Today, Nicholas Enrich joined the Advisory Board of the Alliance 4 American Leadership. Nick wrote the New York Times bestseller Into the Wood Chipper: A Whistleblower’s Account of How the Trump Administration Shredded USAID.
Nick will be joining us for a discussion about his book and the fight to restore USAID on July 22 at 2 pm ET. We’ll be having an open discussion, and you are welcome to ask questions.
Nick is also going on a national book tour organized by the Alliance for American Leadership, USAID Alumni Association, and OneAID. He’ll be speaking in Chicago today and you can see the full book tour schedule below.
Want to bring Nick to your area? We can schedule him online or in-person at your library, bookstore, church, synagogue, Indivisible chapter, political club, Rotary club, or other venue. Email outreach@A4AL.org.
Buy Your Copy of Into the Woodchipper
USAID was never able to tell its story to the American people. This is our chance to change that.
Can’t host Nick? Help us organize more local events for USAID by donating $25 today.
At every stop, we’re inviting a Member of Congress to introduce Nick. Will you help show Congress there’s strong support for USAID in every community?
About the Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“Propulsive…When the full history of this moment is ready to be written, Into the Wood Chipper will be a vivid source.” —The New York Times
“A gripping page-turner that doubles as both a warning and an inspiration.” —Samantha Power, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of A Problem from Hell
A civil servant discovers his breaking point when the Trump administration’s cruelty and indifference threaten to violate the oath he swore to uphold.
Nicholas Enrich had finally achieved his lifelong dream: becoming USAID’s lead official for global health. But that dream turned out to be a nightmare in the tumultuous time after President Trump’s second inauguration.
In the months that followed, USAID became the first target of Elon Musk’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The mission to which Enrich had dedicated his career was being dismantled before his eyes—even the name of the agency was removed from the building’s facade. Enrich witnessed firsthand the Trump administration’s lies, how it systematically prevented USAID from providing lifesaving foreign aid, and the death and suffering around the world that resulted from careless decisions. Finally, determining he could no longer keep quiet and risking the career that he loved deeply, Enrich released a set of whistleblowing memos exposing the administration’s illegal and destructive actions.
Enrich was put on administrative leave, yet his memos went viral and had a sustained impact. In the days following their release, hundreds of canceled aid projects were revived, and the documents were cited in a Supreme Court case on the legality of USAID’s dissolution. While his memos were too late to save USAID, Enrich was one of the first government officials to publicly blow the whistle on DOGE’s reckless destruction, sounding an early alarm bell for other federal agencies that would soon find themselves in the crosshairs.
Urgent and profoundly human, Enrich’s story offers an astonishing behind-the-scenes look at a federal agency under siege, from the early days when Enrich and his team were unaware of what was to come to the shockingly ignorant, callous, and bigoted conversations they witnessed. Enrich reveals in this detailed, no-holds-barred account what was truly at stake when DOGE set out to dismantle one of America’s most effective humanitarian institutions, and how millions of lives hung in the balance.
No posts
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.