US STATE DEPARTMENT
SIMON BARBER: Diplomatic posts shrivel under undiplomatic president
Trump, solidly in the tradition of populist American demagoguery, loathes the state department
In an interview on Fox News, which does for President Donald Trump what ANN7 does for President Jacob Zuma, Trump defended his tardiness in making political appointments at the US state department, where some 70 top positions remain vacant. These include the assistant secretary of state for Africa and ambassador to SA. The US president is not convinced all of them need filling. As for the department’s career officers, "we have some people I’m not happy with their thinking process". Then, illustrating why those people might not be thrilled with his "thinking process" either, he went full l’état c’est moi: "Let me tell you, the one that matters is me. I’m the only one that matters, because when it comes to it, that’s what the policy is going to be. You’ve seen that strongly." Unsurprisingly, the department is haemorrhaging talent. Its leadership ranks are being "depleted at a dizzying speed", Barbara Stephenson, a former ambassador, writes in the Foreign Service Journal. By her count,...
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