Trump & Musk's aid cuts are costing lives, former USAID boss Samantha Power says - The Last Word - MS NOW

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After 18 months, Donald Trump and Elon Musk's DOGE officially came to an end on July 4, but the fallout from its cuts continues. Boston University's Global Impact Counter estimates the dismantling of the USAID contributed to more than 780,000 preventable deaths worldwide.

Former USAID Administrator and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power joins MS NOW's Lawrence O'Donnell to discuss the human toll of those cuts and the worsening Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. - Aired on 07/06/2026.

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1. The Department of Government Efficiency was hyped as a governmental game changer. Its doors are now closing as a pitiful

The Department of Government Efficiency was hyped as a governmental game changer. Its doors are now closing as a pitiful failure.

As DOGE’s charter expires, it’s worth recognizing what this endeavor was at its core: a failed experiment.

DOGE’s goals went unmet. Its promises went unfulfilled. It envisioned one set of results but delivered the opposite.

Good riddance.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-07-07T12:56:57.458Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/doge-failed-white-house-government-efficiency

It was almost two years ago when candidate Donald Trump delivered a new campaign pledge: If elected to a second term, the Republican said, he would appoint Elon Musk to lead some kind of government “efficiency” panel.....

For a variety of reasons, none of this made any sense, but in early 2025, the Republican White House followed through and launched the Department of Government Efficiency, though the charter came with an expiration date of sorts: DOGE would cease to be on July 4, 2026.

In other words, in the wake of Independence Day, DOGE is no more.

Politico reported shortly before its formal demise:

DOGE claims it saved $215 billion, or $1,335.40 per taxpayer, with its cuts, which included slashing duplicative software licenses, canceling diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, grants as well as ending leases for underused office space. That’s a pittance to the federal budget, which is now about $7 trillion each year. The effort faded relatively early too as tech mogul Elon Musk clashed with government officials and left DOGE in May last year.

....Except it wasn’t. Amid all the hype and tumult, it’s easy to lose sight of DOGE’s original remit: Trump tasked Musk and his team with leading an effort to cut spending and make the federal government more efficient. As the department expires, the facts show that government spending went up, not down, during Musk’s tenure, and that the DOGE endeavor made the government less efficient, not more.

Even the “savings” that the office touted proved illusory, misleading or both.

DOGE’s goals went unmet. Its promises went unfulfilled. It envisioned one set of results but delivered the opposite.

Good riddance.