The US foreign policy establishment is in turmoil as President Donald Trump vows to revamp US foreign policy and root out the so-called “deep state” by firing thousands of government employees, including federal employees. We are facing one of the biggest changes in years. Rank in the American diplomatic corps.
Trump’s election victory also means the Biden administration will cut military aid, thwarting already modest efforts to rein in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Gaza and Lebanon, and leading to new efforts to cut military aid. Before, it is likely to accelerate efforts to help Ukraine. Burn down key parts of the US bureaucracy, including the State Department.
Trump supporters say his second term, often referred to as “Trump 2.0,” will be more organized, and the day after Election Day, U.S. media reported that Trump was already in the first Trump administration. It was reported that he chose Brian Hook, a former hawkish State Department official. to lead the transition of American diplomats.
But analysts, current and former U.S. diplomats and foreign affairs officials said it remains difficult to separate Trump’s rhetoric from his actual plans when he takes office in January. What is clear is that his priority is to undo many of the policies introduced by his predecessor.
“I’m skeptical that the transition process will have much of an impact, as the new team’s natural instinct will be to throw all of Biden’s foreign policy in the trash,” said one former senior diplomat.
“If you go back to 2016, Mexico didn’t pay for the wall. And, you know, it doesn’t seem like there was a secret plan to defeat ISIS,” said the Center for a New American Security think tank. CEO Richard Fontaine said. “Some of these things didn’t turn out the way they talked about on the campaign trail. We’re wondering what the president’s proposals for all of this would be, what the president would do. I’m working on this problem without knowing anything about it.”
But one clear priority is targeting many people involved in US foreign policy making as part of a broader purge of the US government.
President Trump has vowed to strip civil service protections from tens of thousands of federal employees and instead reinstate Schedule F, which defines them as political appointees, calling them “corrupt bureaucrats,” as he called them during his presidential campaign. This would give President Trump tremendous power to fire people. Campaign statement.
There are concerns within the State Department that Trump will target bureaus that have a particular focus on issues he attacked during his re-election campaign, such as immigration. In particular, he could cut entire departments in the State Department, including the Population, Refugee, and Migration Services (PRM, which resettled 125,000 refugees to the United States in 2022 alone) and the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. There is sex. It focuses on Israel’s violation of Palestinian rights.
A policy memo, “Project 2025,” released by the conservative Heritage Foundation suggests that President Trump will reallocate PRM resources solely to move “challenges arising from the current immigration situation until the crisis is contained.” He called for an “indefinite reduction in immigration numbers.” Percentage of USRAP (United States Refugee Admissions Program) refugee admissions.”
But the blueprint, authored by Kyron Skinner, who served as the State Department’s director of policy planning during the first Trump administration, goes a step further, as President Trump plans to completely reevaluate previous policies and plans to change the state department’s operations. suggests that it is sufficient to simply freeze the
“Before taking office, the President-elect’s departmental transition team should evaluate all aspects of State Department negotiations and funding,” the memo reads in part. After taking office, Skinner said the Secretary of State would be responsible for all pending “unratified treaties and international agreements, resource allocations, foreign aid disbursements, domestic and international contracts and payments, employment and hiring decisions, etc.” We should order an immediate freeze on this initiative.” Review by political appointees.
“Everyone is keeping their guard up (on themselves),” said one diplomat stationed overseas. “Some (diplomats) may choose to leave before he arrives.”
President Trump also vowed to “completely reform federal departments and agencies and fire all corrupt officials in the national security and intelligence communities.”
As Joe Biden enters a lame-duck period, his administration will focus on pushing through the $6 billion in aid already approved for Ukraine, while remaining in office to achieve an unlikely Gaza ceasefire. He will focus on exerting all his influence.
At the same time, he will have to calm a nervous world waiting to see what President Trump plans for his second term.
“They’re going to do everything they can to make the case that the United States needs to continue supporting Ukraine, and they’re going to have to spend a lot of time dealing with nervous Ukrainians and nervous people. I’m sure it’s ‘European,’ Fontaine said. At the upcoming G20 summit in Rio, the current administration said it would “remind the rest of the world that a lot of what they’ve done in the last four years is not just about being kind, but will be here in the future.” “I was trying to reassure them that it was canceled.”
“And let’s see what the response is to that,” he added.
