WashingtonAlthough diplomacy is soft power, it has also been used as a soft landing in President Donald Trump’s administration recently.
When national security adviser Mike Waltz accidentally admitted a journalist to a Signal communication regarding military plans, he was nominated as a UN ambassador. In less than two months in office, IRS Commissioner Billy Long contradicted the administration’s rhetoric, so Trump appointed Long as his ambassador to Iceland.
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Additionally, after failing to connect with Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s close-knit team, Trump this weekend appointed State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce as deputy representative to the U.N.
It is possible to see the new appointments as consolation prizes for leaving a prominent position in the Trump administration after difficult terms. Even though their previous positions in the administration were inappropriate, they also show how much Trump is attempting to retain his supporters. The Republican president is offering his top appointees another opportunity to remain in his government, breaking with the reality TV program that helped make him a household name.
John Bolton, another former Trump national security advisor who is now a Trump critic, stated, “It’s not like The Apprentice.”
Trump fired more people during his first administration.
Trump was new to politics during his first term in the White House, made a lot of hiring decisions based on suggestions from others, and saw a high staff turnover rate. Because Trump has filled his second government with dependable supporters, there have been fewer high-profile exits.
However, those departing are frequently showered with praise and maintained in Trump’s political circle, which may keep them from turning into critics who can attack him on television, something that didn’t happen to a huge list of former first-term officials.
The president appoints ambassadors, and Trump is free to designate anybody he wants, but many will eventually need Senate approval. Top ambassadorships are usually given to major donors as a reward.
“These positions are highly coveted and reserved for the president’s most loyal supporters because it is an enormous honor to represent the United States as an ambassador,” said White House spokesman Anna Kelly. The president has complete faith in Mike Waltz, Billy Long, and Tammy Bruce to further his foreign policy objectives since they are all ardent patriots who support the America First program.
From glitch to new employment
When Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, disclosed in March that Waltz had included him to a private text chain on an encrypted messaging app that was used to discuss preparations for a military action against Houthi insurgents in Yemen, it seemed as though Waltz’s days were numbered.
At first, Trump defended Waltz, dismissing the episode as a technicality.The president declared that Waltz would be leaving, although not permanently, around five weeks later. He presented the shift in employment as a reason to rejoice.
Trump said in announcing Waltz’s transfer on May 1 that “Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our Nation’s Interests first, from his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress, and as my National Security Advisor.” In his new position, I’m sure he’ll act similarly.
JD Vance, the vice president, likewise denied rumors that Waltz had been fired.
The media is trying to portray this as a dismissal. Vance stated in an interview with Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier that Donald Trump has fired a number of individuals. He does not thereafter assign them to Senate-confirmed positions.
Bolton, who was President George W. Bush’s ambassador to the United Nations until joining Trump as national security adviser in 2018, described it as an opportunity to take a different route, but not the one Waltz took.
Bolton said of Trump’s reassignments, “The lesson is sometimes you do more good for yourself looking nice.”
Bruce was chosen for a UN position as well.
Ironically, a reporter’s inquiry during a press briefing was how Bruce found out about Waltz’s departure.
“It’s obvious that you just told me this,” she said. I have some ideas about what might happen, but you don’t want to get ahead of yourself by making assumptions or making assumptions about what might happen, she continued.
Bruce, a former contributor to Fox News Channel, is close to Trump and was a vocal supporter of his foreign policies. She cut the number of State Department briefings with media from four or five days a week to two during her approximately six months as spokesman.
However, Bruce had also started to routinely refuse to answer questions about the efficacy, substance, or coherence of the administration’s policies regarding the Middle East, Russia’s war in Ukraine, and other hotspots around the world.
Bruce, however, stated at a briefing on July 22 that he had discussed with Rubio that Special Envoy Witkoff is currently traveling to the Gaza Strip. Special envoy Steve Witkoff was actually visiting Europe to talk about concerns, including Gaza, according to three other officials.
Nevertheless, Trump wrote on Saturday that Bruce did an excellent job at the State Department and would be a great representative of our nation at the UN.
Former U.S. deputy U.N. ambassador Robert Wood, who was acting spokesperson under President Barack Obama and deputy State Department spokesman under President George W. Bush, expressed doubt that Bruce’s new role constituted a promotion. Wood went on to serve the remainder of Obama’s term and the whole first Trump administration as the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Conference on Disarmament.
It’s difficult to picture Tammy Bruce’s appointment as the U.S. Deputy Representative to the U.N. being viewed as a promotion given the MAGA world’s contempt for anything related to the U.N., which alludes to Trump’s Make America Great Again campaign.
Bruce stated that Trump’s declaration that he wanted her in a new post was unexpected during her last State Department briefing on Tuesday. However, she termed the move particularly poignant because it allowed her to continue serving the State Department, to which she has grown quite close.
Ahead are exciting times!
Next is Long, a former Republican congressman from Missouri who was the Senate’s shortest-tenured IRS commissioner since the post’s establishment in 1862. On multiple occasions, he contradicted administration statements.
Last month, Long announced the end of the IRS Direct File program. Later, an IRS representative said it wouldn’t be, citing provisions in the tax and spending bill that Trump has supported. Additionally, according to the Washington Post, Long’s IRS differed with the White House regarding the sharing of taxpayer data with immigration officials in order to assist in the identification of those who are in the United States unlawfully.
Long wrote, “Exciting times ahead!” after finding out that Trump wanted him in Reykjav.
Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary for the White House, refused to comment on Tuesday on the reasons behind Long’s dismissal as IRS chief and deployment to Iceland. According to her, the president believes Billy Long may be a valuable asset to the administration and adores him.
Usually, these things don’t work out.
Trump does not always signal the easy landings.
After working under Witkoff as deputy envoy to the Middle East, former television pundit Morgan Ortagus, a spokeswoman for the State Department during Trump’s first term, is now a special adviser to the UN.
Ortagus might not be a good fit, as Trump anticipated. When he announced her as Witkoff’s deputy in January, he wrote that Morgan had a three-year feud with him but that she had hopefully learned her lesson.
Trump continued, “I’m not doing this for me, I’m doing it for them.” These things typically don’t work out, but she has a lot of Republican support. Let’s observe what occurs.
Ortagus was in the position for fewer than six months.
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This report was written in Washington by Fatima Hussein and Matthew Lee of the Associated Press.
