Shocking, I know.
It turns out that the Southern Poverty Law Center was funded by USAID. More specifically, USAID funded the "Vote Your Voice" program at the SPLC through the Tides Center (a left-wing NGO-funding organization).
And you just thought your USAID dollars were funding poor kids in Africa or something.
The NGO funding machine is getting harder to ignore.
— Rick de la Torre (@vrk_rick) April 24, 2026
USAID funneled $27 million through the Tides Center, with some of it going directly into the Southern Poverty Law Center.
For years, the liberal left inside the federal government hijacked nonprofits as pass-through vehicles;… https://t.co/MZjDph6sGk pic.twitter.com/4Lc0U3U7Ob
The NGO funding machine is getting harder to ignore.
USAID funneled $27 million through the Tides Center, with some of it going directly into the Southern Poverty Law Center.
For years, the liberal left inside the federal government hijacked nonprofits as pass-through vehicles; a legal loophole to launder taxpayer dollars into partisan left-wing networks like SPLC.
Tides operates as the perfect hub: it receives massive federal grants, buries the ultimate recipients behind multiple layers of 501(c)(3)s, and quietly re-grants the money to activist allies.
The American people didn’t authorize this. It needs to end now.
Incredible. USAID was funding the SPLC through an organization called the Tides Center, based in San Francisco.
From 2016 through 2024, USAID granted $27 million to the Tides Network to “strengthen global civil society organizations, promote transparency, accountability, citizen engagement, and serve as fiscal agent for USAID’s Civil Society Innovation Initiative.”
The Tides Center set up a fund through its Tides Foundation with that money for the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “Vote Your Voice” initiative.
The executive director of the Tides Center is Ayesha Khanna. She was co-chair of Women for Obama in Atlanta, Georgia.
People still need to wrap their heads around the fact that EVERYTHING the Democrats do is a scam or a power grab. I still know people who seriously believe that USAID was all about saving poor kids and stopping AIDS in Africa, rather than funding beltway consultants, NGOs, and funneling money to Democrats.
No. It was a money laundering organization. The pennies that actually went to good things were a smokescreen, as real as Vito Corleone's olive oil import business. Sure, there was olive oil in there, but that isn't what the business DOES.
Speaking of USAID in the news, The New York Times did a profile of some of the USAID employees who were fired last year. It was a real tearjerker, in which we learned that about half the USAID employees laid off were unable to find work, and that suddenly people who were paid vast sums of money have discovered that they have no actual skills that are valuable in the private sector.
"Sheryl Cowan, 57, was making $272,000 a year as a senior VP at a U.S.A.I.D.-funded nonprofit when she was let go at the end of March 2025. Last month she had an online interview for a $19-an-hour job managing a Penzeys Spices store in Falls Church, Va."https://t.co/OGDiHFV79u
— Alec MacGillis (@AlecMacGillis) April 23, 2026
Now I don't have anything against these people in particular, since I don't know them. But when the New York Times trots out examples of people for whom we are supposed to feel sorry, I'm not sure they are hitting the mark here. Every single person they highlighted was very highly paid, with $127,000/year being the lowest-paid among the victims.
The tentpole story was about a woman who made nearly $300,000 a year, and now she is unemployable for even $20/hr.
I feel terrible for anyone who loses their job. I’m not trying to kick anyone while they’re down.
— Robert Sterling (@RobertMSterling) April 21, 2026
But these USAID and NGO workers are the least sympathetic unemployed people I’ve ever seen.
EVERY person in this story was making well into six figures:
USAID employee: $175,000… pic.twitter.com/YOzzWF23L6
I feel terrible for anyone who loses their job. I’m not trying to kick anyone while they’re down.
But these USAID and NGO workers are the least sympathetic unemployed people I’ve ever seen.
EVERY person in this story was making well into six figures:
USAID employee: $175,000
USAID contractor: $127,000
USAID-funded NGO employee: $272,000(!)
USAID advisor at the DOD: $195,000
USAID contractor: $200,000
There were 16,000 employees at USAID, and the New York Times was only able to interview one making less than $175k. Worldwide, there were an estimated 280,000 contractors.
ALL of these people were getting paid from our tax dollars. Many were making 2-4x the wage of the average American taxpayer ($65-70k per year).
I don't recall these folks getting all teary-eyed when Biden shut down the Keystone Pipeline, or regulated coal mining out of business. I recall them saying "learn to code."
Aren't there laws against this sort of thing? There's this billion-dollar 501(c)3 "charity" in Myanmar that had to close "learning centers....in the world's largest refugee camp" after USAID cuts.
— Chris (@chriswithans) April 23, 2026
They're a federally funded nonprofit charity and yet they paid their CEO $1.178… pic.twitter.com/8tuLvnUOdX
Aren't there laws against this sort of thing? There's this billion-dollar 501(c)3 "charity" in Myanmar that had to close "learning centers....in the world's largest refugee camp" after USAID cuts.
They're a federally funded nonprofit charity and yet they paid their CEO $1.178 million in 2024 alone, per publicly available data from ProPublica linked to IRS filings. Paid a dozen-odd other people $300-$500,000 a year too.
No doubt there are millions of people who believe that USAID was filled with altruists who did nothing but save children and puppies, but the fact is that the vast majority of the money went to a political machine that promoted transnationalists here and around the world.
USAID employees represented some of the best of the US, advancing our interests and saving a life on average every six seconds. Now? Most were laid off, and this heartbreaking piece says half are still jobless. https://t.co/xZkj6Ttzmb
— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) April 22, 2026
Kristof, for instance, thinks that Trump and Rubio slashed the life-saving programs out of spite. Actually, those programs, like PEPFAR, which work on AIDS treatment and reduction, are still going strong.
On Friday, @StateDeptGHSD released its first wave of PEPFAR data, covering July-Sept 2025, after State took over USAID’s lifesaving health programs. Contrary to false media narratives, the data shows that President Trump’s foreign assistance review maintained and improved…
— Senior Official Jeremy Lewin (@UnderSecretaryF) April 20, 2026
On Friday, @StateDeptGHSD released its first wave of PEPFAR data, covering July-Sept 2025, after State took over USAID’s lifesaving health programs. Contrary to false media narratives, the data shows that President Trump’s foreign assistance review maintained and improved frontline lifesaving programs, while reducing NGO bloat and costs.
During this transition period;
- 20.6 million people w/ HIV received PEPFAR-supported antiretroviral treatment, exactly as many as during Biden’s last year
- Early progress towards @SecRubio’s ambitious goal of ending mother-to-child transmission of HIV during @POTUS Trump’s second term, with preventive treatment initiated for 103k expectant/breastfeeding mothers, more than 2x as many as the same period a year earlier
- Good initial progress moving programs, particularly in the treatment and testing space, to national health ministries as we champion self-reliance among health assistance countries
This is all before the transformational investments in global health innovation and self-reliance made via the America First Global Health Strategy. Launched in Sept 2025, we have already signed 31 bilateral compacts worth more than $21 billion in U.S. commitments and country co-investment, and announced historic new innovation initiatives like our partnership with Gilead Sciences to get 3 million people in high-burden countries its new 99.9% effective twice yearly HIV prevention drug Lenacapavir.
Notice how none of this has been reported? It's simple: Pravda and the left want you to believe that USAID was about saving lives. It hasn't been for decades.
What was cut was the color revolution/NGO complex. I would love to have an explanation from Nick Kristof of why USAID should be funding the Southern Poverty Law Center, and to explain how that saves lives every six seconds.
USAID grants, SPLC’s quasi-official designations, captured scientific bodies and universities, even Twitter’s content moderation pipelines.
— Austen Allred (@Austen) April 22, 2026
The government laundered its own preferences through ‘independent’ NGOs, watchdogs and platforms, recommending itself as the only savior.
It was all marketing, and Democrats love marketing compassion while picking your pocket.
The purpose of an organization is what it does, and what USAID did was fund NGOs and consultants, mostly based in and around Washington, D.C. Even this New York Times story had to admit:
Much of the $35 billion it managed in 2024 went to Washington-based contractors, not directly to people in need overseas. The success of many projects was hard to measure.
The reason why the media is so outraged about what Trump and Rubio did is that closing USAID has cut off billions in funding to their peers and their favorite "democracy" protection schemes.
If the money stays in Washington, and nobody knows what most of it accomplishes, is it any surprise that the job losses were mostly in Washington, and the people who lost those jobs are unemployable?
One last thing: am I the only one who has noticed that the Democratic Party's finances have gone into the crapper since the defunding of USAID?
Republicans are absolutely dominating Democrats in fundraising.
— Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) April 20, 2026
Democratic National Committee
Cash on hand: $13.9M
Debt: $18.4M
Net: –$4.5M (underwater)
Republican National Committee
Cash on hand: $116.8M
Debt: $0
Net: +$116.8M
Thank you, Ken Martin
(h/t @rpyers) pic.twitter.com/wgKiRlhzex
Coincidence? I think not.
Pro Tip: If your NGO has to close its doors when the government stops funneling taxpayer dollars to you, then you were NOT a "Non-governmental organization"
— VoxDawg - Pattern Recognizer (@VoxDawg) April 23, 2026
BONUS: NBC is peddling the same sob stories for federal workers:
Unpopular opinion: if you lose your high paying government job and the free market will not match it… you were an overpaid low-skill worker wasting taxpayer dollars. https://t.co/j0g4dsp1Sh
— Jason Howerton (@jason_howerton) April 24, 2026
Editor's Note: Do you enjoy HotAir's conservative reporting that takes on the radical Left and woke media? Support our work so that we can continue to bring you the truth.
Join HotAir VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member