Daily Kos84%
Thousands desperately turn to sex work after DOGE killed USAID 85%
By Oliver Willis92%
7/23/2026, 11:00:00 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 25 faulty reasoning types, including Availability Heuristic, Confirmation Bias, and Post Hoc (False Cause), with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 24.8% saturation with 121 hits. Analysis detected 1,099 faulty-reasoning hits from 487 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 76.7% and a BS Rank of 85% (3,380 of 21,887 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 84.60% of the article peer group.
U.S.
Agency for International Development workers, who previously relied on government funding to help local communities, have been forced to turn to highly dangerous sex work after the agency was killed by the Trump administration.
The Associated Press released a report Thursday on the plight of these workers in Nepal.
Before the disruption to USAID, many workers were employed in Nepalese clinics, helping people living with HIV to get PrEP treatment, which helps to prevent infections.
NGO Federation of Nepal President Arjun Bhattarai estimated that 35,000 aid workers lost their jobs after the cuts that were triggered by the Trump administration.
In the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term, billionaire Elon Musk was selected by Trump—after donating millions to his presidential campaign—to lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
DOGE was touted as a plan to cut wasteful government spending, but it instead led to privacy violations, lies about cost savings, and the gutting and eventual closure of agencies like USAID.
Without USAID, sex work has become the only viable option for many Nepalese aid workers, who are also gender and sexual minorities.
Related | Trump’s vile attack dog gets nasty about USAID cuts
Manisha Dhakal, executive director of Nepal’s Blue Diamond Society, which advocates for LGBTQ+ rights, estimated that between 35% and 45% of aid workers have turned to sex work, as it’s one of the few types of work available to transgender people in Nepal.
The work exposes individuals to possible violence, sexually transmitted diseases, and other risks.
One worker interviewed by the AP said that their choice was to either to go into sex work or starve.
“The Trump administration’s executive order will cause people to die,” Dhakal said.
Experts on international aid have estimated a massive human toll from the cuts forced by Trump and Musk.
In addition to the plight of Nepalese aid workers, vulnerable populations around the world no longer have access to vital medication, job training, and other funds and services that USAID provided.
“Now we’re seeing conservative estimates show that 750,000 people have already died, most of those are children, and that’s within the first year,” former USAID global health official Nicholas Enrich told Current Affairs.
“And unfortunately, what we’re learning is that really this is just the tip of the iceberg.”
But in response to reporting on the deaths caused by his actions, Musk has lashed out.
After Democratic Rep.
Ro Khanna of California said that Musk needs to be held accountable for the fallout from his time at DOGE, Musk threw a tantrum on X.
“Time to sue this liar,” Musk wrote.
But the facts don’t lie: The DOGE disaster is hurting and killing people all over the world.
And the fault lies squarely on the shoulders of Elon Musk and the man who gave him the power to ruin so many lives: Donald Trump.
Analysis
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