American diplomacy needs a facelift

Associated Press/Jacquelyn Martin

• Under the Trump administration, there has been a “demobilization” of the State Department and a general disdain for international diplomacy. 
• But it’s important to understand the State Department was falling on hard times even before the Trump administration accelerated the trend.
• Americans have long viewed it with a certain suspicion and disdain.

When a U.S. president thinks most positions at the State Department are “unnecessary” and insists “I’m the only one that matters,” it’s a safe bet that serious, professional diplomacy will get short shrift. And that has clearly been the case in the Trump administration. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have done serious damage to American diplomacy. And it’s time to consider how that damage can be repaired.

It’s important to understand the State Department was falling on hard times even before the Trump administration accelerated the trend. The United States has had a rather casual attitude about diplomacy for much of its history, even though some of its greatest foreign-policy successes were achieved by diplomacy rather than by force of arms. 

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