Former U.S. presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama have once again found common ground — this time to condemn Donald Trump’s dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). In a joint appearance with U2 frontman and longtime humanitarian Bono, the two leaders voiced deep concern over the loss of programs they say were vital to America’s global influence and moral leadership.

In a recently released video, Bush and Obama praised outgoing USAID employees, whose efforts against AIDS and HIV in Africa have been credited with saving more than 25 million lives. Both former presidents framed Trump’s decision not only as shortsighted policy but as a moral failure.

“You have shown the great strength of America through your efforts — and that is your compassionate spirit,” Bush told staff. “Is it in our national interest that 25 million individuals who would have died are now alive? I believe it is, and so do you.”

Bush, who has largely refrained from publicly criticizing Trump since 2016, looked visibly emotional as he thanked the departing workers. He helped establish the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) during his administration, a program still regarded as one of the most impactful humanitarian efforts in modern history.

Obama followed with sharper words. “Dismantling USAID is a disgrace and a calamity,” he said. “It erases some of the most essential work being done anywhere in the world. Eventually, leaders from both parties will realize how crucial you are.”

Their comments came after Trump, working with billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, formally shut down most of USAID’s international operations earlier this year. Only a small skeleton crew remains as the agency’s functions are absorbed by the State Department.

Musk had publicly attacked the agency months earlier, calling it “a viper’s nest of radical-left Marxists who despise America.” The Trump administration, citing years of waste and corruption, made USAID one of its first targets in its campaign to cut down what it described as bloated government bureaucracy.

The New York Post reported that the formal transfer of USAID’s functions to the State Department was completed this week. In the new structure, foreign assistance programs will be managed directly under Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who insists the move is about efficiency — not abandonment.

Rubio, announcing the change, pushed back against Bush and Obama’s criticism. “Aside from creating a global NGO industrial complex at taxpayer expense, USAID has little to show since the end of the Cold War,” he said. “Development goals have rarely been achieved, instability has often increased, and anti-American sentiment has grown stronger.”