Rubio slammed over ‘huge mistake’ destroying American influence.

• Cowardice and cruelty’: Rubio slammed over ‘huge mistake’ destroying American influence.

After enduring days of harsh headlines and relentless ridicule, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio took to his personal social media account at 4:55 AM on Monday to announce the official, sweeping cancellation of the vast majority of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) contracts—igniting a firestorm of outrage and backlash.

Claiming a “6 week review” had been conducted, Secretary Rubio announced, “we are officially cancelling 83% of the programs at USAID.

Meanwhile, backlash is growing from Rubio’s announcement that USAID is being dismantled.

Huge mistake,” declared Michael McFaul, former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, now a Stanford University professor. “We needed reform of USAID not dismantlement. China is not ending is foreign assistance programs. In an age of great power competition, the Trump administration is unilaterally destroying one of our best instruments of soft power influence.”