind down, its legacy remains in the millions of lives changed across Africa, Asia, and beyond. Hospitals built, children vaccinated, teachers trained — all under the quiet umbrella of American goodwill. Whether that spirit can survive inside a downsized bureaucracy remains to be seen.
But for now, the sight of two former presidents — one Republican, one Democrat — standing together to defend it serves as a reminder of something rare: that beneath all the noise, there are still leaders who believe America’s greatness lies not only in its might, but in its mercy.