As President Trump remakes U.S. foreign policy, some in the industry hope any funding freeze won’t permanently hurt the nation’s ability to sponsor democracy abroad.

Daniel Twining, president of the International Republican Institute, said in an interview with Threat Status this week, “So we support a review of foreign assistance. We think it’s appropriate for the new administration to come in and look at where that money is going. Does it align with U.S. interests? Is it strategic? Is it valuable? We welcome that our programs will pass that test. One thing we don’t want to do is take Team America off the field.”

Last month, Mr. Trump’s State Department issued a 90-day freeze on U.S.-funded foreign assistance. The order, which includes an extensive review of all federal assistance programs, has been widely criticized by the president’s opponents, who say U.S. foreign assistance is lifesaving.

Many others counter that organizations like the U.S. Agency for International Development have wasted billions of taxpayer dollars on frivolous projects, to the point where Mr. Trump said the agency is “run by a bunch of radical lunatics” and his adviser Elon Musk called it a “criminal organization.”

According to the White House, USAID spent:

• $1.5 million to advance DEI in Serbia workplaces

• $70,000 for the production of a DEI musical in Ireland

• $47,000 for a trans opera in Colombia

• $32,000 for a trans comic book in Peru

• $6 million on tourism in Egypt

While on his recent trip to South America, Secretary of State Marco Rubio ripped into USAID as out of control and refusing to answer to the American taxpayer. He added in a statement, “Our goal for USAID was to align the programs that it fulfills with the foreign policy of the United States. What would be a gift to our geopolitical rivals is billions of dollars in foreign aid that is not aligned to the national interest and the foreign policy of the United States.”

IRI assists pro-democracy political movements and organizations abroad, including in nations ruled by authoritarian governments. Mr. Twining said such efforts can help develop more peaceful U.S. allies.

“Democracy instruments are not only strategic in terms of standing up to the Chinese Communist Party or Iranian or Russian or Cuban depredations,” he said. “But we also know that countries that can govern themselves decently and justly don’t export mass migration to the United States. They don’t inculcate violent extremism that comes home to attack us like it did on 9/11.”

Mr. Twining also pointed out that the investment is small, with only 1% of the U.S. federal budget going to foreign assistance. While it may be small, he says that funding can help the U.S. avoid costly confrontations in the future.

“We’ve had four-star generals say to us, ’You know what? Where IRI succeeds, the Army, the Marines don’t need to fight. We are your biggest champions because you can help people solve problems through local agency and good government that prevent countries from tipping over to the point where suddenly they turn into a situation that requires a U.S. national security response,’” he said.

Mr. Twining said U.S. foreign assistance is essential in countering the influence of authoritarian regimes like China and Iran.

“They’re very good at this. And their goal is to wean pro-American countries away from us and into their camp, or to neutralize them, so that when the United States needs help or support, those countries will say, well, I better not do that because it will upset Beijing,” Mr. Twining explained.

The Trump administration has already prioritized countering Chinese influence in Central and South America. Following Mr. Rubio’s visit to Panama, the country withdrew from China’s Belt and Road investment program, signaling a key victory for the administration.

Mr. Twining said one area where U.S. foreign assistance can go a long way is Iran. He noted that due to the authoritarian nature of the Islamic Republic’s rule, the Iranian people are eager to accept support from U.S. aid organizations to bolster democratic movements.

“Eighty percent of Iranians feel like their government is completely out of touch, does not speak for or represent them. Iranians are looking for a new deal,” Mr. Twining said. “The Iranian ayatollahs know that this is a great opportunity for the United States, peacefully, to do maximum pressure through sanctions and other forms of inducement, but also to support the people of Iran and their aspirations.”

International affairs experts contend that Iran’s geopolitical standing has significantly deteriorated over the past year. This decline is attributed to the loss of allies in Syria and Lebanon, coupled with an aerial assault by Israel in 2023.

Iran has also faced serious internal political strife over the past few years, including a massive protest movement in 2022 following the death of a woman at the hands of the country’s morality police for allegedly failing to wear her Islamic head scarf correctly.

Mr. Twining said the U.S. should recognize Iran’s weakened state, and move to support democracy in the region.

“If Iranians could bring about some kind of democratic change, think about the security problems that would solve for the United States in the Middle East,” he explained. “Vis-a-vis the Iranian threat to Israel. Vis-a-vis the axis of resistance with Iran supporting the Houthis, Hezbollah, Hamas, etc. Iranians do not want to live in a country that is a terrorist state. They want a government that answers to them.”

• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.