One More on the Problems at State
Via Vox: The astonishing dysfunction of Trump’s State Department, in one quote
Mexico’s foreign minister, Luis Videgaray, was in Washington. The Los Angeles Times’s Tracy Wilkinson asked State spokesperson Mark Toner what the plans were for his visit. Toner, a highly regarded career foreign service officer, apparently had no idea that a key foreign dignitary was even in the city
The piece concludes:
There are two major takeaways:
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Tillerson’s State Department is so poorly staffed (he doesn’t yet have a deputy or a permanent spokesperson) and out of the loop on high-level decision-making that its press secretary wasn’t even informed of a visit by the top diplomat from one of Washington’s most important strategic partners.
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Foreign governments appear to be recognizing State’s weakness in the Trump administration and are bypassing America’s trained diplomatic corps. Instead, they’re speaking directly with White House aides whom they see as wielding real influence over the president. That includes ones like Jared Kushner — Trump’s son-in-law, who has no experience in international affairs or diplomacy.
Mexico knows a banana republic when it sees one, and knows how the game is played in such places.
This is, of course, exactly what Trump wants, and is yet another hallmark of authoritarianism.
Surely you don’t expect Tillerson to fulfill his diplomatic duties; his real job is to use the resources of the State Dep’t. to fly around the world & negotiate sweetheart oil deals while Trump is handling foreign policy on Twitter.
Are we witnessing the frontiers of a new American baksheesh-driven government? Will the GOP care as long as Paul and Mitch get their cut?
I think you dropped something in your post. “The piece concludes:” should be followed by another quote, I believe?
@Not the IT Dept.:
Ah, okay. Got it. Disregard earlier comment.
@Not the IT Dept.: I failed to format it as a quote. Thanks for noting that.
Other usually unexperienced problems had to face with these kind of problems. In some sense, Trump is similar to Carter: a pretty unexperienced politician that does not have a base of support among the elected officials of it’s own party.
@Just ‘nutha ig’nint cracker:
1. How relations are being built with the Trump regime. – https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/kushners-set-to-get-dollar400-million-from-chinese-firm-on-tower/ar-AAogC9k
2. https://qz.com/930896/a-curious-timeline-of-trademarks-granted-to-donald-trump-by-an-increasingly-helpful-china/
3. http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/13/politics/donald-trump-xi-jinping-summit-mar-a-lago/
I think we are about to see a big “never mind” about China and U.S. trade and security tensions. As Trump said during campaign: “If you are nice to him, he believes in being nice you.”
As I have been saying since 8 November, we are so screwed.