During the latest episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, U2 frontman Bono made some absurd claims about DOGE cuts to USAID, highlighting what he claimed were the devastating consequences of abruptly halting foreign aid programs.
Bono sounded the alarm over what he called a “hard cut” to American international aid, claiming the consequences have already turned deadly. “Just [a] recent report—it’s not proven—but the surveillance enough suggests 300,000 people have already died from just this cutoff,” he said, referencing the global food shortages tied to the funding freeze.
“There’s food rotting in boats, in warehouses,” Bono continued. “This will, will f—k you off. This will not… you will not be happy. No American will.”
He claimed there’s an estimated 50,000 tons of food meant for Gaza and Sudan is reportedly stuck in storage, including in Djibouti, South Africa, Dubai—and even Houston, Texas. Why? “Because the people who know the codes… are fired. They’re gone,” he explained. “What is that? That’s not America, is it?”
It’s interesting that in the same breath, Bono admitted the claims of the study weren’t proven, but preceded to treat them as gospel.
The study Bono referenced comes out of Boston University and was led by Brooke Nichols—but it’s not based on hard data. Instead, it relies entirely on predictive modeling. So Bono was wrong that “surveillance” proves that many deaths. It’s a bogus number. Completely. Don’t you think that if there were 300,000 excess deaths over just a few months, there would actually be hard evidence of it, instead of relying on some formula?
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While this may be a legitimate academic method, the projections aren’t grounded in direct evidence—they’re speculative forecasts built on assumptions. And we’ve seen this playbook before. Predictive models have long been used to push political agendas, especially when it comes to climate change. Time and again, so-called “consensus science” has relied on shaky assumptions, only to be later exposed as exaggerated or outright manipulated. There’s no reason to pretend this case is any different. A look at Brook Nichols’ X timeline clearly shows she has an agenda, including retweeting Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Her goal is consistent, advocate for funding, funding and more funding.
Naturally, Joe Rogan dropped some truth bombs on Bono.
“For sure, there have been a lot of organizations that do tremendous good all throughout the world,” Rogan pointed out to Bono. “Also, for sure, it was a money-laundering operation. For sure, there was no oversight. For sure, billions of dollars are missing—in fact, trillions—that are unaccounted for.”
He pointed to the lack of accountability in Washington, saying, “They don’t even know where [the money] went, because there’s no receipts.” Rogan paraphrased Elon Musk to drive the point home: “If any of this was done by a public company, the company would be delisted and the executives would be in prison. But in the United States, this is standard.”
He also highlighted the final weeks of Biden’s presidency, saying, “When Biden left office, when it was clear that Trump won, in the 73 days they spent $93 billion from the Department of Energy on just radical loans, just throwing money into places… And there’s no oversight. No receipts.”
BONO: “300,000 people have already died from this hard cut of USAID”
ROGAN: “It was a money laundering operation … Billions of dollars are missing … @elonmusk said if any of this was done by a public company, the company would be delisted and the executives would be in prison” pic.twitter.com/zLOLD7DK9f
— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) May 31, 2025
The USAID cuts were aimed squarely at rooting out waste and corruption—not legitimate humanitarian relief. For years, billions—possibly even trillions—of dollars earmarked for foreign aid have been funneled into bloated bureaucracies and absurd programs that no sane taxpayer would willingly fund. That’s exactly what DOGE is targeting. It’s about ending the abuse of the system so real aid can actually reach the people who need it. You’d think even Bono, who’s spent decades advocating for global relief, would welcome an effort to clean house. After all, cutting the fraud means more resources for real solutions—not less.
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