Jim Richardson believes we can still agree about US foreign aid

For years, America's foreign aid programs benefited from something that a lot of other policy areas did not. Both Democrats and Republicans, for the most part, supported them. They weren't loud about it. And yes, there were some hot button political topics that the two parties routinely fought over. But the basic idea that US foreign aid programs were worth the investment was one that Republican and Democratic lawmakers could usually get behind. Or at least we thought it was. When Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency set its sights on USAID, one of the startling things that happened was that this bipartisan support for the agency, its programs, and its workforce broke down. Suddenly, longtime Republican supporters of USAID were either missing in action or echoing Musk's allegations about a rogue agency spreading liberal ideology around the world. For U.S. aid advocates, it was like the walls came tumbling down. The strategies and talking points that kept USAID funded and operational for years were no longer effective. Jim Richardson is a conservative Republican who served at USAID during Trump's first administration and oversaw one of the largest reforms in the agency's history. He went on to hold a key foreign assistance role at the State Department and was, for a long time, the right-hand man to former Congressman and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Now he's on the outside, trying to rebuild that bipartisan consensus as National Outreach Director at the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition. And he's more optimistic than you might think about the possibility of reigniting a reasonable conversation. Here's Jim Richardson. Jim

Richardson, welcome to the podcast. Thanks, Michael. It's great to be here.

I think you first crossed my radar during the first Trump administration when you came into USAID. I don't know exactly what the title was, but you came in to basically lead this massive reorganization process during Trump 1.0. You came into that role with a really long career in Congress and then specifically in support of Trump. former Secretary of State, former Congressman Mike Pompeo, a really close association with him.

I'm curious,

as you sort of entered that USAID world, what were your impressions at that time of U.S. foreign aid programs? And were they kind of challenged or confirmed once you arrived inside the agency?

No, that's a great question. Like, it's been a great journey. I had spent 15 years on Capitol Hill. My first title was senior advisor, which, of course, meant nothing. And everything. And everything. And I was one of the very first political appointees to show up at USAID. I wanted to go there. I mean, I had, you know, obviously the... then director Pompeo, uh, was really kind and sort of offered to help. And so the white house said, Hey, where would you, where would you want to go? And, um, it's like, you can go to DOD. I had long experience with budgeting and the defense departments or the state departments. I had been, one of my first roles was helping a Senator and SFRC. Um,

Senate

Foreign Relations Committee. Senator John Ashcroft, who was a senior member at the time. I was his foreign policy advisor. But