Foreign Policy

We’ll Have No Ambassadors Soon

Written by SK Ashby

Ambassadors are typically granted a grace period of service when a new presidential administration takes office, but the Trump regime doesn't care about precedent or political norms.

All politically-appointed ambassadors and envoys have been ordered to leave their posts before despot-elect Donald Trump's inauguration.

The mandate — issued “without exceptions,” according to a terse State Department cable sent on Dec. 23, diplomats who saw it said — threatens to leave the United States without Senate-confirmed envoys for months in critical nations like Germany, Canada and Britain. In the past, administrations of both parties have often granted extensions on a case-by-case basis to allow a handful of ambassadors, particularly those with school-age children, to remain in place for weeks or months.

Moving forward without ambassadors to some of our closest allies is obviously a problem, but the bigger problem could be the ignorant toadies and donors Trump replaces them with.

Ambassadorships are typically granted to donors and minor celebrities because they're among the few people who can afford to engage in the necessary lifestyle of an ambassador. That in itself has never been a significant problem in the past, but the loathsome breed of people who donate to Donald Trump could pose a problem.

Trump and his appointees could spark an international incident on any given day with a single stupid tweet.