A review of staff at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has identified only 294 of the agency’s 14,000 employees as essential to administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. The internal review, originating from within USAID, appears to have been initiated by President Donald J. Trump’s Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, who is also currently serving as the agency’s acting director.
The essential status determination comes as Sec. Rubio has begun transferring the few core programs within USAID intended to serve U.S. national interests into the State Department—a move that suggests the just 63-year-old aid agency may soon be abolished. Meanwhile, The National Pulse reported Wednesday that President Trump is expected to place most USAID staff on leave on Friday. It is likely that the 294 workers deemed essential will be the few staff directed to remain at their posts.
Over the last week, USAID has come under much scrutiny after Elon Musk and the Department of Government Effiecity (DOGE) detailed the agency’s expenditures. The agency’s spending data reveals that nearly 90 percent of Ukrainian media relies on the U.S. federal aid agency to continue operating. Additionally, on Thursday, it was uncovered that the George Soros-funded East-West Management Institute has received $260 million in taxpayer money disbursed by USAID.
In its current form, USAID has taken to operating as if it were not a government entity funded by U.S. taxpayers, according to Sec. Rubio. This assertion is backed up by the former director of the agency, Mark Moyar, who alleges that many of its staff actively seek to undermine Trump and refuse to report corruption to protect their jobs. […]
Only 294 Out of 14,000 USAID Personnel Identified as Actually Essential pic.twitter.com/vjT7OArOxO
— JD Rucker (@JDRucker) February 7, 2025
— Read More: thenationalpulse.com
Independent Journalism Is Dying
Ever since President Trump’s miraculous victory, we’ve heard an incessant drumbeat about how legacy media is dying. This is true. The people have awakened to the reality that they’re being lied to by the self-proclaimed “Arbiters of Truth” for the sake of political expediency, corporate self-protection, and globalist ambitions.
But even as independent journalism rises to fill the void left by legacy media, there is still a huge challenge. Those at the top of independent media like Joe Rogan, Dan Bongino, and Tucker Carlson are thriving and rightly so. They have earned their audience and the financial rewards that come from it. They’ve taken risks and worked hard to get to where they are.
For “the rest of us,” legacy media and their proxies are making it exceptionally difficult to survive, let alone thrive. They still have a stranglehold over the “fact checkers” who have a dramatic impact on readership and viewership. YouTube, Facebook, and Google still stifle us. The freer speech platforms like Rumble and 𝕏 can only reward so many of their popular content creators. For independent journalists on the outside looking in, our only recourse is to rely on affiliates and sponsors.
But even as it seems nearly impossible to make a living, there are blessings that should not be disregarded. By highlighting strong sponsors who share our America First worldview, we have been able to make lifelong connections and even a bit of revenue to help us along. This is why we enjoy symbiotic relationships with companies like MyPillow, Jase Medical, and Promised Grounds. We help them with our recommendations and they reward us with money when our audience buys from them.
The same can be said about our preparedness sponsor, Prepper All-Naturals. Their long-term storage beef has a 25-year shelf life and is made with one ingredient: All-American Beef.
Even our faith-driven precious metals sponsor helps us tremendously while also helping Americans protect their life’s savings. We are blessed to work with them.
Independent media is the future. In many ways, that future is already here. While the phrase, “the more the merrier,” does not apply to this business because there are still some bad actors in the independent media field, there are many great ones that do not get nearly enough attention. We hope to change that one content creator at a time.
Thank you and God Bless,
JD Rucker
