Language used by President Donald Trump and his government to slash US-funded foreign aid is being adopted by other governments to attack NGOs and independent media, rights groups warn.

Civil society groups in parts of Eastern Europe and beyond -- long targeted by discredit-and-defund campaigns because of the light they shone on corruption and lack of transparency -- are now also dealing with Trumpian rhetoric, they said.

Trump administration statements "are being weaponised in real-time by autocrats and dictators across Eastern and Southeastern Europe to justify and deepen their crackdown on independent media, NGOs, and human rights defenders," Dave Elseroad, of the Human Rights House Foundation, told AFP.

From Hungary to Serbia, to Georgia and Bosnia, non-governmental organisations and independent media outlets working to bolster democratic norms are hearing officials borrow White House phrases to justify officials' stances against them.

The range of expressions available is broad and growing.

It includes Trump's claim that the US Agency for International Development (USAID) was "run by radical lunatics", and his billionaire advisor Elon Musk's calling the agency a "criminal organisation"........

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