09/05/2025

Trump Administration Shatters a Long Legacy of Bipartisan Support for Promoting Democracy Abroad

The U.S. has long supported democracy throughout the world

The U.S. has long used the promotion of democracy overseas as a crucial form of "soft power," not only to gain ideological influence in global geopolitics, but also to foster the emergence of political systems overseas that are compatible with American security and economic interests.

However, President Donald Trump’s proposed 2026 budget contains more than $10 billion in cuts to funds and organizations that promote democracy abroad by, for example, monitoring elections, strengthening democratic political parties and supporting civil society groups.

The most widely-publicized casualty is the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the largest single U.S. organization promoting democracy overseas, which the administration wants to merge into the State Department with 83 percent of its programs canceled. Other democracy promotion engines—including the Democracy Fund and the Economic Support Fund—face severe cuts, as well. One proposed budget cut that has received far less attention is the defunding of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED)—a non-governmental organization created during the Reagan administration that has long enjoyed bipartisan support and receives almost all of its funding from an annual congressional appropriation.

Please select this link to read the complete article from TIME.