Trump's offensive ambassadors

Click herefor Tom Nichols' article in The Atlantic, "The Diplomats Who Carry Trump's Grievances Abroad," subtitled "Some of the president's ambassadors keep getting into needless conflicts."

He singles out felon Charles Kushner, ambassador to France (and Jared's father). He says the Kushner appointment was meant to be offensive. He quotes professor and historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat as saying "Kushner 'was put there as a (pardoned) felon to symbolize the death of democratic notions of diplomacy in the US. This thuggish individual was installed in Paris as an act of aggression towards democratic France.'”

Then there's Tom Rose, Trump's ambassador to Poland, who apparently took offense when the speaker of the lower house of the Polish parliament opined that Trump did not deserve a Nobel Peace Prize. [Duh.]

Must mention Pete Hoekstra, one of the most unpopular people in Canada and Trump's ambassador, who  "delivered a Trumplike—and expletive-laced—tirade criticizing Canada and defending the president’s tariffs." As a Canadian, I'm aware that he's committed a string of other offenses toward his host country.

He mentions Brandon Judd and Billy Long, ambassadors to Chile and Iceland, respectively.

But he reserves most of his venom for "the king of ambassadorial buffoonery is former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, an evangelical Christian who is now America’s ambassador in Jerusalem." Talking to Tucker Carlson, Huckabee referred to the idea of Israel taking over "the entire Middle East," saying “It would be fine if they took it all, but I don’t think that’s what we’re talking about here today.”

So it wasn't his host country that Huckabee offended: it was basically everyone else in the Middle East. Nichols says:

Trump has elevated diplomatic incompetence to an art. Aside from letting Huckabee loose in the Middle East, he sent an unqualified loyalist, Matthew Whitaker, to NATO. He also stashed his son’s ex-girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle in the embassy in Athens. And even in smaller and less complicated postings, Trump has made wince-inducing choices: America’s ambassador to the Bahamas is Herschel Walker, a former football player whose campaign for the U.S. Senate in Georgia imploded because of scandals and the candidate’s obvious incompetence. What’s Trump got against the Bahamians?

He winds up:

Of course, the insults are the point. Trump seems to have a special loathing for our allies. He has used some of these appointments as a middle finger to states and organizations that he does not understand. He likely views some of them as impediments to his plans and schemes—such as, say, Norway, which he thinks is responsible for shutting him out of the Nobel Prize competition. What better way to stick it to those uppity French than by sending a convicted felon? Why not saddle NATO with a guy who has no foreign-policy experience?

Trump and his supporters might think it’s a hoot to watch Europeans seethe while Ambassador Kim Guilfoyle eats baklava and strolls under the shadow of the Acropolis, but America needs competent representation in the world’s capitals, especially when contemplating risky policies. Last week, General Dan Caine reportedly expressed concern about going to war with Iran while the country’s alliances are not in order. He may have been thinking not only of the damage done by Trump’s approach to foreign relations but also about the crew of bumblers and hangers-on whom the president has sent to represent America around the world.