Ever since Elon Musk became the world's first trillionaire, there has been a glut of stories about how DOGE's dismantling of the Democratic slush fund of USAID has resulted in the deaths of 4.5 million children. Musk has had enough from Democrat mouthpiece Rep. Ro Khanna about how he "needs to answer" for 4.5 million children "sentenced to death and has threatened to sue. Khanna backed off and offered a debate instead.
Khanna got his numbers from a study in the once-respected medical journal The Lancet, which found that Musk will have killed 14 million people by 2030.
Musk has claimed that no one can come up with the name of one person who's died as a direct result of USAID being dismantled.
Exactly.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 28, 2026
And they cannot cite a single name of someone who died out of the “millions” they falsely claim have died. Not a single name! https://t.co/UoAipkeTX1
This claim upset Obama bro Tommy Vietor:
This man thinks you are stupid and that if he lies enough that people will believe him, but journalists like @NickKristof and @Atul_Gawande and many others have documented specific individuals, often children, who died because Elon gutted USAID programs https://t.co/YlzIrrVAd5
— Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) June 28, 2026
Nicholas Kristof, who recently published his opinion piece in which he claimed that Palestinian prisoners were being raped by dogs trained by the IDF. The New York Times stood by the piece. Now, he's naming names of those who've died.
.@elonmusk says that no one can name a person who died from his aid cuts. In fact, I've met the kids who are dying, and I've talked to the families who lost children. In my columns, I've cited many, many names of people who have died because of Musk's aid cuts. A few examples:… https://t.co/T1ynpiypjc
— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) June 29, 2026
The post continues:
… *Yamah Freeman was a 23-year-old woman who died in childbirth because Musk cut funding for the diesel for ambulances in her part of Liberia. She couldn't get to a hospital and died as people were carrying her there. I talked to her parents and sister in their village.
*Gbessey Kiadu, age 1, died of malaria because of his cuts to malaria medication in Liberia. I talked to his mom in her village.
*Ibrahim Koroma, an infant, died of AIDS in Sierra Leone after he interrupted HIV supplies. I talked to health workers who cared for him.
*Achol Deng was an 8-year-old girl with HIV in South Sudan who died when Musk cut funding for the health care worker who provided her medicines. I talked to the healthcare workers.
I could go on and on. In almost every village you go to in South Sudan, Uganda, Liberia, Sierra Leone or other countries I reported in, you find people dying because of aid cuts. I challenge Musk: Come with me on a reporting trip, and we'll talk to these moms and dads, and you'll see the dying children themselves. I think if you see the kids whose lives are at stake, maybe you'll change your mind.
The moral calculus here is insane. According to Kristof, the USA is responsible for every poor nation in the entire world. If an ambulance runs out of fuel in rural Liberia, that is our fault. The liberal has a pathological tension between the feelings of omnipotence and guilt. https://t.co/0ww0ZLtB3H
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@christopherrufo) June 29, 2026
No, I don't think we are responsible for all poor nations. But we were saving 1 life every 10 seconds with USAID, and we cut that off abruptly with no time for countries to adjust. So kids died unnecessarily. And I do think that it's bad when kids die unnecessarily, don't you?
— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) June 29, 2026
Africa wanted its independence, they got it, but somehow I am still obligated to buy them diesel fuel.
— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) June 29, 2026
Neat. https://t.co/CKRVxIgMUk
Another way to view this is that the West has been propping up terribly dysfunctional societies. They can’t govern or feed themselves. I’ve heard many times that ‘rust belt’ towns in the USA should die because they aren’t sustainable. But they are at least our problem. https://t.co/Bcqp77PfLF
— FischerKing (@FischerKing64) June 29, 2026
My tax dollars should not go to diesel fuel for an ambulance in Liberia.
— Matt Van Swol (@mattvanswol) June 29, 2026
My tax dollars should not go malaria medication in Liberia.
My tax dollars should not go to ANYONE in ANY COUNTRY that is not named “The United States of America
Period.
The only way people can get diesel, malaria medicine, or HIV supplies is if we give it to them forever? That's complete bullsh*t. What are their governments doing? How about the UN? China? The EU? How are we responsible for their lives forever? When did we sign up for that?
— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) June 29, 2026
If you personally knew they needed diesel and you didn’t cut them a check for it, doesn’t that make you the murderer here?
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) June 29, 2026
None of these even sound remotely legit. They didn’t have fuel for an ambulance because of Elon Musk? Bullshit.
— MAZE (@mazemoore) June 29, 2026
Were people not dying in these countries in 2024? If they were, why weren’t we giving more? If more aid means more lives saved, why are any deaths acceptable to you?
Elon should definitely sue these monsters. It's not his responsibility to fill up a fucking gas tank in Liberia.
— Aesthetica (@Anc_Aesthetics) June 29, 2026
Your "examples" are made up bullshit. https://t.co/PMG1JVuiAn
If you personally knew they needed diesel and you didn’t cut them a check for it, doesn’t that make you the murderer here?
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) June 29, 2026
Why don’t you throw in some money for diesel in Liberia you absolute tool?
— Dave Rubin (@RubinReport) June 29, 2026
How many of them were raped by dogs, you ridiculous shill?
— Will Collier (@willcollier) June 29, 2026
So you’re telling Americans to get off their butts & go to work so they can then pay for diesel in a foreign country? I bet you complain everyday that gas is too high here but WE pay for our own gas
— SeldenGADawgs (@SeldenGADawgs) June 29, 2026
America isn’t every nations piggybank. Call the Democrat billionaires and get them to pony up the funds Nicholas. Liberia has received absurd sums from us and still corruption rules. They need to take control of their own nation.
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) June 29, 2026
Oh boy if we can't trust you who can we trust?
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) June 29, 2026
Hey has the New York Times addressed this one yet or NAH? https://t.co/yTX2sCat9r pic.twitter.com/NxACId4waE
Reminder that every dollar you don’t give to starving children in Africa is another African child that you personally starved. https://t.co/MNDVYxtnjN
— Dissident West (@dissidentwest) June 29, 2026
It really is time to stop infantilizing Africa. Why are the governments of South Sudan, Uganda, Liberia, and Sierra Leone unable to survive without American tax dollars funneled through corrupt NGOs?
Do you think it's wise to artificially balloon the populations of poor countries with aid that can be siphoned off by a new regime or warring faction or simply cut off by a new admin in giving country. This then causes famine because poor country hasn't bothered to sustain itself
— Newt (@7_coalition) June 29, 2026
Why is the United States responsible for this? Like I am OK with giving this kind of aid, but why are Americans responsible for these deaths and not the hundreds of other countries who could’ve provided the aid? Why aren’t their own governments responsible?
— Megan Basham (@megbasham) June 29, 2026
When, exactly, will the West have provided enough aid to Africa for it to become independent and capable of providing for its own peoples? When do they become responsible for themselves?
— Firas Modad (@firasmodad) June 29, 2026
When do Africans become adults? https://t.co/iXZtH1M1F8
That's this editor's question. We've sent billions in aid. We're still sending aid. Musk is a convenient target, but he didn't even have the authority to shut down USAID … he was acting strictly as an advisor. But let's make him responsible for every child who dies in Africa.
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