Culture 5 min read By Mason Emerson
Bono Calls DOGE Aid Cuts «Unconscionable» and Says Republican Party Has Been «Hijacked»
U2 frontman Bono criticized Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency cuts to international aid in a New York Times interview, calling the dismantling of USAID «unconscionable» and saying the Republican Party has been taken over by an «aggressive» force. The Edge also weighed in on the band's approach to politics as U2 prepares to release its 16th album, «Carnaval De Luz», on November 13.
U2 singer Bono has sharply criticized the Trump administration's sweeping cuts to international aid, describing the dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development under Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency as «unconscionable» and warning that the consequences will be measured in human lives. In an interview with The New York Times alongside guitarist The Edge, the frontman also said the Republican Party has been «hijacked» and urged conservative voters to reclaim it.
Bono framed the current political moment in stark terms, calling it «the greatest heist in the history of the world: stealing America.» He stressed that his objection was not to conservatism itself but to what he described as an aggressive takeover of the party. «I don't want to put off good people who vote conservative, who vote Republican. Their party's been hijacked, and it's an aggressive takeover. I want to invite them back. I want them to return,» he said. He added that people vote conservative for «all kinds of reasons that are OK» and that the conversation should avoid the usual deadlock.
The singer tied his concern directly to his long record of activism, noting 25 years of work in international development. Asked about the aid reductions overseen by DOGE, Bono pointed to estimates of the mortality that could follow. «I don't know how many fatalities will eventually be attributed to the DOGE cuts,» he said, citing a projection published in The Lancet suggesting that up to five million children under five could die by 2030. «And let's say they're half wrong,» he added. «What Christian household, what Catholic household, what Jewish household, anyone of faith, in fact anyone of conscience, would allow the hemorrhaging of human life that is going to happen as a result of these DOGE cuts? It's unconscionable.»
The Lancet study referenced in the interview projected that continued drastic reductions in USAID funding could result in roughly 14 million additional deaths worldwide by 2030, including about 4.5 million children under five. Bono has campaigned for debt relief, poverty reduction and international development for decades, and he previously clashed with Musk over the same issue after an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience in May 2025. During that conversation he cited estimates of deaths linked to the funding reductions and described aid supplies left undistributed. «There's food rotting in boats, in warehouses — 50,000 tons of it,» he said at the time. «The people who knew the codes, who were responsible for distributing that aid, were fired. That's not America, is it?» Musk responded on X by calling the singer «such a liar/idiot» and claiming that «zero people have died» as a result of the cuts. The following month, Bono joined former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush in paying tribute to USAID staff who had lost their jobs.
The Edge, speaking in the same interview, said he broadly shares Bono's concerns but wants U2's music to offer listeners something constructive. «I share a lot of Bono's views on these things and we feel a responsibility, I suppose, to address what we see going wrong with the world, but you can't do it incessantly,» he said. «What we want to do is draw attention to something that's a kind of antidote, something that is better.»
The political remarks come as U2 mark their 50th anniversary and prepare to release their 16th studio album, «Carnaval De Luz», on November 13. It will be their first full-length collection of new material since 2017's «Songs Of Experience». The band have shared the single «The Greatest Show On Earth» and announced the first dates of a 2027 world tour, with shows confirmed in Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. The tour will mark their first full-scale live performances since their Las Vegas Sphere residency ended in 2024, and will see drummer Larry Mullen Jr. return following surgery. U2 celebrated the anniversary in September with surprise performances in Dublin, including a return to Mount Temple Comprehensive School, where the four members originally met in 1976.
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