Joe Rogan recently hosted U2 frontman Bono on his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. During the episode, Bono criticized Rogan for supporting Elon Musk’s proposed budget cuts to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Bono warned that these cuts could have severe consequences for global humanitarian aid.
He noted that USAID delivers food, clean water, and medical assistance to over 120 countries. According to Bono, the budget cuts have already led to food, water, and medical aid being stranded due to mass layoffs within the organization. “There’s food rotting in boats and warehouses,” he said.
“There is 50,000 tons of food.
Bono addresses USAID crisis on Rogan
The people who knew the codes — who were responsible for distributing that aid — were fired.”
Bono acknowledged the desire to reduce government size but argued that such drastic cuts to a vital program were reckless.
He shared a statement from a worker who faced the grim choice of deciding which child to take off life-saving IVs due to the lack of funding. Rogan dismissed USAID as a “money-laundering operation” lacking oversight and accountability. However, he agreed that aid programs should not be cut and called for better oversight to prevent fraud.
Musk responded to Bono’s comments on social media, calling him a “liar” and asserting that no deaths had occurred as a direct result of the budget cuts. Brook Nichols, a professor of infectious diseases at Boston University, stated that tens of thousands of children have likely already died due to the funding cuts, primarily from diarrhea, pneumonia, and malnutrition. The controversy highlights the broader debate about the United States’ role in international aid and the consequences of isolationist policies.
Experts agree that the proposed cuts to USAID will have devastating impacts if fully implemented, but the discourse continues on the best approach to ensure aid is effectively and efficiently delivered.
