Sidelined State Department preparing for a second purge

Rss@dailykos.com (mark Sumner) · Saturday, February 18, 2017, 10:00 am

Secretary of State is generally thought of as the most important position in the cabinet, but in the Trump regime, the whole department is held in contempt.

Senior state department officials who would normally be called to the White House for their views on key policy issues, are not being asked their opinion. They have resorted to asking foreign diplomats, who now have better access to President Trump’s immediate circle of advisers, what new decisions are imminent.

The public voice of the state department has fallen silent. There has not been a daily press briefing, the customary channel for voicing US views and policy on world events, since January.

This is, after all, a regime which believes diplomacy is something to laugh about, and diplomats don't know what they are doing. After all, if they're so good at deals, why aren't they all billionaires? The State Department has already survived one purge of top leadership.

The move left Tillerson with a huge hole at the State Department after the departure of the officials, who had a combined 150 years of institutional experience.
Now Trump and Tillerson are demonstrating their continued disdain with a “shake up” that looks like the start of a deeper purge.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has reassigned a majority of the staff meant to work most closely with the top US diplomat in what career officials at the State Department fear is the start of a major reorganization.

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