In an op-ed for Foreign Affairs this Monday, former career Foreign Service officer and president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, William J. Burns, argues that President Trump has headed the biggest attack on US diplomacy that he's seen in his entire career.
"The contemptible mistreatment of Marie Yovanovitch—the ambassador to Ukraine who was dismissed for getting in the way of the president’s scheme to solicit foreign interference in U.S. elections—is just the latest example of President Donald Trump’s dangerous brand of diplomatic malpractice," Burns writes. "His is a diplomacy of narcissism, bent on advancing private interests at the expense of our national interests."
Burns is careful to point out that shady diplomacy and bullying of professional diplomats is nothing new, but the damage done by Trump and his inner circle "will likely prove to be even more severe to both diplomatic tradecraft and U.S. foreign policy."
According to Burns, today's leaders are backing down in the face of Trump's "war on diplomacy," which has been waged by Trump for nearly three years.
"The White House regularly pushes historic cuts to diplomacy and development spending, which is already 19 times smaller than the defense budget," writes Burns, pointing out that career diplomats have been "sidelined, with only one of 28 assistant secretary-rank positions filled by a Foreign Service officer, and more ambassadorships going to political appointees in this administration than in any in recent history."
"One-fifth of ambassadorships remain unfilled, including critical posts," with applications to join the Foreign Service declining "precipitously," Burns adds.
All actions that "distort diplomatic practice and decapitate the American interest," he writes.
"By using his public office for personal gain, Trump has affirmed Putin’s long-held conviction—shared by autocrats the world over—that Americans are just as venal and self-absorbed as they are, just more hypocritical about it."
Read the full op-ed here.
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