Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of April 13

Trump officials thought USAID 'just did abortions' before gutting it: whistleblower

A bombshell new whistleblower book reveals that Trump administration officials tasked with dismantling USAID had no idea what the agency actually did, with one official admitting he assumed it only did abortions, and asked career health experts to dumb down their presentations to the level of a children's TV show.

Nicholas Enrich, then-USAID's acting assistant administrator for global health, recounted a stunning February 2025 meeting in his new book "Into the Wood Chipper: A Whistleblower's Account of How the Trump Administration Shredded USAID," to be published Tuesday, in which newly installed Trump officials sat down to learn about the agency they were already in the process of destroying.

When Enrich explained that the agency fought tuberculosis, malaria, HIV and childhood diseases — and that interrupting drug-resistant TB trials could create untreatable new strains — White House liaison Adam Korzeniewski asked him to prepare "Barney-style" slides for leadership and suggested using the term "Super TB" to hold their attention.

Korzeniewski also requested an "Outbreak"-style map showing disease spread "like the zombie apocalypse."

“If you can make one of those maps like they have in Outbreak, where it shows the red growing over time as the disease spreads? You know, like the zombie apocalypse? That would be great, very effective,” he said.

Trump deletes post depicting him as Jesus-like figure after backlash

Trump acknowledged posting the picture, telling reporters he thought it was "me as a doctor".

"This goes too far. It crosses the line," wrote David Brody, a journalist with the Christian Broadcasting Network. "A supporter can back the mission and reject this."

Huh. Republicans can criticize the president now?

Pope Leo continues to directly and indirectly criticize Trump, Vance, and the rest of the administration over the Iran war.

Pope: World is being ravaged by tyrants

“The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants, yet it is held together by a multitude of supportive brothers and sisters,” the Pope said.

He did not refer to Mr Trump or any other leader by name, but many will interpret his remarks as a barb towards the US president following their bitter row.

“Blessed are the peacemakers,” said the Pope, who was elected the successor of Pope Francis last May. “But woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth.”

The FBI Director Is MIA
Kash Patel has alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences

The IT-lockout episode is emblematic of Patel’s tumultuous tenure as director of the FBI: He is erratic, suspicious of others, and prone to jumping to conclusions before he has necessary evidence, according to the more than two dozen people I interviewed about Patel’s conduct, including current and former FBI officials, staff at law-enforcement and intelligence agencies, hospitality-industry workers, members of Congress, political operatives, lobbyists, and former advisers. Speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information and private conversations, they described Patel’s tenure as a management failure and his personal behavior as a national-security vulnerability.

They said that the problems with his conduct go well beyond what has been previously known, and include both conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences. His behavior has often alarmed officials at the FBI and the Department of Justice, even as he won support from the White House for his eager participation in Trump’s effort to turn federal law enforcement against the president’s perceived political enemies.

Several officials told me that Patel’s drinking has been a recurring source of concern across the government. They said that he is known to drink to the point of obvious intoxication, in many cases at the private club Ned’s in Washington, D.C., while in the presence of White House and other administration staff. He is also known to drink to excess at the Poodle Room, in Las Vegas, where he frequently spends parts of his weekends. Early in his tenure, meetings and briefings had to be rescheduled for later in the day as a result of his alcohol-fueled nights, six current and former officials and others familiar with Patel’s schedule told me.

Some of Patel’s colleagues at the FBI worry that his personal behavior has become a threat to public safety. An FBI director is expected to be available and focused on his job—especially when the nation is at war with a state sponsor of terrorism. Current and former officials told me that they have long worried about what would happen in the event of a domestic terrorist attack while Patel is in office, and they said that their apprehension has increased significantly in the weeks since Trump launched his military campaign against Iran. “That’s what keeps me up at night,” one official said.

...

Days before the United States launched its war with Iran, Patel fired members of a counterintelligence squad that was devoted, in part, to Iran. The director said in testimony before Congress that the agents had been let go because their work investigating Trump’s handling of classified documents had placed them in violation of the bureau’s ethics rules. But multiple officials told me that they were concerned that the firings had been rushed and would leave the U.S. shorthanded at a crucial moment.

Patel has publicly proclaimed that the FBI needs to demonstrate that it is “fierce,” and officials I spoke with said that he is fixated on that image in private as well. He recently expressed frustration with the look of FBI merchandise, complaining that it isn’t intimidating enough. Officials have grown accustomed to such behavior, and they have learned to roll their eyes at it. But they said that the absurdity masks real concerns about what Patel’s leadership has meant for an institution that the country relies on for national security and the safety of its citizens. “Part of me is glad he’s wasting his time on bullshit, because it’s less dangerous for rule of law, for the American public,” one official told me, “but it also means we don’t have a real functioning FBI director.”