Trump says the US will help in Asia quake. A former official says the system is now in 'shambles'

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: AP

Updated 6:27 PM EDT, March 28, 2025


WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday that the U.S. was going to help with the response to Southeast Asia’s deadly earthquake. But the effects of his administration’s deep cuts in foreign assistance through the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department will likely be tested in any response to the first big natural disaster of his second term.

Sarah Charles, a former senior USAID official who oversaw disaster-response teams and overall humanitarian work under the Biden administration, said the system was now “in shambles,” without the people or resources to move quickly to pull out survivors from collapsed buildings and otherwise save lives.

A powerful quake shook Myanmar and neighboring Thailand on Friday, killing at least 150 people and burying others under the rubble of high-rises. Asked about the quake by reporters in Washington, Trump said: “We’re going to be helping. We’ve already alerted the people. Yeah, it’s terrible what happened.” At the State Department, spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters the administration would use requests for assistance and reports from the region to shape its response to the quake.

“USAID has maintained a team of disaster experts with the capacity to respond if disaster strikes,” Bruce said. “These expert teams provide immediate assistance, including food and safe drinking water, needed to save lives in the aftermath of a disaster.” Despite cuts, “there has been no impact on our ability to perform those duties,” Bruce said. But it was also Friday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and a former associate of Elon Musk now in a senior position at USAID, Jeremy Lewin, notified staff and Congress they were firing most remaining USAID staffers and moving surviving agency programs under the State Department.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/trump-earthquake-usaid-disaster-asia-myanmar-001e305f0233611c0702629803e6239b

[Irish_Dem]

1. Trump will throw paper towels into the crowd.

Maybe set up some million dollar dinners for the rich people in the country.

[flor-de-jasmim]

2. He has probably fired whoever got him the paper towels last time.

[Irish_Dem]

3. Trump lives in his own reality.

He probably thinks those were fabulous pictures.

[ShazzieB]

13. Even though it was probably his own idea.

Because that's the kind of Jackhole he is.

[BattleRow]

42. Orange Aid

[littlemissmartypants]

4. This...

Is going to be interesting to watch. Especially when the tracker says P2025 has effectively ended USAID 100%.

The only entity that escaped cuts is Samaritans Purse.

Samaritan’s Purse Dodges Trump’s Foreign Aid Freeze
https://archive.ph/hcsfg

Let's see what "disaster aid" they are able to provide for the poor people suffering from this earthquake. Laying on of hands? Bilking the locals? Passing out Trump water to victims?

P2025 progress tracker:
https://www.project2025.observer/?search=USAID

Thanks for the post, BRDS. ❤️

[Eugene]

5. Don't forget loans with terms that would make The Devil proud.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. "Let's see what "disaster aid" they are able to provide for the poor people suffering from this earthquake."

Parts of TX just got 20" of rain yesterday, with homes, businesses, cars, and even emergency equipment like fire trucks, inundated. With the "elimination" (threatened) of FEMA, they won't even have anything to provide to that great red (although purple if everyone who should vote voted) state of TX.

[littlemissmartypants]

27. What a mess! And the West Virginia* flooding, too! ...

Plus, there are literally hundreds of fires burning all over our country from East to West, as well.

Of course, there's going to be no aid for the USA! We're just further down on the list.

There's no way President Psychopath can keep that "promise" to Myanmar/Thailand & the affected people.

There not only isn't anything left but Franklin Graham's grift in USAID, there's no staff to do anything. They were all fired yesterday.

He's blowing smoke out of his you know what, per usual.

*Renters in West Virginia could be eligible for FEMA Individual Assistance
Jessica Phillips
Wed, March 26, 2025 at 1:58 PM EDT
https://www.yahoo.com/news/renters-west-virginia-could-eligible-175800749.html

❤️

[Safe as Milk]

36. Hah! Who needs FEMA? There is no global warming,

no need for responding to extreme weather, no need to help in disasters. Just ask your neighbor for the help you need and go to church. If you pray hard enough, you can force God into action and he'll move you to Easy Street.

[barbtries]

20. making sure they all pray

before they do anything. fuck. fuckfuckfuck

[NJCher]

41. wanna' bet

Is going to be interesting to watch.

it will be nothing? This comment is all for show. He only said it because he knows he's in trouble. Just another lie to get him through to the next opportunity to lie.

[chicago guy]

6. Elon to the rescue

Trump’s going to send Elon with a cyber truck filled with paper towels. No other option Elon fired everyone who handled these issues. USA first

[Bumbles]

7. How I wish that really was funny!

[onlyadream]

9. He just wants to build hotels there.

So, haha… USAID was wrecked bc of him, so no hotels for you!

[Emile]

10. Gee, how courteous of him.

[twodogsbarking]

11. Trump is lying. Why would sensible people think otherwise.

[Midnight Writer]

25. Absolutely. Everything from him is a lie, a distraction, a con, a manipulation.

[twodogsbarking]

26. For those of us who have empathy we must step out of ourselves to understand Trump.

He ain't even in the same ball park as most people.

[Hugin]

12. On the same day as Noem vows to shutter FEMA...

We can’t even help ourselves.

I guess invoking tots & pears is about all the pearl clutching Fox News viewers care about. So, the Tangeranus has the US covered.

[LymphocyteLover]

15. tots and pears?

I like Tangeranus!

[Hugin]

16. Thoughts and prayers.

Using ‘tots & pears’ is done to illustrate how it’s over use in innumerate disasters and mass shootings over the last few decades by the Right Wing psychopaths has stripped it of any sincere meaning.

Much like “Butter Males” emerged from the incessant cacophony of “But, her emails” when pearl clutching about the handling of classified materials back when it mattered.

[LymphocyteLover]

24. Ah, yes, thanks

[LymphocyteLover]

14. Despite cuts, "there has been no impact on our ability to perform those duties," Bruce said.

She's a lying sack of shit

[NoMoreRepugs]

17. Doubtful they can provide domestic assistance. F'en lying twats.

[bluedigger]

18. Bottled water for mineral rights in perpetuity.

Art of the Steal.

[ShazzieB]

19. Schlump thinks his words are magical.

If he says something is true, then as far as he's concerned, it IS true (at that moment, not necessarily at any other moment). Most people outgrow magical thinking when they leave toddlerhood behind. He has never outgrown it, and never will.

[chouchou]

21. Trump and his so-called Team, gets in the nice new automobile....

...runs the damn thing into a wall, then thinks that a dime store can of paint will Fix-it-all-up. Typical Donnie Trump.

[IrishBubbaLiberal]

22. FUBAR. IDIOT Trump has fucked up EVERTHING

THE Mental Midget orange Shit stain destroyed
the entire US government, destroyed the same agencies that would be now utilized.

There isn’t the staff at US govt agencies to support such an international aid efforts. The entire Trump administration Senior officials are IDIOTS, are buffoons, incompetent inexperienced Trump ass-kissers.

[Alice B.]

23. I wonder if this might turn into an embarrassment for him; if he makes promises that the mighty US

is no longer able to deliver. While making breakfast, I spun this out to throwing Emusk under a bus (even if it is getting closer to that alleged May departure date as a non-whatever non-employee-employee).

May he be reminded of what he did to USAID all day every day.

[dreamland]

28. I doubt his words

He says things but doesn't have the capacity to care or help if it doesn't benefit him.

[NH Ethylene]

29. He says what people would like to hear.

He probably has no intention of helping.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

30. Meanwhile, China and others are flying in rescue and aid teams.

And, most Americans will be deceived into thinking we really helped......

In the long run, we'll pay dearly for this trend toward selfishness and greed. Someday, we might need help from Myanmar and Thailand...........

[republianmushroom]

31. More paper towels.

This time were sending Vance, he can throw a roll much farther.

[RazorbackExpat]

32. Trump has learned that Myanmar has rare earths

and it's ruled by strongmen. So, Let's Make a Deal!

[twodogsbarking]

33. He will hire some people of asian decent and do a photo op. They will be from the wrong country.

Then he will deport them.

[BobTheSubgenius]

34. OOOOOHHHHH!!!!

Asia is going to be getting paper towels! Oh, frabjous day!

[Figarosmom]

35. Just because trump says

We will help, doesn't mean we will. He says a lot of things he has no intention on doing. Especially when it comes to aid or charity.

He refused Georgia's request for FEMA help.

[0rganism]

37. Obvious play: take credit for someone else's relief effort

Maybe donate $20 million to the country whose aid program you intend to boast about as your own. Kind of optional but you've got the money to throw around, and it adds cover to your story.

It doesn't have to be real, just make it look real enough for the rubes to believe, and if the media calls you out on it, you can call them "fake" per usual.

[ananda]

38. Left hand, right hand... completely out of synch.

and neither one able to grasp anything.

[louis-t]

39. Just wait until hurricane season kicks in.

He is about to lose most of the southern half of the US. "You're on your own."

[nwduke]

40. I wouldn't hold my breath on that one🤬

He doesn’t even know where it is! Knowing his MO, he’ll tell them if you give me all your resources plus allow me to build a trump tower and casino, we may have a deal! (“Which I will eventually renege on!”)

[ReRe]

43. Thanks but No Thanks, Stupid

They have enough GD problems. And because you know, there's a price to your "help". Your help is just a "foot in the door".

[rambler_american]

44. They had better say Thank You

and pay us back with interest.

[Aviation Pro]

45. Big talk from the small penis

You gonna throw some paper towels, Motherfucker?