House Republicans are celebrating the end of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), a federal agency that, among other things, distributed HIV/AIDS medications to children who otherwise don’t have access to them, with a meme that shows Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, and top GOP donor Elon Musk dancing with a casket labeled “USAID.”

“MAGA 1, Libs 0,” the caption reads. The political affiliation of the people who will die as a result of the program cuts is not known; that caption probably refers to how Republicans see the end of the program only in political terms as a win against liberals in the United States.

Related

11 HIV activists arrested after saying Trump USAID official has “blood on his hands”
The U.S. recently backed out of the United Nation’s HIV/AIDS program and froze billions in foreign HIV-prevention efforts.

Insights for the LGBTQ+ community

Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more.
Subscribe to our Newsletter today

One of the Trump administration’s first actions after Inauguration Day was freezing all the funding for programs administered by USAID, which is responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. This includes funds for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), an HIV-prevention program that has been credited with saving millions of lives.

According to Boston University mathematician Brooke Nichols, the funding cuts to PEPFAR will result in an adult dying every three minutes and a child dying every 31 minutes. She says that over 30,000 people have already died because HIV medications were taken away from people receiving them.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently rejected Trump’s emergency request to withhold billions in foreign aid, as Congress had already authorized the spending and the Constitution requires the president to execute the laws passed by Congress. However, it remains to be seen whether Trump will follow the high court ruling and reinstate the funding.

Republicans were called out on social media for celebrating the end of the life-saving program.