RoboRecap: PEPFAR, Power, and the Politics of Abandonment
Peter Wehner on Trump, Christian compassion, and the unraveling of America’s most successful global health initiative
Previously on Faithful Politics
In a recent episode of Faithful Politics, political writer and former Bush official Peter Wehner returned to discuss the dismantling of PEPFAR—America’s most successful global health initiative—and why he believes it’s symptomatic of something much darker happening within U.S. governance today.
The Undoing of a Global Lifeline
In 2003, President George W. Bush stunned the world by launching PEPFAR—the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief—a $15 billion program that quickly became the most effective health initiative in history to combat a single disease. It was a rare bipartisan triumph, praised by everyone from Bono to the late Ted Kennedy, and quietly sustained across multiple administrations.
Until now.
According to Peter Wehner, who was extremely familiar with the program during his time in the Bush White House, PEPFAR has been “de facto dismantled” under Donald Trump’s second term. Through a sweeping series of executive orders—including the dissolution of USAID and a stop-work order on foreign aid—Wehner says the Trump administration has “promoted death and suffering on a mass scale” by cutting off the very infrastructure that kept HIV/AIDS patients alive.
“This is not like a light switch you can just turn on and off,” Wehner warned. “Once you destroy the delivery system, even if the money comes back, it can’t reach people in time.”
With USAID gone, hospitals are closing, supply chains are broken, and people who once depended on PEPFAR’s support are dying—55,000 and counting, by some estimates.
Faith, Politics, and a Deafening Silence
Wehner, a devout Christian, pulled no punches when reflecting on the silence from many in the faith community—particularly white evangelicals. Though groups like World Vision, Catholic bishops, and even Franklin Graham once supported the initiative, Wehner says most have either ignored its demise or followed Trump’s lead.
“They’re not just silent. Some are defending what’s happening,” he said. “They’ve bought into this MAGA ethos where cruelty and chaos are virtues, and soft power is weakness.”
That ethos, Wehner argued, sees public servants as part of a corrupt “deep state,” rationalizes budget cuts that save pennies while costing lives, and treats every humanitarian program as suspect if it’s not directly serving domestic political goals.
“The MAGA movement is not about building,” he said. “It’s about destroying what already exists—especially if it reflects compassion, cooperation, or global engagement.”
When Soft Power Breaks Down
PEPFAR wasn’t just about saving lives—it was also a key instrument of American soft power. “It created goodwill. It showed people around the world that America could be a force for good,” Wehner explained. “Now, that trust is gone.”
Even if the program were restored, Wehner said, countries and workers burned by the U.S. may not return. “You’re not going to upend your life again to rebuild something that could be shut down overnight.”
As the Trump administration pursues broader cuts across NIH, the FDA, and global development, Wehner believes we’re witnessing something more than policy change: “This is a crisis of democracy, of morality, and of basic human decency.”
Hope, Despite It All
Still, Wehner closed the episode on a note of quiet faith. “We’re called to be faithful, not necessarily successful,” he said. “We can’t all change history, but we can be witnesses. In our families, our neighborhoods, our churches—every act of compassion counts.”
To hear the full conversation with Peter Wehner, watch the episode here:
👉 Faithful Politics on YouTube
There’s more to the story—including a few moments we couldn’t cover in this article.
Relevant Mentions
🤖 RoboRecap: Created by AI, fact-checked by transcripts, and slightly terrified of Elon Musk with a chainsaw.