The D.C. Swamp Won’t Recede Because It’s Lucrative
- May 11, 2026
Michael Chamberlain, Townhall
An April 21 article lamented the plight of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s almost 16,000 laid-off employees and the “estimated 280,000 contractors, partners and local hires worldwide” affected by its demise.
The Times cited Sheryl Cowan as one of those harmed by President Trump’s shuttering of USAID. She lost her job, earning “$272,000 a year as a senior VP at a U.S.A.I.D.-funded nonprofit.” That nonprofit reportedly spent $28 million yearly on salaries and benefits to distribute … $4 million a year in grants.
The article rightly noted (though without irony), “When the Trump administration dismantled the sprawling global aid agency last year, it wiped out virtually an entire industry …” The swamp is large. It contains multitudes. It creates industries to dispose of the wealth that taxpayers send.
And it self-perpetuates. It attracts special interest groups and activists, lawyers by the thousands, rent-seeking companies and charlatans eager to make a buck selling government on the latest fad.
The swamp flourished and grew during the Biden administration. It was a great time to peddle fashionable DEI training to the federal government. The former president’s grand “net-zero” climate plans made it a great time to hawk climate consulting services, set up windmills and solar farms, and build EVs. And establishing “green banks.”