On Monday, NBC News released a story which claimed that more than 14 million people will die in five years as a result of USAID cuts by the Trump administration. Suggesting Trump’s policies would lead to “88 deaths per hour,” NBC used poorly concluded research in order to fund their narrative of hate while explicitly omitting key facts of waste and abuse within USAID.

NBC stopped at nothing to make the claim of “14 million deaths” fall solely on the Trump administration, even though a majority of cuts were deemed as waste, fraud, and abuse, with key lifesaving treatments being untouched or cut marginally. Not to mention, many other countries also offered aid to foreign countries. 

The left leaning outlet, decided to throw out an eye gouging statistic that the cuts were “leading to 88 deaths per hour.” The website in which NBC pulled this statistic from reached many of their conclusions through this methodology:

“Based on the budget for the 2024 financial year, USAID's nutrition program was allocated $168 million dollars [3]. It is estimated that the cost of treating a child for severe malnutrition, while varied by context, is between $100-$200 [4]. Assuming: a similar budget of $160 million dollars in 2025, that this budget is utilized for treatment of severe acute malnutrition in children and that on average treatment per child costs $150 (midpoint of range), approximately 1.12 million children with severe malnutrition would remain untreated as a result of USAID funding freeze and discontinuation in 2025. This would result in approximately 168,000 (112,000 – 224,000) annual deaths in children under 5.”

This “research” took the average cost of feeding a malnutritioned child and incorporated it directly into the eight million dollar budget cut in order to reach the number of children with severe malnutrition who would remain untreated.

This conclusion failed simple scientific research methods for several reasons. For one, it concluded that USAID, under 2024 funding, would stop every single one of these deaths without considering the influence of outside factors like treatment that still ended in death.

Next, it assumed that USAID’s nutrition program was strictly allocated for significant malnutrition and neglected the fact that cuts could be towards waste within the appropriation of funds and not specifically for severe malnutrition.

Lastly, it implied a static cost of $150 to feed a hungry child and neglected the ability of outside nations to meet their standards of treating severe malnutrition in areas where USAID was also present. 

This “research” used the above methods to arrive at many conclusions in their work, NBC obviously did little to no digging, and instead just threw out the number because it made the Trump administration look bad. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio had made it clear that USAID viewed itself as serving the international humanitarian community and not the American people or taxpayers. As of July 1st, The Department of State has declared the disbanding of USAID and in turn, replaced it with a foreign funding mission that prioritizes national interests. Opting to sub out a “charity-based” model in favor of investment to actually allow these countries to sustainably grow. 

Official statement from the Department of State on the issue: “We will do so by prioritizing trade over aid, opportunity over dependency, and investment over assistance. For Americans and many around the world, July 1st will mark the beginning of a new era of global partnership, peace, investment, and prosperity.”

The House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast (R-FL) exposed to the public just some of the waste by USAID that NBC neglected to include after mentioning the 83 percent of cuts to USAID. The USAID had been sending “$3,315,446 for LGBTQ in the Caribbean,” “$1.5 million to promote job opportunities for LGBTQ in Serbia,” and “$425,622 to help Indonesian coffee companies become more climate and gender friendly,” just to name a few. 

The USAID had burned through $715 billion in inflation-adjusted spending using American tax dollars over the decades. Significant evidence of NGOs pocketing money meant for the people in these foreign countries was found. One USAID official and three corporate executives pleaded guilty earlier in June for a decade-long bribery scheme that involved over $550 million in U.S. taxpayer contracts.