Stefano Gennarini, J.D. Vice President for the Center of Legal Studies | The Center for Family and Human Rights

Many Americans are expressing concern following revelations from the White House Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) about USAID's expenditure of hundreds of billions in taxpayer dollars to influence foreign elections and instigate revolutions. This information has highlighted what many globally were already aware of regarding U.S. foreign aid activities.

For decades, USAID has been involved in various social engineering programs aimed at undermining regimes considered hostile to the United States. These operations, often carried out under the pretense of promoting democracy, gender equality, LGBT rights, climate change, and reproductive health, sought regime changes worldwide.

Samantha Power, the Administrator at USAID under President Biden's administration, explained in an essay for Foreign Affairs that every dollar of U.S. foreign aid is used to achieve desired political outcomes for the U.S., including opposing "populist parties with xenophobic and antidemocratic tendencies."

The shutdown of USAID programs that are not strictly humanitarian has not drawn complaints from foreign governments because many affected programs were political in nature. Those impacted by this funding halt include federally backed journalists and non-governmental organizations.

Americans are now becoming aware of how their taxes have been utilized and realizing that their perceptions have been shaped by federal agency-directed censorship and propaganda over decades.

Prior to DOGE's public disclosure, Mike Benz from the Foundation for Freedom Online had warned about these practices. He noted that USAID’s political operations abroad assemble coalitions to destabilize governments unlikely to comply with U.S. interests. According to Benz, once favorable regimes are installed, they receive support through funding for censorship and propaganda campaigns via private companies and non-governmental groups—efforts which sometimes target American audiences as well.

Benz highlighted federal funding for agencies like Global Disinformation Index and NewsGuard as central to these censorship initiatives. These agencies pressure mainstream media to align with government narratives while suppressing populist views by influencing advertisers against conservative or populist websites.

He also cautioned against public-private partnerships such as the Election Integrity Partnership that censored Americans on social media during key events like the 2020 election. Such partnerships reportedly suppressed information supportive of Donald Trump or critical of COVID-19 policies under Biden's administration—a claim supported by findings from the Twitter Files and a report by the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Weaponization of the Federal Government.