foreignpolicy--2020-02-03--Berned Beyond Recognition: How Sanders’ Rise Changes U.S. Foreign Policy

Berned Beyond Recognition : How Sanders ’ Rise Changes U.S. Foreign Policy It ’ s long past time for Democrats to stop pretending that Bernie Sanders is an aberration and his ultra-progressive brand of politics is going to go away .
That ’ s one lesson to take from the Vermont senator ’ s decisive conquest—messy though it was—of the Democratic Party ’ s standard bearer , former Vice President Joe Biden , in the chaos of the Iowa caucuses this week as the 2020 campaign formally got underway .
We ’ ll talk in a moment about the insurgent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was vying with Sanders for victory in Iowa with only partial results announced Tuesday night , following a major failure in the tallying of votes on Monday .
But the powerful performance of Sanders and his fellow progressive , Sen. Elizabeth Warren , in Iowa—while Biden trailed well behind—was evidence that some things probably won ’ t be the same come November , no matter who wins the Oval Office .
One of those things is U.S. foreign policy .
We are in a new era for both parties : the post-post-Cold War @ @ @ @ @ @ @ First , the “ Washington Consensus ” is mostly dead .
This is the Reaganomics-Lite that a generation of Democratic centrists , beginning with Bill Clinton in 1992 , embraced and practiced after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the debunking of command economics .
The Washington Consensus prescribed free trade , budget discipline , privatization , and deregulation .
But over the years economists who have endorsed this approach have come to admit that they badly underestimated the effects that “ hyperglobalization ” would have in devastating America ’ s industrial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many Democrats , or independent voters who tend Democratic , felt ignored by their party as it facilely endorsed globalization and Wall Street deregulation with scant attention paid to middle-class support , education and job retraining , and other policies designed to ameliorate the loss of industry to overseas competition .
Many of these disaffected voters later supported Trump .
“ Free trade has become toxic for both parties , and the Trump victory in 2016 brought that message home for those who hadn ’ t grasped it already , ” said David @ @ @ @ @ @ @ economist who has documented the impact of the “ China shock ” on American workers .
“ The fact that blue collar workers , union workers , manufacturing workers , have effectively switched parties tells you that the Democratic embrace of globalization and the ‘ bridge to the 21st century ’ ( in Bill Clinton ’ s words ) was seemingly a bridge too far.
” Four years ago this simmering anger within the traditional Democratic base yielded up a new star , Sanders , who for decades before had been seen by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ socialist ( he ’ s not even technically a Democrat ) who spoke to mostly empty rooms but who now found that his bold , uncompromising progressivism was resonating big time .
It still does .
So Democrats should finally learn the lesson that Hillary Clinton so abysmally failed to take on board in 2016 : To her everlasting regret , Clinton short-shrifted Sanders ’ influence and ideas in the general election—despite nearly losing to him in the primaries—and found herself stunned by Donald Trump , who adopted some of the same ideas @ @ @ @ @ @ @ forget that again , especially when it comes to trade .
One of the answers put forward by both Sanders and Warren is to launch their own brand of trade war , imposing tariffs on countries that don ’ t respect workers ’ rights or support measures to reduce climate change .
“ We need to fundamentally rethink our trade policies and move to fair trade rather than just unfettered free trade , ” Sanders told The Daily Beast in an 2018 interview in which he admitted that “ Trump is identifying a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump ’ s trade war with China “ totally irrational ” but he also told CNN that the use of tariffs “ is one tool that is available .
… You ’ re looking at somebody , by the way , who helped lead the effort against permanent normal trade relations with China and [ the North American Free Trade Agreement ] .
” Sanders was also the only senator running in the 2020 race who voted against Trump ’ s NAFTA replacement , the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement ( USMCA ) , saying , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Warren , who like Sanders voted against another major Obama-era trade pact , the Trans Pacific Partnership , has also supported the use of tariffs , telling CNN in 2018 that they “ are one part of reworking our trade policy overall.
” Buttigieg , the 38-year-old former mayor of South Bend , Ind.
, has taken a more centrist position on trade than either Sanders or Warren and he has far less of a track record , but even he has suggested that he would use “ a strategy that would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the centrist Democrats in the race , mainly Biden , say the party establishment has already adjusted its views .
In an interview , a senior Biden advisor pointed to the former vice president ’ s recent essay in Foreign Affairs , “ Why America Must Lead Again : Rescuing U.S. Foreign Policy After Trump , ” in which Biden writes : “ As president , I will take immediate steps to renew U.S. democracy and alliances , protect the United States ’ economic future , and once more have America lead @ @ @ @ @ @ @ approach rests largely on fixing the problems created by Trump—words like “ restore ” and “ reaffirm ” feature prominently in the essay—and there is little detail on what is new .
The Biden team disputes the notion that the 77-year-old candidate , who has served in Washington as senator and vice president for nearly 50 years ( since 1972 ) , doesn ’ t have new ideas .
“ There is plenty of fresh vision when it comes to putting the defense of democracy at the heart of our foreign policy , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ table from the start in negotiating trade agreements , or immediately convening a climate summit not just to rejoin Paris but to build on it , ” said one senior advisor to Biden .
Biden gets plaudits from some Democrats for fresh thinking , in particular his call for investment in in R & D , education , and innovation as a way to out-compete China .
Many of Biden ’ s other ideas , however , are short on specifics .
In his essay , Biden writes that “ picking up the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” but he doesn ’ t say much about the new puzzle they will fit into .
He makes a point of pledging that , in his first year in office , “ the United States will organize and host a global Summit for Democracy to renew the spirit and shared purpose of the nations of the free world.
” But that ’ s an idea that began with Woodrow Wilson and has been a tenet of post-Cold War Democratic Party thinking since then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright ’ s “ Community of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2000 .
The rise of Sanders in the Democratic Party—along with that of Warren—to some degree mirrors the rise of Trump inside the Republican Party .
Both are outsiders who brazenly called their party ’ s failures to account ; both found adherents who had come to believe that their political parties had betrayed them over free trade , and no longer represented them .
Trump spoke of getting “ better ” deals from the world ; Sanders , getting “ fairer ” deals .
Their messages resonated with party bases that rejected @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Washington Consensus , which both mainstream Democrats and Republicans had endorsed to differing degrees in the aftermath of the Cold War , when no one questioned that capitalism reigned supreme .
Both candidates rejected traditional trade deals such as NAFTA and the TPP .
This alignment of views is also evident when it comes to the idea of aggressively promoting American values around the world ; neither the Trumpist neo-isolationists nor the Sanders anti-imperialists want anything to do with that since the failures of Iraq and Afghanistan .
Sanders , like Warren @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than Trump has , but it would be only a kinder , gentler neo-isolationism , with both candidates seeking to dramatically pare down the U.S. presence in the world and pull troops out from as many places as possible , especially Afghanistan and the Middle East .
Asked how a President Sanders would be different from that of President Clinton and President Obama , Sanders foreign policy advisor Matt Duss told Foreign Policy : “ Bernie understands that if we really want to change the ingrained habits of the Washington foreign policy establishment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wars , we need a movement that will pressure that establishment , and that ’ s what we ’ re working to build.
” Duss added that only Sanders “ has really diagnosed the main challenges to our democracy like rising authoritarianism , and how authoritarianism feeds off of corruption , inequality , and oligarchy.
” Buttigieg , though he differs sharply with Sanders and Warren on domestic issues like health care , has taken a foreign policy stance that tends to align more with them than with Biden on climate change , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of U.S. workers .
Mieke Eoyang , vice president for national security at Third Way , a centrist Democratic think tank , said both progressives and establishment stalwarts in the party are united when it comes to one transcendent goal : beating Trump .
“ I think that there ’ s tremendous consensus across the party that undoing the damage done by Trump with our allies and to our standing in the world is job number one , ” Eoyang said .
“ I think that ’ s why you see things like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ State Department.
” But she said a deeper problem remains inside the party : the reliance on an old , established foreign policy elite , as well as the lack of expertise by an up-and-coming generation .
“ To the extent candidates rely on people with expertise to build their foreign policies , those experts have succeeded in the existing systems , ” Eoyang said .
“ People who question the systems often don ’ t have the expertise to propose credible reforms , and are thus dismissed as naive .
It ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to see people rushing to create a ‘ Department of Peace , ’ or turn foreign policy over to a ‘ global grassroots movement ; ’ as Sanders suggests.
” So the way forward remains vague , she said .
“ It ’ s just no one can articulate what that is , so there is no consensus for it .
”

It’s long past time for Democrats to stop pretending that Bernie Sanders is an aberration and his ultra-progressive brand of politics is going to go away. That’s one lesson to take from the Vermont senator’s decisive conquest—messy though it was—of the Democratic Party’s standard-bearer, former Vice President Joe Biden, in the chaos of the Iowa caucuses this week as the 2020 campaign formally got underway.
It’s long past time for Democrats to stop pretending that Bernie Sanders is an aberration and his ultra-progressive brand of politics is going to go away. That’s one lesson to take from the Vermont senator’s decisive conquest—messy though it was—of the Democratic Party’s standard-bearer, former Vice President Joe Biden, in the chaos of the Iowa caucuses this week as the 2020 campaign formally got underway.
We’ll talk in a moment about the insurgent Pete Buttigieg, the come-from-nowhere wunderkind who was vying with Sanders for victory in Iowa with only partial results announced Tuesday night, following a major failure in the tallying of votes on Monday. But the powerful performance of Sanders and his fellow progressive, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, in Iowa—while Biden trailed well behind—was evidence that some things probably won’t be the same come November, no matter who wins the Oval Office. One of those things is U.S. foreign policy. We are in a new era for both parties: the post-post-Cold War era.
What has changed? First, the Washington Consensus is mostly dead. This is the Reaganomics-lite that a generation of Democratic centrists, beginning with Bill Clinton in 1992, embraced and practiced after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the debunking of command economics. The Washington Consensus prescribed free trade, budget discipline, privatization, and deregulation. But over the years economists who have endorsed this approach have come to admit that they badly underestimated the effects that “hyperglobalization” would have in devastating America’s industrial middle class.
The result was that many Democrats, or independent voters who tend Democratic, felt ignored by their party as it facilely endorsed globalization and Wall Street deregulation with scant attention paid to middle-class support, education and job retraining, and other policies designed to ameliorate the loss of industry to overseas competition. Many of these disaffected voters later supported Donald Trump.
“Free trade has become toxic for both parties, and the Trump victory in 2016 brought that message home for those who hadn’t grasped it already,” said David Autor, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist who has documented the impact of the “China shock” on American workers. “The fact that blue-collar workers, union workers, manufacturing workers, have effectively switched parties tells you that the Democratic embrace of globalization and the ‘bridge to the 21st century ’ [in Bill Clinton’s words] was seemingly a bridge too far.”
Four years ago, this simmering anger within the traditional Democratic base yielded up a new star, Sanders, who for decades before had been seen by the party establishment as a wild-haired fringe socialist (he’s not even technically a Democrat) who spoke to mostly empty rooms but who now found that his bold, uncompromising progressivism was resonating big time. It still does. So Democrats should finally learn the lesson that Hillary Clinton so abysmally failed to take on board in 2016: To her everlasting regret, Clinton gave short shrift to Sanders’s influence and ideas in the general election—despite nearly losing to him in the primaries—and found herself stunned by Trump, who adopted some of the same ideas. No Democratic front-runner can afford to forget that again, especially when it comes to trade.
One of the answers put forward by both Sanders and Warren is to launch their own brand of trade war, imposing tariffs on countries that don’t respect workers’ rights or support measures to reduce climate change. “We need to fundamentally rethink our trade policies and move to fair trade rather than just unfettered free trade,” Sanders told the Daily Beast in an 2018 interview in which he admitted that “Trump is identifying a problem.” Since then, Sanders has called Trump’s trade war with China “totally irrational,” but he also told CNN that the use of tariffs “is one tool that is available. … You’re looking at somebody, by the way, who helped lead the effort against permanent normal trade relations with China and [the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA].” Sanders was also the only senator running in the 2020 race who voted against Trump’s NAFTA replacement, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), saying, “USMCA will make climate change worse.” Warren, who like Sanders voted against another major Barack Obama-era trade pact, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), has also supported the use of tariffs, telling CNN in 2018 that they “are one part of reworking our trade policy overall.”
Buttigieg, the 38-year-old former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has taken a more centrist position on trade than either Sanders or Warren, and he has far less of a track record, but even he has suggested that he would use “a strategy that would include the tariffs as leverage.”
Advisors to the centrist Democrats in the race, mainly Biden, say the party establishment has already adjusted its views. In an interview, a senior Biden advisor pointed to the former vice president’s recent essay in Foreign Affairs, “Why America Must Lead Again: Rescuing U.S. Foreign Policy After Trump,” in which Biden writes: “As president, I will take immediate steps to renew U.S. democracy and alliances, protect the United States’ economic future, and once more have America lead the world.” Yet Biden’s approach rests largely on fixing the problems created by Trump—words like “restore” and “reaffirm” feature prominently in the essay—and there is little detail on what is new.
The Biden team disputes the notion that the 77-year-old candidate, who has served in Washington as senator and vice president for nearly 50 years (since 1973), doesn’t have new ideas. “There is plenty of fresh vision when it comes to putting the defense of democracy at the heart of our foreign policy, putting labor and environment leaders at the table from the start in negotiating trade agreements, or immediately convening a climate summit not just to rejoin Paris but to build on it,” said one senior advisor to Biden.
Biden gets plaudits from some Democrats for fresh thinking, in particular his call for investment in research and development, education, and innovation as a way to out-compete China. Many of Biden’s other ideas, however, are short on specifics. In his essay, Biden writes that “picking up the pieces will be an enormous task,” but he doesn’t say much about the new puzzle they will fit into. He makes a point of pledging that, in his first year in office, “the United States will organize and host a global Summit for Democracy to renew the spirit and shared purpose of the nations of the free world.” But that idea began with Woodrow Wilson and has been a tenet of post-Cold War Democratic Party thinking since then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s “Community of Democracies” was inaugurated in Warsaw in 2000.
The rise of Sanders in the Democratic Party—along with that of Warren—to some degree mirrors the rise of Trump inside the Republican Party. Both are outsiders who brazenly called their party’s failures to account; both found adherents who had come to believe that their political parties had betrayed them over free trade, and no longer represented them. Trump spoke of getting “better” deals from the world; Sanders, getting “fairer” deals. Their messages resonated with party bases that rejected the old paradigm of free trade and the Washington Consensus, which both mainstream Democrats and Republicans had endorsed to differing degrees in the aftermath of the Cold War, when no one questioned that capitalism reigned supreme. Both candidates rejected traditional trade deals such as NAFTA and the TPP.
This alignment of views is also evident when it comes to the idea of aggressively promoting American values around the world; neither the Trumpist neo-isolationists nor the Sanders anti-imperialists want anything to do with that since the failures of Iraq and Afghanistan. Sanders, like Warren, would treat U.S. allies much better than Trump has, but it would be only a kinder, gentler neo-isolationism, with both candidates seeking to dramatically pare down the U.S. presence in the world and pull troops out from as many places as possible, especially Afghanistan and the Middle East.
Asked how a President Sanders would be different from that of Clinton or Obama, Sanders foreign-policy advisor Matt Duss told Foreign Policy: “Bernie understands that if we really want to change the ingrained habits of the Washington foreign-policy establishment and bring an end to our endless wars, we need a movement that will pressure that establishment, and that’s what we’re working to build.” Duss added that only Sanders “has really diagnosed the main challenges to our democracy like rising authoritarianism and how authoritarianism feeds off of corruption, inequality, and oligarchy.”
Buttigieg, though he differs sharply from Sanders and Warren on domestic issues like health care, has taken a foreign-policy stance that tends to align more with them than with Biden on climate change, challenging authoritarianism, and bolstering the rights of U.S. workers.
Mieke Eoyang, the vice president for national security at Third Way, a centrist Democratic think tank, said both progressives and establishment stalwarts in the party are united when it comes to one transcendent goal: beating Trump. “I think that there’s tremendous consensus across the party that undoing the damage done by Trump with our allies and to our standing in the world is job number one,” Eoyang said. “I think that’s why you see things like Warren’s plan to reinvigorate the State Department.”
But she said a deeper problem remains inside the party: the reliance on an old, established foreign-policy elite, as well as the lack of expertise by an up-and-coming generation. “To the extent candidates rely on people with expertise to build their foreign policies, those experts have succeeded in the existing systems,” Eoyang said. “People who question the systems often don’t have the expertise to propose credible reforms and are thus dismissed as naive. It’s not like you’re going to see people rushing to create a ‘Department of Peace’ or turn foreign policy over to a ‘global grassroots movement,’ as Sanders suggests.”
So the way forward remains vague, she said. “It’s just no one can articulate what that is, so there is no consensus for it.”


Not Guilty

The impeachment trial of Donald Trump fizzled to a predictable close on Wednesday as senators voted largely along party lines to acquit the U.S. president of the charges against him , ending a historic chapter in American political history .
Trump was acquitted on the first charge—abuse of power—by a 52-48 vote and the second charge—obstructing Congress—by a 53-47 vote .
The only real dramatic twist occurred when a lone Republican senator robbed Trump of a victory along partisan lines .
Utah Sen. Mitt Romney—the party ’ s 2012 presidential nominee , who has long had a contentious relationship with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of impeachment , though not on the second .
Romney became the first U.S. senator in history to vote to remove a president from his own party .
“ What [ Trump ] did was not ‘ perfect.
’ No , it was a flagrant assault on our electoral rights , our national security interests , and our fundamental values , ” an emotional Romney said on the Senate floor in explaining his vote .
“ Corrupting an election to keep oneself in office is perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I can imagine.
” Several other Republican senators have expressed their misgivings about Trump ’ s conduct on Ukraine but said being thrown out of office was a punishment that didn ’ t fit the crime .
“ I think he shouldn ’ t have done it .
I think it was wrong .
Inappropriate was the way I ’ d say—improper , crossing the line , ” said Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander .
“ I think what he did is a long way from treason , bribery , high crimes , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in explaining his decision .
“ I am sure to hear abuse from the president and his supporters .
Does anyone seriously believe I would consent to these consequences other than from an inescapable conviction that my oath before God demanded it of me ?
” On Tuesday , Maine Sen. Susan Collins also announced that she would vote to acquit the president .
The moderate was one of only two Republicans , along with Romney , to break with her party last week and join Democrats in calling for new witnesses and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vote .
That vote ultimately failed .
In announcing her reasoning , Collins said that while Trump was “ improper and demonstrated very poor judgment ” in asking Ukraine to investigate the Bidens , there was conflicting evidence about his motivation for doing so .
Collins , Alexander and several other Republican senators suggested the Trump would learn from the episode and , as Collins said , “ will be much more cautious in the future.
” But the day before the vote , at a luncheon with television anchors , Trump reportedly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky , during which he asked for the investigation of the Bidens , was “ perfect.
” After the impeachment vote Trump tweeted a video of news clips that attacked Romney and called him a “ Democrat secret asset.
” For several moderate Democratic senators facing tough reelections , impeachment put them in an awkward spot , but all stuck with their party , voting in support of impeachment .
Two House Democrats—Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson and New Jersey Rep. Jeff Van Drew—broke with the party @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in December .
So ended a historic drama that began on Monday , Aug. 12 , 2019 , when an anonymous CIA officer filed a whistleblower complaint alleging that Trump had solicited foreign interference from Zelensky to help him win the 2020 presidential election .
For a reality TV star president whose tenure has been defined by dramatic twists and turns , the nine-page complaint gave rise to the biggest scandal of his term yet , as thousands of pages of testimony and dozens of hours of public hearings ensued .
That culminated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ U.S. history to be impeached for “ high crimes and misdemeanors.
” The impeachment investigation lifted the lid on the chaotic foreign-policy making in the Trump administration , revealing how the president had instructed officials to work with his personal lawyer , Rudy Giuliani , as he carved out a back channel to Ukrainian officials , circumventing established diplomatic processes .
Fiona Hill , who served as the White House ’ s top aide on Europe and Russia , testified about how over the summer a “ irregular , informal channel of U.S. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and others pursued “ a domestic political errand.
” Current and former career officials were called before Congress to testify about what they had known about the Ukraine pressure campaign , with many racking up eye-watering legal bills in the process .
Some came under attack by the White House and the president ’ s allies as “ radical unelected bureaucrats ” and members of a shadowy deep-state conspiracy working to topple Trump .
Trump ’ s own reputation looks set to emerge from the impeachment probe largely intact , as a Gallup @ @ @ @ @ @ @ approval rating had risen to 49 percent , its highest point since he took office .
Despite the dramatic twists and turns of the impeachment investigation , support for impeaching Trump remained remarkably stable .
There was a rise in support in late September when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the investigation , with more Americans in favor of impeachment than opposing it , according to a poll tracker by the data journalism website FiveThirtyEight .
Since then , support has remained largely stable and sharply divided along party lines .
The one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was the question of calling for further witnesses and documents to be brought as evidence in the Senate trial , which polls show had strong support from voters in both parties .

The impeachment trial of Donald Trump fizzled to a predictable close on Wednesday as senators voted largely along party lines to acquit the U.S. president of the charges against him, ending a historic chapter in American political history.
The impeachment trial of Donald Trump fizzled to a predictable close on Wednesday as senators voted largely along party lines to acquit the U.S. president of the charges against him, ending a historic chapter in American political history.
Trump was acquitted on the first charge—abuse of power—by a 52-48 vote and the second charge—obstructing Congress—by a 53-47 vote.
The only real dramatic twist occurred when a lone Republican senator robbed Trump of a victory along partisan lines. Utah Sen. Mitt Romney—the party’s 2012 presidential nominee, who has long had a contentious relationship with Trump—voted in support of the first article of impeachment, though not on the second. Romney became the first U.S. senator in history to vote to remove a president from his own party.
“What [Trump] did was not ‘perfect.’ No, it was a flagrant assault on our electoral rights, our national security interests, and our fundamental values,” an emotional Romney said on the Senate floor in explaining his vote. “Corrupting an election to keep oneself in office is perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of one’s oath of office that I can imagine.”
Several other Republican senators have expressed their misgivings about Trump’s conduct on Ukraine but said being thrown out of office was a punishment that didn’t fit the crime. “I think he shouldn’t have done it. I think it was wrong. Inappropriate was the way I’d say—improper, crossing the line,” said Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander. “I think what he did is a long way from treason, bribery, high crimes, and misdemeanors.”
Romney cited his religious conviction in explaining his decision. “I am sure to hear abuse from the president and his supporters. Does anyone seriously believe I would consent to these consequences other than from an inescapable conviction that my oath before God demanded it of me?”
On Tuesday, Maine Sen. Susan Collins also announced that she would vote to acquit the president. The moderate was one of only two Republicans, along with Romney, to break with her party last week and join Democrats in calling for new witnesses and evidence to be brought forward in a vote. That vote ultimately failed. In announcing her reasoning, Collins said that while Trump was “improper and demonstrated very poor judgment” in asking Ukraine to investigate the Bidens, there was conflicting evidence about his motivation for doing so.
Collins, Alexander and several other Republican senators suggested the Trump would learn from the episode and, as Collins said, “will be much more cautious in the future.” But the day before the vote, at a luncheon with television anchors, Trump reportedly continued to insist that his now-infamous telephone July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during which he asked for the investigation of the Bidens, was “perfect.” After the impeachment vote Trump tweeted a video of news clips that attacked Romney and called him a “Democrat secret asset.”
For several moderate Democratic senators facing tough reelections, impeachment put them in an awkward spot, but all stuck with their party, voting in support of impeachment. Two House Democrats—Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson and New Jersey Rep. Jeff Van Drew—broke with the party to vote against both articles of impeachment in December.
So ended a historic drama that began on Monday, Aug. 12, 2019, when an anonymous CIA officer filed a whistleblower complaint alleging that Trump had solicited foreign interference from Zelensky to help him win the 2020 presidential election. For a reality TV star president whose tenure has been defined by dramatic twists and turns, the nine-page complaint gave rise to the biggest scandal of his term yet, as thousands of pages of testimony and dozens of hours of public hearings ensued. That culminated in Trump becoming the third president in U.S. history to be impeached for “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
The impeachment investigation lifted the lid on the chaotic foreign-policy making in the Trump administration, revealing how the president had instructed officials to work with his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, as he carved out a back channel to Ukrainian officials, circumventing established diplomatic processes. Bill Taylor, who served as acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, testified about how over the summer an “irregular, informal channel of U.S. policymaking” began to emerge as Giuliani and his allies sought to lean on Ukrainian officials to announce corruption probes that could benefit Trump politically.
Current and former career officials were called before Congress to testify about what they had known about the Ukraine pressure campaign, with many racking up eye-watering legal bills in the process. Some came under attack by the White House and the president’s allies as “radical unelected bureaucrats” and members of a shadowy deep-state conspiracy working to topple Trump.
Trump’s own reputation looks set to emerge from the impeachment probe largely intact, as a Gallup poll published on Tuesday found his job approval rating had risen to 49 percent, its highest point since he took office. Despite the dramatic twists and turns of the impeachment investigation, support for impeaching Trump remained remarkably stable. There was a rise in support in late September when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the investigation, with more Americans in favor of impeachment than opposing it, according to a poll tracker by the data journalism website FiveThirtyEight.
Since then, support has remained largely stable and sharply divided along party lines. The one thing Americans did seem to agree on was the question of calling for further witnesses and documents to be brought as evidence in the Senate trial, which polls show had strong support from voters in both parties.
Correction, Feb. 6, 2020: A previous version of this article misattributed a quote from former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor. It has been updated to correct the error.


foreignpolicy--2020-02-05--Visitors From Virus-Hit Chinese Province Almost Toured the Pentagon

Visitors From Virus-Hit Chinese Province Almost Toured the Pentagon Every year , more than 100,000 people from all over the world sign up for a free , guided tour of the Pentagon .
Visitors walk 1.5 miles through the world ’ s largest low-rise office building while listening to a guide—usually a young uniformed service member—recite 33 pages worth of information about the history of the U.S. military .
So when six people from China ’ s Hubei province signed up to take a tour of the Pentagon , nobody thought twice about it .
That was before a rapidly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Wuhan—the capital of Hubei province—erupted into a global health emergency , killing almost 500 people and sickening more than 20,000 worldwide .
The coronavirus outbreak has put parts of China on lockdown , shuttering entire cities and bringing the world ’ s second-largest economy to a virtual standstill .
Multiple countries , including the United States and Australia , have closed their borders to foreign visitors from China , as airlines suspend their flights into the country .
Last week , the virus ’ s effects were felt more than 7,000 miles @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( PFPA ) decided it was too risky to allow the individuals from Hubei to visit the building , which is home to 26,000 employees .
The Pentagon canceled the tour on Jan. 29 , Pentagon spokeswoman Sue Gough told Foreign Policy .
“ I can confirm that six individuals from China ’ s Hubei Province were scheduled for a Pentagon tour on Jan. 30 , and were subsequently disapproved for participation , ” Gough said via email .
“ The decision to cancel the tour for the individuals was made out of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ health and safety of Pentagon employees in mind.
” PFPA consulted with the Pentagon public health emergency officer , who advised canceling the tour , Gough said .
“ Individuals may be disapproved or cancelled for tour participation for a variety of reasons , including health and safety concerns , ” she added .
Gough declined to provide the names of or any additional information about the individuals , citing privacy reasons .
With hundreds of thousands of personnel working abroad , the Defense Department is monitoring the outbreak closely .
The Pentagon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ installations across the country for quarantine evacuees returning to the United States from Wuhan .
The department will only provide housing support , and DOD personnel will have no contact with the evacuees .
“ The department has continued to provide force health protection information to our forces overseas and domestically , ” said chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman .
“ The health and safety of our forces , their families , and our base communities are our top concern with regard to coronavirus .
”

Every year, more than 100,000 people from all over the world sign up for a free, guided tour of the Pentagon. Visitors walk 1.5 miles through the world’s largest low-rise office building while listening to a guide—usually a young uniformed service member—recite 33 pages worth of information about the history of the U.S. military.
Every year, more than 100,000 people from all over the world sign up for a free, guided tour of the Pentagon. Visitors walk 1.5 miles through the world’s largest low-rise office building while listening to a guide—usually a young uniformed service member—recite 33 pages worth of information about the history of the U.S. military.
So when six people from China’s Hubei province signed up to take a tour of the Pentagon, nobody thought twice about it.
That was before a rapidly spreading viral outbreak emanating from the city of Wuhan—the capital of Hubei province—erupted into a global health emergency, killing almost 500 people and sickening more than 20,000 worldwide.
The coronavirus outbreak has put parts of China on lockdown, shuttering entire cities and bringing the world’s second-largest economy to a virtual standstill. Multiple countries, including the United States and Australia, have closed their borders to foreign visitors from China, as airlines suspend their flights into the country.
Last week, the virus’s effects were felt more than 7,000 miles away. The Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA) decided it was too risky to allow the individuals from Hubei to visit the building, which is home to 26,000 employees. The Pentagon canceled the tour on Jan. 29, Pentagon spokeswoman Sue Gough told Foreign Policy.
“I can confirm that six individuals from China’s Hubei Province were scheduled for a Pentagon tour on Jan. 30, and were subsequently disapproved for participation,” Gough said via email. “The decision to cancel the tour for the individuals was made out of an abundance of caution, with the health and safety of Pentagon employees in mind.”
PFPA consulted with the Pentagon public health emergency officer, who advised canceling the tour, Gough said.
“Individuals may be disapproved or cancelled for tour participation for a variety of reasons, including health and safety concerns,” she added.
Gough declined to provide the names of or any additional information about the individuals, citing privacy reasons.
With hundreds of thousands of personnel working abroad, the Defense Department is monitoring the outbreak closely. The Pentagon has approved the use of six military installations across the country for quarantine evacuees returning to the United States from Wuhan. The department will only provide housing support, and DOD personnel will have no contact with the evacuees.
“The department has continued to provide force health protection information to our forces overseas and domestically,” said chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman. “The health and safety of our forces, their families, and our base communities are our top concern with regard to coronavirus.”


foreignpolicy--2020-02-05--China Is Under Lockdown

China Is Under Lockdown

Welcome to Foreign Policy ’ s weekly China Brief .
The highlights this week : Chinese cities increasingly go under lockdown amid the new coronavirus outbreak , Beijing ’ s propaganda machine kicks into gear , and what to make of international airlines grounding flights to and from mainland China .
If you would like to receive China Brief in your inbox every Wednesday , please sign up here .
The toll of the new coronavirus that originated in Wuhan keeps rising , with Chinese officials reporting nearly 500 fatalities and 24,447 confirmed cases as of Wednesday .
So far @ @ @ @ @ @ @ does not appear to have halted the spread of the virus , with several other Chinese cities confirming hundreds of cases—numbers likely to rise in the next two weeks .
Cities are increasingly going under lockdown .
Even in urban centers that are nominally back to work after the Lunar New Year holiday , like Beijing , streets and transport hubs are empty .
( See this video of the deserted Beijing railway station , which usually sees around 34.7 million passengers during the holiday period . )
In some cities , such @ @ @ @ @ @ @ businesses and schools are closed , with citizens asked to stay confined to their homes .
Xi in charge .
Meanwhile , official announcements ( link in Chinese ) that President Xi Jinping is “ personally leading and directing ” the fight against the virus are reasserting the leader ’ s authority .
People ’ s Daily front pages remind citizens that they must “ rally around the party with Xi Jinping as the core.
” The propaganda isn ’ t a surprise , but what is peculiar is that the president didn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a week until meeting with Cambodian leader Hun Sen on Wednesday .
As with Xi ’ s mysterious disappearance in 2012 before he ascended to power , rumors are swirling , but the most likely explanation is that Xi is a 66-year-old man with a stressful lifestyle .
There is certainly fear within the party system about him getting the virus : That would expose the lack of a clear successor to Xi .
Locked away .
The new government policy appears to be to cluster those who have the virus in quarantine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at home .
Several buildings in Wuhan , including hotels , have been seized for this purpose .
Across China , people who have recently been to Wuhan or to Hubei province are being tracked and quarantined .
Meanwhile , the number of deaths from the virus is almost certainly understated .
The news outlet Caixin interviewed ( link in Chinese ) a Wuhan doctor who confirmed reports of infections among health care workers , patients being asked to pay upfront despite promises of free care , and underreported deaths in hospitals .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ s could soon be thin on the ground .
As predicted , the brief period of relative media freedom seems to be over .
Chinese media leaders have been given a new official line : “ Sources of articles must be strictly regulated , independent reporting is strictly prohibited , and the use of nonregulated article sources , particularly self-media [ content produced by citizen journalists ] , is strictly prohibited.
” The cost of dissent will now be higher , especially with Xi ’ s reputation on the line .
Sending signals @ @ @ @ @ @ @ propaganda over the weekend from official Chinese media , as stories blamed the United States for causing panic over the new coronavirus—including false claims that the United States was the first country to restrict visitors from China .
( Other countries , including Chinese ally Russia , announced measures earlier . )
The anti-American coverage could continue if the Chinese Communist Party feels really threatened—perhaps repeating Russian conspiracies that the virus is a U.S. bioweapon .
Meanwhile , Beijing is trying to enforce loyalty by insisting that countries not evacuate citizens or cancel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s bizarre decision to resume flights after suspending them has already been questioned .
Long-serving Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has used the crisis to signal his allegiance to Beijing , including claiming that he will visit Wuhan himself .
What is happening in Xinjiang ?
An outbreak of the virus in the detention camps in Xinjiang , which hold 1.5 million Uighur Muslims , would be a nightmare scenario .
Many of those detained are elderly , and almost all of them are suffering physically .
A recent claim by an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the virus there was a “ state secret ” hasn ’ t reassured Uighurs who fear another horror .
The official number of cases in the region remains very low , and distance and heat may give residents there a greater shield against the virus .
Local officials face punishment .
The Chinese Communist Party has begun punishing local officials in Hubei province , removing several from their posts over their handling of the virus outbreak .
More severe penalties , such as expulsion from the party or criminal charges , may come @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seems determined to have Wuhan , rather than higher-level authorities , take the fall for the early cover-up .
Cathay Pacific , Hong Kong ’ s flagship carrier , on Wednesday asked its staff to take unpaid leave for three weeks as it faces bleak business prospects due to the new coronavirus outbreak .
The airline is the most prominent victim of canceled trips and suspended flights to China since last month , as well as additional travel restrictions .
( Cathay Pacific and other Hong Kong airlines have cut their flight capacity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ policies extend well beyond Asia : Dozens of international airlines have suspended or reduced scheduled flights to China in the coming weeks , as shown below .
Logistics fraying under strain ?
Despite the lockdowns , shortages of food and supplies haven ’ t emerged yet , outside of Hubei ’ s desperate hospitals .
That ’ s a tribute to the logistical links developed in China over the last 20 years .
( Caveat : Many of China ’ s most vulnerable people aren ’ t online , and they are less @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . )
But breaks in the supply chain are already severely affecting foreign businesses , such as auto manufacturing in South Korea .
The Hong Kong Open Source Intelligence group , a collective online project , is tracking possible goods shortages , while governments are moving to aid businesses in need .
Shaky stocks .
The Chinese stock market plunged on Monday after reopening following the Lunar New Year holiday .
It saw a slight recovery , buoyed by government promises .
Trading is tightly controlled in China , with the government often @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vulnerable sectors .
The coronavirus risk remains acute for sectors across Asia , especially if transport links are frayed by further outbreaks .
The markets don ’ t seem to have priced in how critical the epidemic could become .
“ Drone Footage Shows Wuhan Under Lockdown , ” the New York Times This eerie footage of the city of Wuhan under quarantine was compiled by the New York Times with aid from ChinaFile .
Note the pollution , despite the shutdown since Jan. 23 : Wuhan , like many Chinese cities , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ neighbors and exacerbated by the burning of coal in the winter .
That ’ s it for this week .
We welcome your feedback at newsletters @ foreignpolicy.com .
You can find older editions of China Brief here .
For more from Foreign Policy , subscribe here or sign up for our other newsletters .

Welcome to Foreign Policy’s weekly China Brief. The highlights this week: Chinese cities increasingly go under lockdown amid the new coronavirus outbreak, Beijing’s propaganda machine kicks into gear, and what to make of international airlines grounding flights to and from mainland China.
Welcome to Foreign Policy’s weekly China Brief. The highlights this week: Chinese cities increasingly go under lockdown amid the new coronavirus outbreak, Beijing’s propaganda machine kicks into gear, and what to make of international airlines grounding flights to and from mainland China.
If you would like to receive China Brief in your inbox every Wednesday, please sign up here.
Is China’s Virus Lockdown Working?
The toll of the new coronavirus that originated in Wuhan keeps rising, with Chinese officials reporting nearly 500 fatalities and 24,447 confirmed cases as of Wednesday. So far, the mass quarantine of Hubei province does not appear to have halted the spread of the virus, with several other Chinese cities confirming hundreds of cases—numbers likely to rise in the next two weeks.
Cities are increasingly going under lockdown. Even in urban centers that are nominally back to work after the Lunar New Year holiday, like Beijing, streets and transport hubs are empty. (See this video of the deserted Beijing railway station, which usually sees around 34.7 million passengers during the holiday period.) In some cities, such as the business hub of Wenzhou, businesses and schools are closed, with citizens asked to stay confined to their homes.
Xi in charge. Meanwhile, official announcements (link in Chinese) that President Xi Jinping is “personally leading and directing” the fight against the virus are reasserting the leader’s authority. People’s Daily front pages remind citizens that they must “rally around the party with Xi Jinping as the core.” The propaganda isn’t a surprise, but what is peculiar is that the president didn’t appear in public for over a week until meeting with Cambodian leader Hun Sen on Wednesday.
As with Xi’s mysterious disappearance in 2012 before he ascended to power, rumors are swirling, but the most likely explanation is that Xi is a 66-year-old man with a stressful lifestyle. There is certainly fear within the party system about him getting the virus: That would expose the lack of a clear successor to Xi.
Locked away. The new government policy appears to be to cluster those who have the virus in quarantine zones rather than let them be treated at home. Several buildings in Wuhan, including hotels, have been seized for this purpose. Across China, people who have recently been to Wuhan or to Hubei province are being tracked and quarantined. Meanwhile, the number of deaths from the virus is almost certainly understated. The news outlet Caixin interviewed (link in Chinese) a Wuhan doctor who confirmed reports of infections among health care workers, patients being asked to pay upfront despite promises of free care, and underreported deaths in hospitals.
Reporting crackdown. Stories like Caixin’s could soon be thin on the ground. As predicted, the brief period of relative media freedom seems to be over. Chinese media leaders have been given a new official line: “Sources of articles must be strictly regulated, independent reporting is strictly prohibited, and the use of nonregulated article sources, particularly self-media [content produced by citizen journalists], is strictly prohibited.” The cost of dissent will now be higher, especially with Xi’s reputation on the line.
What We’re Following
Sending signals. There was a strange turn in propaganda over the weekend from official Chinese media, as stories blamed the United States for causing panic over the new coronavirus—including false claims that the United States was the first country to restrict visitors from China. (Other countries, including Chinese ally Russia, announced measures earlier.) The anti-American coverage could continue if the Chinese Communist Party feels really threatened—perhaps repeating Russian conspiracies that the virus is a U.S. bioweapon.
Meanwhile, Beijing is trying to enforce loyalty by insisting that countries not evacuate citizens or cancel flights to and from China. Pakistan’s bizarre decision to resume flights after suspending them has already been questioned. Long-serving Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has used the crisis to signal his allegiance to Beijing, including claiming that he will visit Wuhan himself.
What is happening in Xinjiang? An outbreak of the virus in the detention camps in Xinjiang, which hold 1.5 million Uighur Muslims, would be a nightmare scenario. Many of those detained are elderly, and almost all of them are suffering physically. A recent claim by an official in Xinjiang that the spread of the virus there was a “state secret” hasn’t reassured Uighurs who fear another horror. The official number of cases in the region remains very low, and distance and heat may give residents there a greater shield against the virus.
Local officials face punishment. The Chinese Communist Party has begun punishing local officials in Hubei province, removing several from their posts over their handling of the virus outbreak. More severe penalties, such as expulsion from the party or criminal charges, may come after the crisis is contained. Beijing seems determined to have Wuhan, rather than higher-level authorities, take the fall for the early cover-up.
China Flights Grounded
Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong’s flagship carrier, on Wednesday asked its staff to take unpaid leave for three weeks as it faces bleak business prospects due to the new coronavirus outbreak. The airline is the most prominent victim of canceled trips and suspended flights to China since last month, as well as additional travel restrictions. (Cathay Pacific and other Hong Kong airlines have cut their flight capacity to the mainland.) The airline policies extend well beyond Asia: Dozens of international airlines have suspended or reduced scheduled flights to China in the coming weeks, as shown below.
Tech and Business
Logistics fraying under strain? Despite the lockdowns, shortages of food and supplies haven’t emerged yet, outside of Hubei’s desperate hospitals. That’s a tribute to the logistical links developed in China over the last 20 years. (Caveat: Many of China’s most vulnerable people aren’t online, and they are less visible to both us and the authorities.) But breaks in the supply chain are already severely affecting foreign businesses, such as auto manufacturing in South Korea. The Hong Kong Open Source Intelligence group, a collective online project, is tracking possible goods shortages, while governments are moving to aid businesses in need.
Shaky stocks. The Chinese stock market plunged on Monday after reopening following the Lunar New Year holiday. It saw a slight recovery, buoyed by government promises. Trading is tightly controlled in China, with the government often directly warning traders not to sell in vulnerable sectors. The coronavirus risk remains acute for sectors across Asia, especially if transport links are frayed by further outbreaks. The markets don’t seem to have priced in how critical the epidemic could become.
What We’re Watching
“Drone Footage Shows Wuhan Under Lockdown,” the New York Times
This eerie footage of the city of Wuhan under quarantine was compiled by the New York Times with aid from ChinaFile. Note the pollution, despite the shutdown since Jan. 23: Wuhan, like many Chinese cities, is caught in cyclical smog produced by neighbors and exacerbated by the burning of coal in the winter.
That’s it for this week.
We welcome your feedback at newsletters@foreignpolicy.com. You can find older editions of China Brief here. For more from Foreign Policy, subscribe here or sign up for our other newsletters.


foreignpolicy--2020-02-05--At Embassies Abroad, Trump Envoys Are Quietly Pushing Out Career Diplomats

At Embassies Abroad , Trump Envoys Are Quietly Pushing Out Career Diplomats Lana Marks is a successful fashion designer and member of U.S. President Donald Trump ’ s private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida .
Though she has no prior diplomatic experience , Marks is also Trump ’ s ambassador to South Africa , and last month she forced out her second in command , the veteran career foreign service officer David Young .
According to multiple current and former officials familiar with the matter , the issue arose following Marks ’ s attempts to elevate her son to a senior @ @ @ @ @ @ @ violation of State Department rules .
The incident illustrated a growing trend in the Trump administration .
Already , several of Trump ’ s political allies-turned-ambassadors—he has appointed a higher percentage than most previous presidents—have sacked their deputies amid a culture of mistrust between politically appointed and career State Department officials .
Marks has also faced other criticism within the State Department over how she manages the embassy in Pretoria .
Apart from her attempts to give her son a job with elevated responsibilities at the embassy , she has pushed out other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on foreign aid and health programs in a country that is a major recipient of U.S. funds to tackle HIV and AIDS , according to several State Department officials familiar with the matter .
Last month , the State Department dispatched several senior officials to South Africa to help manage tensions at the embassy , two officials said , including Deputy Undersecretary of Management William Todd and Geeta Pasi , the principal deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs .
It ’ s not the first time the State Department has had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ political donors-turned-ambassadors , nor is it unique to Trump ’ s administration .
But his politically appointed ambassadors are sacking their deputy chiefs of mission—an embassy ’ s second-in-command post held by foreign service officers—in unusually high numbers , officials say .
Along with South Africa , Trump ’ s envoys in Canada , France , Iceland , Romania , and the United Kingdom have all removed their deputy chiefs of mission , some ambassadors doing so just shortly before or after arriving at their new posts .
Ambassadors have full authority to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even without cause , given how important the relationship between an ambassador and his or her deputy is to ensuring the smooth management of an embassy .
But the high rate at which it ’ s happening now reflects how wide the gulf can be between politically appointed ambassadors and the diplomatic corps—an issue laid bare by Trump ’ s impeachment trial that dragged the State Department into Congressional impeachment investigations .
Behind the scenes , some officials fear it is hampering embassies ’ abilities to carry out their missions .
“ We @ @ @ @ @ @ @ removals of deputy chiefs of mission overseas , which are happening at way above the normal pace , ” said Eric Rubin , a senior foreign service officer currently serving as president of the American Foreign Service Association , the union that represents U.S. diplomats .
“ It ’ s generally very rare for a DCM to be removed by the ambassador .
It does happen .
Sometimes it happens for a good cause .
But it ’ s rare .
And it is now becoming an epidemic.
” “ It ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lot of embassies even … if it ’ s hard to quantify , ” said another senior U.S. diplomat .
This story draws on interviews from 10 current and former U.S. officials and other people familiar with the matters in question .
The State Department did not respond to four requests for comment for this story , including requests to interview or receive a response from Marks .
In several cases where deputy chiefs of mission were forced out early , including the U.S. Embassy in France led by Ambassador Jamie McCourt , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two or three deputy chiefs during their tenure .
The embassies where deputy chiefs are being sacked are all led by deep-pocketed Republican political donors whom Trump tapped to be ambassadors , despite some having no prior diplomatic or government experience .
Marks , who was born in South Africa , founded a highly successful luxury handbag company bearing her name .
She has served on Harvard Kennedy School of Government ’ s Women ’ s Leadership Board and as a lecturer at Georgetown University ’ s Women ’ s Leadership Initiative , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ U.S. Embassy in South Africa ’ s website .
She is also one of at least eight members of Trump ’ s private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida to be offered senior administration positions , according to a 2019 investigation by USA Today .
She has been in South Africa for several months , after the ambassador post sat empty for three years .
Marks said she “ hit the ground running ” after arriving in Pretoria in an interview last month with the Daily Maverick , regularly working 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with a goal of boosting trade ties between the two countries and trying to help South Africa become one of the United States ’ top 20 trade partners globally .
“ I have the right people on board .
… It ’ s a lot of work to make this happen .
It ’ s tripling trade .
But I have the support of the people I need , ” she said in the interview .
She saw her lack of government experience as an asset .
“ I come from the private @ @ @ @ @ @ @ civil servant by background .
That ’ s why President Trump put me in this position , because I ’ m a person who wants results , ” she said in the interview .
Senior officials in Washington pushed back on Marks ’ s efforts to secure her son a job at the embassy in South Africa .
U.S. embassies traditionally employ some diplomats ’ family members , primarily in administrative posts and particularly in smaller embassies in developing countries that are short-staffed .
But it is against State Department regulations for a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would manage or oversee a family member , officials said .
Consequently , U.S. ambassadors ’ family members can ’ t take jobs at the embassy , since the ambassador oversees all personnel .
One official who spoke to Foreign Policy conceded that the clear State Department guidelines barring nepotism aren ’ t reflected elsewhere in the administration : The president ’ s own son-in-law , Jared Kushner , and daughter Ivanka Trump have senior roles at the White House .
( The Department of Justice ruled in 2017 that Kushner having a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ does not violate federal anti-nepotism laws . )
Both Democratic and Republican administrations have carried out the practice of tapping campaign donors for ambassador posts , which has sometimes—though not always—sowed mismanagement and morale issues at U.S. embassies abroad .
( Indeed , several Obama administration donors-turned-ambassadors were quietly sacked over allegations of mismanagement . )
The United States is one of the only countries in the world with a practice of giving ambassador posts to high-end political donors .
Ambassadors require a presidential nomination and Senate confirmation .
Traditionally , two-thirds of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , while one-third are held by political appointees .
Under Trump , the ratio of ambassador posts held by political appointees has increased—42 percent of Trump ’ s ambassador appointees are political , and 58 percent are career , according to data from the American Foreign Service Association—though that number constantly shifts as ambassadors cycle in and out of posts .
In past administrations , career officials including deputy chiefs of mission felt they had the support of the State Department if their ambassador was causing issues .
That ’ s not the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a former longtime career diplomat .
“ There ’ s zero support or pushback from the department for the career people , ” he said .
Lukens told GQ that he was forced out of his job as deputy chief in London in 2018 by Trump ’ s ambassador to the United Kingdom , Woody Johnson , after mentioning former President Barack Obama in speeches he gave to British students .
“ When I was being told I had to leave seven months early , the answer from the department was , ‘ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the president ’ s , he ’ s a friend of Trump ’ s , and there ’ s nothing we can do , ’ ” Lukens told Foreign Policy .
“ I imagine that some of these other people are facing that same situation.
” Several other current State Department officials who spoke to Foreign Policy on condition of anonymity concurred .
“ The level of mistrust of the career service by incoming political appointees is extraordinarily high on average , ” said one .
“ There is this implicit assumption @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be trusted , which is both very corrosive to our institution , but also very unfair and inaccurate .
The signal that sends to the career staff is really , really harmful , ” said another .
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo came to Foggy Bottom in 2018 vowing to restore the State Department ’ s “ swagger ” following the rocky tenure of Trump ’ s first secretary of state , Rex Tillerson .
He took steps to improve morale , lifting an unpopular hiring freeze instituted under Tillerson and taking time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their families during his trips abroad .
In department-wide emails he sends from his travels abroad , dubbed “ Miles with Mike , ” Pompeo regularly praises the hard work and dedication of his employees .
But Democratic lawmakers and former senior diplomats have criticized Pompeo over his handling of events surrounding Trump ’ s impeachment .
The impeachment hearing thrust career State Department officials into the spotlight through public hearings on the president ’ s purported efforts to pressure Ukraine into investigating a political rival .
( Trump was acquitted of all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . )
Notably , Pompeo has not offered public support for former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch , a career foreign service officer forced out of her job following a smear campaign by associates of the president .
Pompeo has dismissed those criticisms .
“ I ’ ve defended every single person on this team .
I ’ ve done what ’ s right for every single person on this team , ” he said when pressed on Yovanovitch during an interview with NPR last month that ended in an angry confrontation with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t immune to the tensions in Washington involving Trump .
The president decried “ deep state bureaucrats ” during the Democratic-led impeachment investigation when State Department officials were subpoenaed to testify before Congress as fact witnesses .
Deputy chiefs of mission serve an important role overseeing the day-to-day management of an embassy , handling almost nonstop contact with foreign counterparts in the host country and , depending on the size of the embassy , overseeing dozens or even hundreds of personnel .
They take on an elevated importance during transitions between administrations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for months , or even years , as the confirmation process for them stalls back in Washington amid behind-the-scenes political negotiations between Congress and the White House .
“ The DCM essentially bridges the gap between the old ambassador and the new one , ” explained one State Department official .
“ The DCM is responsible for preparing the embassy for the new ambassador and providing continuity and leadership and helping ensure the ambassador is successful at launch.
” An unusually high number of ambassador posts have sat empty under Trump , leaving @ @ @ @ @ @ @ years on end .
Since Pompeo came into office , that trend has declined as more ambassador nominations move through the White House and Republican-controlled Senate .
The ambassadors ’ relationships with their deputy chiefs of mission is key , but it can be difficult to manage with a high-powered political donor-turned-ambassador stepping into an embassy for the first time , said Lukens .
“ What you want ideally is for the ambassador and DCM to complement one another ’ s skills , ” he said .
“ It ’ s a bit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ political appointee who doesn ’ t really bring any [ diplomatic ] skills or background to the job .
In those cases the DCM is really responsible for running and managing the embassy .
”

Lana Marks is a successful fashion designer and member of U.S. President Donald Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. Though she has no prior diplomatic experience, Marks is also Trump’s ambassador to South Africa, and last month she forced out her second in command, the veteran career foreign service officer David Young.
Lana Marks is a successful fashion designer and member of U.S. President Donald Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. Though she has no prior diplomatic experience, Marks is also Trump’s ambassador to South Africa, and last month she forced out her second in command, the veteran career foreign service officer David Young.
Multiple current and former officials familiar say issues at the embassy arose over disputed accounts of the ambassador pushing for her son to take on an elevated role with the embassy. A senior embassy official, speaking on condition of anonymity, vehemently denies these claims, calling them “totally inaccurate” and saying Young’s departure was a separate issue.
To some current officials, Young’s case illustrated a growing trend in the Trump administration. Already, several of Trump’s political allies-turned-ambassadors—he has appointed a higher percentage than most previous presidents—have sacked their deputies amid a culture of mistrust between politically appointed and career State Department officials.
Marks has also faced other criticism within the State Department over how she manages the embassy in Pretoria, although management problems at the embassy predate her arrival.
Several officials say concerns were raised over the conflicting accounts of whether her son would have a role at the embassy. The senior embassy official said the ambassador did not try to get her son a senior embassy job, but rather wanted to make him “chief of staff” of her household, under her personal employ. The idea, the official said, initially came at the suggestion of another senior State Department official, but then later the State Department reversed that suggestion.
Marks deleted a tweet on Nov. 8, 2019, referring to her son, Martin Marks, as her “chief of staff” on Twitter. She did so at the State Department’s request, the embassy official said.
The official stressed that the ambassador is committed to complying with all State Department rules and regulations.
Other U.S. Embassy staff have been pushed out or left their post early, including officials who worked on foreign aid and health programs in a country that is a major recipient of U.S. funds to tackle HIV and AIDS, according to several State Department officials familiar with the matter. Some officials attribute this to the ambassador, but the senior embassy official said the ambassador is working to fix them and that she “inherited” problems at the embassy that were “long-standing and had been brushed under the rug.”
An internal State Department watchdog report released last month on the U.S. diplomatic mission in South Africa detailed allegations of employees experiencing bullying and mismanagement, months before Marks assumed her role as ambassador.
Last month, the State Department dispatched several senior officials to South Africa to help manage tensions at the embassy, two officials said, including Deputy Undersecretary of Management William Todd and Geeta Pasi, the principal deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs.
It’s not the first time the State Department has had to respond to allegations of mismanagement at embassies abroad, nor is it unique to the current administration. But Trump’s politically appointed ambassadors are sacking their deputy chiefs of mission—an embassy’s second-in-command post held by foreign service officers—in unusually high numbers, officials say.
This story draws on interviews from over a dozen current and former U.S. officials and other people familiar with the matters in question. The State Department did not respond to five requests for comment for this story. The U.S. Embassy official who spoke to Foreign Policy said the State Department did not properly notify Marks in advance of the multiple requests for comment.
After publication, Marks issued the following statement to Foreign Policy: “David Young, my former DCM, is a wonderful man and a tremendously capable diplomat. I was and am personally very fond of him. Our management styles were quite different, and with his experience and ambition, I felt it far more appropriate for him to be in a chargé [d’affaires] position, which I arranged for him and was told was imminent. I only wish him the very best in the future.”
The State Department did not respond to a request for comment on Young’s next posting.
Along with South Africa, Trump’s envoys in Canada, France, Iceland, Romania, and the United Kingdom have all removed their deputy chiefs of mission, some ambassadors doing so just shortly before or after arriving at their new posts.
Ambassadors have full authority to remove their deputy chief of mission, even without cause, given how important the relationship between an ambassador and his or her deputy is to ensuring the smooth management of an embassy. But the high rate at which it’s happening now reflects how wide the gulf can be between politically appointed ambassadors and the diplomatic corps—an issue laid bare by Trump’s impeachment trial that dragged the State Department into Congressional impeachment investigations. Behind the scenes, some officials fear it is hampering embassies’ abilities to carry out their missions.
“We are deeply concerned by the number of removals of deputy chiefs of mission overseas, which are happening at way above the normal pace,” said Eric Rubin, a senior foreign service officer currently serving as president of the American Foreign Service Association, the union that represents U.S. diplomats. “It’s generally very rare for a DCM to be removed by the ambassador. It does happen. Sometimes it happens for a good cause. But it’s rare. And it is now becoming an epidemic.”
“It’s created a lot of turmoil in a lot of embassies even … if it’s hard to quantify,” said another senior U.S. diplomat.
In several cases where deputy chiefs of mission were forced out early, including the U.S. Embassy in France led by Ambassador Jamie McCourt, Trump’s ambassadors have cycled through two or three deputy chiefs during their tenure. The embassies where deputy chiefs are being sacked are all led by deep-pocketed Republican political donors whom Trump tapped to be ambassadors, despite some having no prior diplomatic or government experience.
The senior U.S. Embassy official in South Africa said Marks is “currently working with a very capable and excellent team of foreign service officers and a great DCM.”
Marks, who was born in South Africa, founded a highly successful luxury handbag company bearing her name. She has served on Harvard Kennedy School of Government’s Women’s Leadership Board and as a lecturer at Georgetown University’s Women’s Leadership Initiative, according to her official biography on the U.S. Embassy in South Africa’s website. She is also one of at least eight members of Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida to be offered senior administration positions, according to a 2019 investigation by USA Today. She has been in South Africa for several months, after the ambassador post sat empty for three years.
Marks said she “hit the ground running” after arriving in Pretoria in an interview last month with the Daily Maverick, regularly working 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. to make up for lost time, with a goal of boosting trade ties between the two countries and trying to help South Africa become one of the United States’ top 20 trade partners globally. “I have the right people on board. … It’s a lot of work to make this happen. It’s tripling trade. But I have the support of the people I need,” she said in the interview.
She saw her lack of government experience as an asset. “I come from the private sector. I’m not a civil servant by background. That’s why President Trump put me in this position, because I’m a person who wants results,” she said in the interview.
U.S. embassies traditionally employ some diplomats’ family members, primarily in administrative posts and particularly in smaller embassies in developing countries that are short-staffed. But it is against State Department regulations for a diplomat to be in a role that would manage or oversee a family member, officials said. Consequently, U.S. ambassadors’ family members can’t take jobs at the embassy, since the ambassador oversees all personnel.
One official who spoke to Foreign Policy conceded that the clear State Department guidelines barring nepotism aren’t reflected elsewhere in the administration: The president’s own son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and daughter Ivanka Trump have senior roles at the White House. (The Department of Justice ruled in 2017 that Kushner having a role in his father-in-law’s administration does not violate federal anti-nepotism laws.)
Marks’s son, Martin, is a writer with degrees from Johns Hopkins University and New York University who has written in the past for outlets including New Yorker and Vanity Fair. The senior embassy official who spoke to Foreign Policy said he “helped behind the scenes with all aspects of communications” during her vetting process before she was confirmed by the Senate. He “conducted training sessions on domestic and foreign policy” for Marks “and assisted with hearing preparation, and helped draft her opening statement, all with the full knowledge of the State Department.”
Both Democratic and Republican administrations have carried out the practice of tapping campaign donors for ambassador posts, which has sometimes—though not always—sowed mismanagement and morale issues at U.S. embassies abroad. (Indeed, several Obama administration donors-turned-ambassadors were quietly sacked over allegations of mismanagement.) The United States is one of the only countries in the world with a practice of giving ambassador posts to high-end political donors. Some of those ambassadors receive high marks and plaudits from foreign service officers, and some foreign countries prefer such U.S. ambassadors, in instances where they have closer ties to the White House or president’s inner circles.
Ambassadors require a presidential nomination and Senate confirmation. Traditionally, two-thirds of ambassador posts are held by career diplomats, while one-third are held by political appointees. Under Trump, the ratio of ambassador posts held by political appointees has increased—42 percent of Trump’s ambassador appointees are political, and 58 percent are career, according to data from the American Foreign Service Association—though that number constantly shifts as ambassadors cycle in and out of posts.
In past administrations, career officials including deputy chiefs of mission felt they had the support of the State Department if their ambassador was causing issues. That’s not the case now, said Lewis Lukens, a former longtime career diplomat. “There’s zero support or pushback from the department for the career people,” he said.
Lukens told GQ that he was forced out of his job as deputy chief in London in 2018 by Trump’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, Woody Johnson, after mentioning former President Barack Obama in speeches he gave to British students.
“When I was being told I had to leave seven months early, the answer from the department was, ‘Look, the ambassador is a friend of the president’s, he’s a friend of Trump’s, and there’s nothing we can do,’” Lukens told Foreign Policy. “I imagine that some of these other people are facing that same situation.”
Several other current State Department officials who spoke to Foreign Policy on condition of anonymity concurred. “The level of mistrust of the career service by incoming political appointees is extraordinarily high on average,” said one.
“There is this implicit assumption that the career people can’t be trusted, which is both very corrosive to our institution, but also very unfair and inaccurate. The signal that sends to the career staff is really, really harmful,” said another.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo came to Foggy Bottom in 2018 vowing to restore the State Department’s “swagger” following the rocky tenure of Trump’s first secretary of state, Rex Tillerson. He took steps to improve morale, lifting an unpopular hiring freeze instituted under Tillerson and taking time to meet with U.S. Embassy staff and their families during his trips abroad. In department-wide emails he sends from his travels abroad, dubbed “Miles with Mike,” Pompeo regularly praises the hard work and dedication of his employees.
But Democratic lawmakers and former senior diplomats have criticized Pompeo over his handling of events surrounding Trump’s impeachment. The impeachment hearing thrust career State Department officials into the spotlight through public hearings on the president’s purported efforts to pressure Ukraine into investigating a political rival. (Trump was acquitted of all charges on mostly partisan lines on Wednesday.) Notably, Pompeo has not offered public support for former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, a career foreign service officer forced out of her job following a smear campaign by associates of the president.
Pompeo has dismissed those criticisms. “I’ve defended every single person on this team. I’ve done what’s right for every single person on this team,” he said when pressed on Yovanovitch during an interview with NPR last month that ended in an angry confrontation with the interviewer.
U.S. embassies abroad aren’t immune to the tensions in Washington involving Trump. The president decried “deep state bureaucrats” during the Democratic-led impeachment investigation when State Department officials were subpoenaed to testify before Congress as fact witnesses.
Deputy chiefs of mission serve an important role overseeing the day-to-day management of an embassy, handling almost nonstop contact with foreign counterparts in the host country and, depending on the size of the embassy, overseeing dozens or even hundreds of personnel. They take on an elevated importance during transitions between administrations, when new ambassadors might not arrive for months, or even years, as the confirmation process for them stalls back in Washington amid behind-the-scenes political negotiations between Congress and the White House.
“The DCM essentially bridges the gap between the old ambassador and the new one,” explained one State Department official. “The DCM is responsible for preparing the embassy for the new ambassador and providing continuity and leadership and helping ensure the ambassador is successful at launch.”
An unusually high number of ambassador posts have sat empty under Trump, leaving deputy chiefs to lead the embassy for years on end. Since Pompeo came into office, that trend has declined as more ambassador nominations move through the White House and Republican-controlled Senate.
The ambassadors’ relationships with their deputy chiefs of mission is key, but it can be difficult to manage with a high-powered political donor-turned-ambassador stepping into an embassy for the first time, said Lukens. “What you want ideally is for the ambassador and DCM to complement one another’s skills,” he said.
“It’s a bit more complicated when the ambassador is a political appointee who doesn’t really bring any [diplomatic] skills or background to the job. In those cases the DCM is really responsible for running and managing the embassy.”
Update, Feb. 6, 2020: This story was updated to include additional comments, including a statement from Ambassador Lana Marks. It was also updated to include information from a State Department inspector general’s report on the embassy.