CBS’s Stephen Colbert had an emergency and unscheduled interview with former USAID Director Samantha Power on Tuesday’s edition of The Late Show in an attempt to save the agency from President Donald Trump. While Colbert thought he was simply interviewing an expert on what USAID actually does, in reality, Power’s love of the agency meant that she and Colbert spent the entire interview avoiding the main issue with USAID.
Colbert began with a softball, “JFK established USAID in 1961, which, you know, this was a product of the Cold War, USAID. What was its mission? Why is that mission still vital now that the Cold War is over? Why do we still need it?”
Power gave the academic answer that “Kennedy was thinking about the battle for hearts and minds and what would win America the affection of global publics, so this is an investment in our stability, in our security, in our alliances, and that is what USAID has done since Kennedy created it. Helped eradicate smallpox, on the verge of eradicating polio. Again and again, USAID is on the front lines of some of the hardest challenges that our country faces and some of the most vulnerable people in the world face.”
According to the current plan, USAID will remain a humanitarian organization; it will just be moved to the State Department. Proponents of foreign aid should welcome this move because it will give taxpayers greater confidence that their tax dollars will be spent on actual aid and not Serbian LGBTQ job initiatives. Eliminating such waste will not benefit China or Russia.
Still, Colbert followed up, “So, it's a premiere example, it’s, like, a prime example of what people call soft power in the world, influencing the rest of the world through the way we help them. Do you have any sense of what's actually going on at the agency right now? It's kind of confusing what the status is.”
Power mourned that “It's confusing in some respects. But the core fact is programs that were running the people were depending on, in some cases for life-saving medicine, like medicine if you have HIV that keeps you alive.”
That program got a waiver. Nevertheless, Colbert later asked, “Why do you think this is the first agency that is being taken out behind the barn?”
After Power hypothesized it’s because foreigners don’t have members of Congress, Colbert summarized, “So, that while it affects the United States, ultimately because of our influence around the world and protecting us from flare-ups of disease or conflict around the world, we don't immediately see it, therefore, they can go ahead and attack this one agency, and no one's going to care that much.”
Power then wrapped herself in the flag, “We've got to tell that story, but it's important to people who use this work to use their voices and stand up to this evisceration of something that is so vital to the United States. We are the ground game for American foreign policy, and we are the face of American values. And it's essential that this be preserved.”
What is essential is that the American people trust that their tax dollars are being spent wisely and not being used to subsidize a global liberal culture war. A little introspection would serve USAID advocates well.
Here is a transcript for the February 4 show:
CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2/4/2025
11:54 PM ET
STEPHEN COLBERT: JFK established USAID in 1961, which, you know, this was a product of the Cold War, USAID. What was its mission? Why is that mission still vital now that the Cold War is over? Why do we still need it?
SAMANTHA POWER: Well, the Cold War, of course, Kennedy was thinking about the battle for hearts and minds and what would win America the affection of global publics, so this is an investment in our stability, in our security, in our alliances, and that is what USAID has done since Kennedy created it. Helped eradicate smallpox, on the verge of eradicating polio. Again and again, USAID is on the front lines of some of the hardest challenges that our country faces and some of the most vulnerable people in the world face.
COLBERT: So, it's a premiere example, it’s, like, a prime example of what people call soft power in the world, influencing the rest of the world through the way we help them. Do you have any sense of what's actually going on at the agency right now? It's kind of confusing what the status is.
POWER: It's confusing in some respects. But the core fact is programs that were running the people were depending on, in some cases for life-saving medicine, like medicine if you have HIV that keeps you alive, quite literally, or if you're in Sudan and you have a child who's wasting away because of malnutrition, a miracle paste, peanut paste that USAID provides, brings that kid back from the brink of death. All those programs are shuttered and—
COLBERT: Immediately?
POWER: They were shuttered from the minute the executive order went out and he didn't say "hey, let's review programs going forward." It said stop everything you are doing globally. Right now. Stop it, no matter the human consequences.
…
COLBERT: Why do you think this is the first agency that is being taken out behind the barn?
POWER: Well, I think we saw last week as well an effort to cut off all federal programs, but there was an uproar. People called their congressmen and women, blue states, red states. These programs are really important in the lives of Americans. The kids at those vaccination clinics, those girls who are in school because of USAID, they don't vote in our elections. They don't have the numbers of congresspeople. They don't have the ability to use that lever so it's really up to the rest of us to make that case.
COLBERT: So, that while it affects the United States, ultimately because of our influence around the world and protecting us from flare-ups of disease or conflict around the world, we don't immediately see it, therefore, they can go ahead and attack this one agency, and no one's going to care that much.
POWER: And again, aided by a complete misconstrue about what the agency does. So, we need to get the facts out about how lives have been saved, about how U.S. security is advanced, how U.S. prosperity and markets for American goods are being created by the work we do in the economic sphere.
We've got to tell that story, but it's important to people who use this work to use their voices and stand up to this evisceration of something that is so vital to the United States. We are the ground game for American foreign policy, and we are the face of American values. And it's essential that this be preserved.
