Secretary of State Marco Rubio lit into ABC’s George Stephanopoulos during a tense Tuesday morning interview on *Good Morning America*, refusing to let the Democrat-friendly anchor get away with his spin on America’s foreign aid policy.
At issue was the recent shuttering of the bloated and mismanaged U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), a move long overdue according to Rubio. The agency, plagued for years by inefficiency and corruption, was folded into the State Department after the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — previously spearheaded by Elon Musk — identified it as a black hole for taxpayer dollars.
Stephanopoulos, echoing the left’s favorite narrative, framed the cuts as cruel and deadly. But Rubio wasn’t having it.
“We shut down U.S. aid because it was a dysfunctional organization,” Rubio began firmly. “We moved it under the State Department. We are going to do more foreign aid than any country in the world… but we’re going to do it the right way.”
When Stephanopoulos pushed the false claim that aid cuts had led to deaths, Rubio snapped back: “That’s ridiculous!”
Rubio didn’t mince words as he laid out the truth: America cannot and should not be the only country carrying the world’s burdens. “Well then they died because England didn’t give enough money or Canada didn’t give more or China did,” he shot back. “How about China? I mean China’s the second largest economy in the world. They don’t give money to these projects.”
But the ABC anchor, more interested in scoring political points than addressing reality, kept hammering his narrative. Rubio countered with a blunt reality check: “Anybody who tells you that somehow it’s the United States, if we cut a dollar, we’re responsible for some horrific thing that’s going on in the world, it’s just not true.”
The real culprit, Rubio explained, is corruption and criminal gangs that seize foreign aid before it ever reaches the people who need it.
He pointed to war-torn Sudan: “It’s not just a humanitarian catastrophe, it is a war zone. The aid is stolen, the aid is impeded, in fact they use aid as a tool against the people. Blocking aid is a tool and an arm of war.”
Rubio also highlighted Haiti, a country plagued by violent gangs who hijack shipments before they ever reach the poor. “You can send all the aid in the world you want,” Rubio said, “it gets hijacked and stolen by criminal gangs that control the country. They’re the ones to blame for what’s happening there, not us who provided more aid than anybody else.”
Finally, Rubio made his most forceful point yet: “No one has died because the United States has cut aid. People have died because gangs steal the aid. People have died because the distributors of aid have not done well. People have died because other countries haven’t stepped up. But the United States has saved more lives and continues to save more lives than any other country in the world.”
Once again, Rubio demonstrated what many conservatives already know: the left’s media mouthpieces will blame America first and excuse corruption abroad. But the facts are clear — American generosity remains unmatched, and Rubio is determined to ensure that aid actually helps people, not gangs and dictators.
