Former U.S. Ambassador Says President Trump's Ambassador's Have Been Inadequate

Former US Ambassador Rufus Gifford with President Obama, Vice-President Biden, and their wives (Twitter)

Rufus Gifford, Business Insider: I was once an ambassador, and I believe that the Trump administration's ambassadors have wrecked a once important part of America's foreign policy

* President Barack Obama appointed Rufus Gifford to be the US ambassador to Denmark; he served from 2013 to 2017.
* There's been a critical rethinking of the role of politically important ambassadors.
* President Donald Trump's ambassadors have been consistently inadequate, Gifford says, including his own successor.
* Gifford says it's time to ask ourselves the question that if the system can allow for people to be confirmed to a position where they are so clearly putting ideology and political party over Constitution and country.
* Rufus Gifford was part of the senior leadership of Obama's presidential campaigns and a former candidate for US Congress in Massachusetts' 3rd District.

There have been so many headlines decrying the quality of politically appointed ambassadors. The New Republic declared "Mega-Donor Ambassadors Are Corrupting Americans Diplomacy." The Atlantic: "As the Rich Get Richer, the Ambassadors Get Worse."

Even Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren took aim at the idea of politically appointed ambassadors.

"The practice of auctioning off American diplomacy to the highest bidder must end," Warren said.

These headlines have drawn my attention because I was a politically appointed ambassador.

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WNU Editor: President Trump was very slow to fill empty ambassador slots when he was inaugurated, and was criticized for it. Now he is being criticized for his choices. You just can't win. 

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