August 12, 2025 ❧ Trump destroys international aid, Britain arrests protesters, and a breakthrough for HIV vaccines

Plus: The latest on the Supreme Court’s dysfunction, a bill to ban congressional stock trading, and more...

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HERE & ABROAD

❧ DEEP DIVE: International Aid Destroyed ❧

As you likely remember, Donald Trump stopped all foreign aid immediately after taking office, as part of his mission to eradicate child hunger (seemingly by eradicating the children, not the hunger). But it isn’t enough to simply pause all new foreign aid. The administration has also set about eliminating aid already purchased by U.S. taxpayers. The most recent example came this week, when the State Department announced plans to destroy 9.7 million dollars worth of contraceptives meant for women in sub-saharan Africa. 

The IUDs and other contraceptives won’t expire until 2027 at the earliest, and it will cost US taxpayers $167,000 to destroy them. So what’s the justification for denying 1.4 million women much-needed medical care? The State Department has cited a Trump-imposed rule disallowing U.S. funds to be sent to nonprofits that advocate for safe abortion access, arguing no eligible organizations could be found to take the contraceptives. Hence, they “had” to be destroyed. Now, experts predict the waste will lead to 174,000 unintended pregnancies and 56,000 unsafe abortions. 

In a different time, this was the worst of Americans meddling in Africa. 

Art by C.M. Duffy from Current Affairs Magazine Vol. 7, Issue 34

This is not the first time the Trump administration has incinerated aid or allowed it to expire, wasting millions of dollars in the process. In July, the administration incinerated 500 tons of food meant for Afghan and Pakistani children. The $800,000 worth of high-energy biscuits sat in a warehouse for months as USAID employees urged the State Department to send them to hungry children. They refused. It cost $130,000 to burn the food, which would have fed 1.5 million children for a week. Around the same time, the US allowed 800,000 doses of mPox vaccine to expire; they would have otherwise been sent to Africa. 

There’s a sick irony in these incinerations and expirations. The Trump administration justifies not sending contraceptives by saying they may be used by nonprofits who support abortion, this leads to more abortions. The administration cuts USAID resources to prevent waste, this leads to hundreds of tons of food wasted. It does not seem to matter when the administration’s policies directly contradict their stated aims; the only constant is cruelty.

Oh what once was

Image: USAID Ethiopia

❧ In Other News ❧

❧ Scientists have discovered what’s turning starfish to goop. Researchers in a paper published in Nature argue that they’ve discovered the bacteria that’s killed five billion starfish. Sea star wasting syndrome silently splinters starfish, turning them into sea slime. Scientists hope the discovery will aid efforts to preserve marine life. Mad scientists are exploring other uses for the bacteria. 

❧ A Senate committee has advanced a bill banning congressional stock trading. Folks, in the bizzaro-world we call 2025 America, Josh Hawley did a good thing. He voted alongside the Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security Committee to advance a bill banning members of Congress from trading stocks. This is one of many similar efforts in recent years. Critics have argued a ban would strain congresspeople’s families, who survive on a paltry $174,000 salary. 

❧ There’s been a breakthrough in HIV vaccines. Scientists have concluded human trials in a possible vaccine for HIV. Using mRNA technology that made the COVID-19 vaccine possible, scientists created an HIV vaccine that caused 80% of trial participants to develop antibodies to the disease. Next step: a vaccine for libertarianism.

CURRENT-EST AFFAIRS

What’s new in the magazine this week?

❧ We Never Left Upton Sinclair’s Jungle, by Chance Phillips. “Until either the labor movement or daring government action checks the meat packing companies, we will not be able to leave The Jungle behind.”

Art by Lewis Rossignol from Current Affairs magazine, Issue 4, September-October 2016

❧ In More News ❧

❧ Trump has taken over the D.C. police. Trump “LIBERATED” the District of Columbia by taking over local police and sending the national guard (and potentially specialized military units) to roam the streets of D.C. The move is undemocratic, authoritarian, and worst of all, it’s all Maryland’s fault. Trump’s ire was drawn by the attempted carjacking of former DOGE staffer Edward “Big Balls” Coristine. D.C. police immediately arrested two of the teenagers responsible, who are both from Maryland. Not D.C., where crime is at a 30-year low.

❧ Trump is forcing FEMA hires to work for ICE. Some FEMA employees received an email last week instructing them that they were reassigned, effective immediately, to work for ICE. Trump promised on the campaign trail to hire 10,000 ICE agents, something that is not feasible because virtually no one wants to work for an agency with evil duties, $50,000 signing bonus be damned. (Another factor: cognitive tests are inconclusive on if Trump even can count that high.) So what does the world’s best businessman do? Take employees away from floundering FEMA in the middle of hurricane season. 

❧ British police arrested hundreds of elderly pro-Palestine activists. Last month, the UK “proscribed” the non-violent British activist organization Palestine Action as a terrorist group (along the likes of ISIS and al-Qaeda). In its fight against dissent, the government arrested more than 500 people who held up dangerous, threatening items (placards and signs) in support of Palestine Action in a rally last weekend. Half of the arrestees were elderly; some reported that police were visibly uncomfortable handcuffing people old enough to be their grandmother. 

ROBE RAGE

❧ This Week in the Courts❧

Previous News Briefings have criticized how the Supreme Court uses the “shadow docket,” where it can simply issue verdicts without explaining or justifying them, to push Trump’s agenda. But an analysis by Stanford professor Adam Bonica shows just how extreme the Court is acting. Judges of both parties in lower courts have ruled against Trump’s executive orders in 82 of 87 cases—94% of the time. The Supreme Court, in contrast, has ruled for Trump 94% of the time. It’s like watching Tiger Woods—a once-in-a-lifetime swing. 

This stat isn’t *quite* as bad as it looks. Lawsuits against Trump’s policies have been disproportionately filed in Democratic judicial districts, with plaintiffs “venue shopping” for a favorable court. (Just like how Republican challenges to Biden’s policies were disproportionately filed in Texas.) So it makes sense that lots of lower courts would rule against Trump. Plus, the Trump administration has not advanced all its losses to the Supreme Court (even they know some of these policies are, to use a legal term, duds.) But still, to quote Bonica, “District court judges, who see the evidence firsthand and hear directly from those affected, overwhelmingly find the administration’s actions unlawful…Then the Supreme Court—furthest from facts, closest to power—reverses almost automatically.”

Art by C.M. Duffy from Current Affairs Magazine Vol. 9, Issue 51

If anything, Bonica understates the difference between how district courts and the Supreme Court make decisions on Trump’s executive orders. Take Department of Homeland Security v D.V.D. as an example. This is the case where the Court ruled that DHS can deport people to countries they did not come from, regardless of whether deportees face the threat of torture in the “third-party countries” they are sent to. Aside from violating both human decency and the UN convention against torture, this ruling meant seven plaintiffs were immediately shipped to South Sudan, a country the State Department tantalizingly describes as full of “crime, kidnapping, and armed conflict.”

In D.V.D, the Supreme Court gave no written order justifying its decision. (Although Justice Sotomayor’s 19-page dissent shows the Court didn’t simply forget its Google Docs login.) Contrast John Roberts’ blank page with what the lower court did before pausing the internationally-illegal deportations. The Court wrote 48 pages of analysis in issuing its initial order pausing third-party deportations, and issued two other decisions after learning that the Trump administration defied its initial order by deporting six men to South Sudan. Before coming to that decision, the district court judge heard oral argument and read hundreds of pages of filings. The Supreme Court undid thousands of hours of lawyers and judges’ work—not even including the work by the appeals court that heard the case before SCOTUS—and all without a single written word.

Art by Ellen Burch from Current Affairs Magazine Vol. 7, Issue 34

CINGULATA FACT OF THE WEEK

❧ Armadillos have built-in pool floaties ❧

Armadillos also kill at beer pong. Image: Dawn Ashley

When armadillos cross a small body of water (like a creek or small river), they simply hold their breath and walk along the riverbed—they’re too dense to swim across. But when they need to navigate a large body of water (like a river or large creek) they can fill their stomachs with air to make themselves more buoyant! Yet another reason why armadillos should be invited to your next cookout.

Writing and research by Grady Martin. Editing and additional material by Nathan J. Robinson and Alex Skopic. Header graphic by Cali Traina Blume. This news briefing is a product of Current Affairs Magazine. Subscribe to our gorgeous and informative print edition here, and our delightful podcast here.

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