Biden Must Build U.S. Diplomacy Back Better
Four years of Trump has stripped the State Department of vital expertise.
Blinken’s a good start.
Photographer: Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images
In January, Joe Biden will take charge of an executive branch left in woeful disrepair. Practically every important federal institution has been scorched by four years of sustained assault by his predecessor — none more so than the State Department.
President Donald Trump has damaged American diplomacy in word and deed. His secretaries of state, first Rex Tillerson and then Mike Pompeo, have damaged the department deeply. Their open hostility toward career foreign-affairs professionals has led to an exodus of talent, leaving important roles either unfilled or, worse, manned by unqualified political appointees.