President-elect Donald Trump ordered every Obama-appointed diplomat home in the days which will immediately following his inauguration, according to a Thursday report from The New York Times.
The Department of State sent a cable to all diplomats nationwide advising them of the break from tradition Dec. 23. Past administrations allowed diplomats an extension until a replacement could be found and moved to each post, according to the report.
Trump made it clear he doesn’t want any political appointee of the outgoing president to serve during his administration, a decision Trump staffers insist is not “ill will.” The new administration just wants to make sure that appointments made as a result of political donations end “on schedule.”
The move could leave key diplomatic posts unfilled as the new president rushes to appoint and confirm ambassadors to countries like Germany, Canada, and Great Britain.
“When you have people out there whose only reason for being an ambassador is their political connection to the outgoing president of the different party, it’s pretty logical to say they should leave,” former ambassador to Algeria, Bahrain, and Afghanistan Ronald Newmann told the Times.
“But I don’t recollect there was ever a guillotine in January where it was just, ‘Everybody out of the pool immediately.'”
Other former ambassadors disagreed with Trump’s assertion that there is no ill will behind the decision. “It feels like there’s an element just of spite and payback in it,” former ambassador to Finland Derek Shearer said. “I don’t see a higher policy motive.”
Trump has never been ashamed of telling everyone about the big changes he plans to bring to the new administration. Trump will be making “big” changes, Trump Press Secretary Sean Spicer said last Sunday on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”
“It’s going to be not one big thing; it’s going to be many big things,” Spicer said. “On day one, he’s going to sign a series of executive orders to do two things. One is repeal a lot of the regulations and actions that have been taken by this administration over the last eight years that have hampered both economic growth and job creation.”
Spicer also promised that the new administration would represent a “new brand” for the country, and a decision to look forward, instead of going backward.
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