Donald Trump has a knack for choosing the most highly unqualified people to fill incredibly important positions in his administration. Former Texas Governor Rick Perry didn’t even know what the Energy Department did before he said it should be defunded, and now he is the cabinet secretary for the department. Mike Pence was a failing governor of Indiana when he suddenly became a heartbeat away from the presidency.
Now, one of Trump’s favorite Fox & Friends hosts will be representing the country at the U.N. Assembly, but not without a confirmation fight.
Work has begun to ready Heather Nauert for a nomination hearing early next year, where the former TV host will face hostile Democrats and a few skeptical Republicans not yet convinced she has the foreign policy chops to do the job https://t.co/c7PCPXAFaS
— POLITICO (@politico) December 26, 2018
A new report on the struggle to confirm Nauert by POLITICO says that:
‘It’s an unexpected journey for a potential United States ambassador to the United Nations — Nauert has no diplomatic experience aside from her year and a half as State Department spokesperson, a job she got with little background in global affairs. But under the Trump administration, unusual pathways to top positions have become typical. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and Energy Secretary Rick Perry both assumed posts overseeing agencies they admittedly knew little about. And there’s a team of supporters both in and out of the government working to convince lawmakers — and the public — that Nauert will be up to the task once her nomination is officially submitted to the Senate next year.’
.@realDonaldTrump’s nominee for UN Ambassador, Heather Nauert, has played a pivotal role in major diplomatic events, including:
-Traveling to 26 countries
-Traveling with @SecPompeo on every State Department-led trip
-Providing vital support during the historic Singapore summit— GOP (@GOP) December 27, 2018
Nauert can be coached on how to answer questions in front of a confirmation committee, but actual knowledge of foreign policy and diplomatic relations are more of a struggle. Elliott Abrams, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said that:
‘[Nauert] is very well-informed about any issue senators are likely to ask about, but what she’s not experienced in is the political give-and-take she’ll need to negotiate compromises at the U.N.’
According to @GOP, Heather Nauert is qualified to be UN Ambassador because she has traveled to two dozen countries. How far have Republicans lowered the bar? https://t.co/TOrCt05UuQ
— NY02 Democrats (@ny02dems) December 28, 2018
Not only does Nauert have no experience in international diplomacy, she has no experience in politics at all. Her former job as a Fox & Friends anchor did not qualify her to be a spokesperson for the State Department and her year and a half in that job does not qualify her to represent the U.S. at the United Nations Assembly. Nikki Haley, at least, did have experience in politics.
‘As governor of South Carolina, Haley did not know a lot of foreign policy … but she was very much prepared for the work of a U.N. ambassador in the sense that the U.N. General Assembly is very much like a political body. Nauert seems to me like the inverse of that.’
When the State Department cancels its daily briefing because it can’t explain trump’s Syria policy, it means its spokesperson Heather Nauert – his nominee to be U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. – is unable to explain trump’s Syria policy. https://t.co/ZzQk5v5406
— Philippe Reines (@PhilippeReines) December 19, 2018
Travel doesn’t qualify anyone to serve in a position as crucial right now as the U.N. ambassador, nor does a job smiling at cameras and reading a Fox News script. This is the administration of our current president, however, and it isn’t getting any better.
Featured image screenshot via YouTube
