Information about the appalling waste of American taxpayers’ money continues to pour out like pus from a lanced boil. Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency team were tasked by the Trump administration with cleaning up the federal government, exposing and ending waste, fraud and outright theft. Right on cue, those whose livelihoods depend upon the unintended largesse of taxpayers filed lawsuits, getting multiple federal judges to issue arguably unconstitutional injunctions, in an effort to prevent that exposure and keep the money flowing.

A staggering amount of this grift has been run through unaccountable and unsupervised aid agencies like the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Last week, I wrote about the 2014 documentary “Poverty, Inc.,” which details the horrific damage international aid has done to poor countries. I was initially inclined to give the benefit of the doubt to those who have dumped products and commodities into third-world nations, destroying their own productive capabilities, making it impossible for indigenous entrepreneurs and small business owners to compete or grow their companies, and — inexplicably — giving incredible leverage and power to the dictators and corruptocrats who run impoverished nations’ governments.

Upon reflection, I don’t think it’s well-intentioned but misguided. I think it’s deliberate.

The most vocal defenders of USAID and the status quo are the same people who claim that humans cause climate change, and who insist that the only way to prevent it is to limit agriculture and manufacturing, eliminate gas-powered vehicles and appliances, reduce travel and single-family home ownership, eat bugs instead of meat, and much more.

In other words, the destruction of western civilization: our way of life, our prosperity and our liberty.

The United States is the big target because of our entrepreneurial capitalism, which is the foundation of small business creation, and the massive middle class those businesses made possible.

The COVID-19 lockdowns were a taste — and perhaps a test — of what happens if the government can hobble or close small businesses. In an average year, about 600,000 new businesses start, and about that same number close their doors. But during the COVID-19 lockdowns, we lost 800,000 businesses.

It would have been much worse were it not for governors like South Dakota’s Kristi Noem, who never imposed lockdowns, and Florida’s Ron DeSantis, who reopened businesses, beaches and schools earlier and kept tourism afloat.

In other words, it was America’s federalist system — 50 states with independent governments — that prevented our leviathan federal government (and deceitful functionaries like Anthony Fauci) from bringing the entire country down.

Who defended or exploited economically crippling lockdowns? The World Health Organization. The World Economic Forum (which viewed the pandemic as an opportunity for the “Great Reset”). The United Nations. Bill Gates and the other globalists. And, of course, then-president Joe Biden, who said whatever he was told to, even if it was demonstrably false.

If you’re trying to destroy the thriving middle class that prevents your complete political and economic domination in developed nations, why on earth would you ever let poor nations develop?

You wouldn’t. You would keep those people poor, ignorant and powerless.

It shouldn’t surprise us when Musk and DOGE expose the outrageous expenditures that USAID has given to enemies like the Taliban. “Foreign aid” has been a massive fraud designed to cover up efforts to steal from the American public, undermine and weaken us, bring us to our knees. And some of our own leaders have been paid well to look the other way.

Viewed in that light, it’s clear why “aid” organizations have continued practices that prevent citizens of the poorest nations with the most corrupt governments from ever lifting themselves out of poverty.

In fairness, I think that most employees and volunteers within these aid organizations believe they are helping, as do the millions of Americans who have donated to them. But as “Poverty, Inc.” showed, those who see first-hand the damage that has been done have been trying to call attention to the adverse effects of aid for decades.

Their cries have fallen on deaf ears. Until now.

Now that Americans can see the extent of the theft from us, perhaps they will demand answers from those pulling the strings. Because it certainly looks like it was all part of the same plan.