I didn’t expect that the first great struggle of the Trump administration would focus on the United States Agency for International Development. But in hindsight it makes perfect sense, because U.S.A.I.D. sits at the place where the traditional conservative critique of government spending meets the populist critique of professional-class ideology: It’s two battles for the price of one.

In the traditional right-wing argument, the key problem with government is that its spending is prone to waste, fraud and abuse. Foreign aid is seen as especially wasteful because the money doesn’t flow back to the American taxpayer, and is especially vulnerable to abuse when it flows into countries run by corrupt governments eager to redirect U.S. dollars to self-enriching ends.

In the populist argument, the key problem with government is that it’s been captured by ideological progressives, for whom even neutral-sounding official goals provide cover for advancing social liberalism and woke causes. Because much of U.S.A.I.D.’s work has an explicitly cultural component, defending American values and funding ideas-driven enterprises, it is an especially ripe target for this kind of critique.

The populist critique is not unique to the Trump era: From the Cold War to the war on terror, many conservatives have been suspicious of liberal humanitarians and State Department do-gooders. But the critique’s potency and influence have increased sharply since the Obama era, as a cultural revolution has undeniably swept through the foundations and philanthropies and universities that are intertwined with the work of governmental institutions.

This is something that liberals lamenting the right’s war on foreign aid need to recognize: The specific examples of ideological mission creep that Elon Musk and various Republicans keep highlighting,PHL63 the various D.E.I. and L.G.B.T.Q.-related grants, are illustrative of a general transformation that nearly everyone experienced over the last decade, where institutions that used to have a putative neutrality and a modest liberal tilt became more self-consciously ideological, more intentionally left-wing. (This certainly extends to areas like scientific grant-making, another looming area of conflict.)

And this is a special problem for an institution like U.S.A.I.D. that’s supposed to represent the United States around the world. If you begin to assume that American values are just progressive values, you shouldn’t be surprised when conservatives lose faith in the mission. If you try to implement the revolution, don’t be surprised when you get Thermidor.

Speaking in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, where Vice President Kamala Harris has a slight edge in recent polls, Mr. Trump bristled at the notion that his struggles with women voters could cost him the election and suggested that his tough talk about immigration and economic proposals would resonate with them.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

Want all of The Times? Subscribe.ye7