Yet another possibility is that they intend to shift the operations of the USAID and NED back under the umbrella of the CIA and the State Department, removing the layer of separation and plausible deniability but also getting rid of any accountability or obligation for public disclosure that these orgs may have nominally had. They are foregoing soft power in favor of going back to more direct imperialist means.

Or to put it another way, the myth of liberal humanitarianism has outlived its usefulness. The majority of the world isn’t buying it anymore (except for us here in Europe, we’re the only idiots in the world who still buy that con), so you might as well just admit you are only pursuing self-interest at the expense of everyone else. In a way that is liberating if you’re the kind of imperialist that Trump and Musk are.