Many of the people President-elect Donald Trump has appointed to represent the United States overseas are severely lacking in diplomatic experience, and several foreign policy experts are blasting the incoming president over his choice of diplomats.
The Guardian reported that several of Trump's picks for U.S. ambassadors — like former NFL player Herschel Walker to the Bahamas and former Fox News personality Kimberly Guilfoyle to Greece — are being roundly mocked over their inexperience. Foreign policy analyst Joe Cirincione told the outlet that he's so far been disappointed by Democrats' muted response to Trump's ambassador nominees.
"We have a diplomatic clown car that’s about to be rolling up at the Capitol with all these idiots waiting to be confirmed – but where’s the outrage?" Cirincione said.
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Even though foreign diplomats all require Senate confirmation, no ambassador nominee has failed a confirmation vote since the 1800s, according to the Guardian. But former ambassador Laura Kennedy — who oversaw the U.S. mission to Turkmenistan during both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations — urged senators to be diligent in carrying out their Constitutional duty to properly vet all presidential appointees.
"What’s really crucial and has always been part of this business, is the Senate gives advice and consent,” Kennedy said. “My one real ask is that the Senate take its responsibility seriously, evaluate each candidate on its merits, and not be shy about withholding consent.”
Some of Trump's diplomatic choices are more experienced picks that have had prior roles in U.S. embassies around the globe, like Ambassador to Canada nominee Pete Hoekstra, who was Trump's former ambassador to the Netherlands. And former Ambassador to Portugal George Glass — an investment banker — has since been tapped to lead the U.S. mission to Japan. But according to former U.S. Ambassador to Mozambique and Peru, Dennis Jett, Trump committed a grave error in selecting former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee to be U.S. Ambassador to Israel. Jett pointed out Huckabee's position that the Palestinian-controlled West Bank is not under Israeli military occupation, which directly conflicts with the broad consensus of the international community.
"These outrageously bad appointments are a feature of every president," Jett said. "But what’s amazing about Trump is that it’s almost like, ‘OK, who are the worst people we can come up with.’ We seem to be going out of our way to prove we are not a serious country."
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Click here to read the Guardian's article in full.