More Deep-doo-doo at “State”
This report that the Trump Administration is trying to reduce State Department employment by 641 is meeting opposition from the union representing Foreign Service Officers.
President Trump has said repeatedly that “we have too many people” in the US government and that he wants to run a lean regime.
That was visible at his arrival in Hanoi on Friday, November 11, where the position of Ambassador remains unfilled. At the arrival scene, Trump was left to himself to greet whomever was present. If the State Department has staff in Hanoi, it appeared that they did not control access to President Trump.
Political appointees who served at the U.S. Department of State–or the many agencies where career Foreign Service Officers are placed–know that FSOs represent “State” first, and their country second. A solution is to surround these FSOs with political appointees knowledgeable about foreign policy and diplomacy who share the political philosophy of the President.
President Trump has no political philosophy, just instincts, and is unaware that there are more than enough professionals who share the philosophy of limited government of the voters who elected him to control the Department of State. So, he travels the world without loyal assistants and places the United States at risk to foreign governments that know exactly what their interests are and are pursuing them.
What’s wrong here is deeper than the idiosyncratic personality of a Celebrity. His Party is in complete disarray and the American people sense that we have no leadership from Trump, the GOP or the Democrats and that soon there will be hell to pay.
