To your latter point regarding the fired ambassadors, it's the most scandalous thing since 2008, when Obama did the exact same thing - http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2008/12/obama-gives-poli...
A changing of the guard in these roles is (as the article I posted pointed out) the norm.
However, In the current case, no one knows who the replacement is, or when he/she will be taking on the role, thus leaving us officially without an ambassador for the foreseeable future, and also resulting in the longest gap in 70 odd years that we have not had an official ambassador.
A transition team who knows these things would have done that - the Trump team, though, since he was not actually expecting a transition, had no idea how to run one. And accepted all the resignations.
This is the same reason the commander of the D.C. National Guard was dismissed at noon on the same day.
Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence.
The incoming president then says, no, no, please stay on until we have your replacement set up.
Unless I'm misremembering, that wasn't the case. Obama was appointing ambassadors regularly for a few months.
But wasn't it the Parks agency that tweeted about the crowd size, not the EPA?
And is the current administration simply going to shut down or fire everyone who shows any form of push back towards the regime? Isn't that what they do in places like, oh say, North Korea?
I can't think of many instances where Executive Branch employees used official outlets to undermine a sitting President's policies in the past. Can you?
Don't all new presidents appoint a fresh new batch of ambassadors ? I assumed it was always done that way ...
Are there cases of cross-presidency ambassadors ?
This admin, for whatever reasons, is months behind the normal schedual.
Please describe your process for properly vetting, nominating, debating, and confirming all (or most) ambassadorships in 4+ days, since you see that as "normal practice". Extra credit: name any three administrations that have done so.
I would hope that the Secretary of State would have some say in ambassadorships, in which case the process would also be constrained until the SecState nominee is confirmed.
The Trump team immediately accepted all the ambassadors resignations, which is what is unusual.
2. December 3, 2008. That's when that article was published about giving notice and starting to find replacements. Same as every other president does.
3. Serious question. Are you paid to do what you are doing right now? I have a really hard time understanding why you would post that link which is specifically framed to spread misinformation as it is about a completely different point in the presidency. Seriously, this is your country. Why would you intentionally attempt to misinform your fellow citizens?
EDIT: I expect a response. You said Obama did the "exact same thing". Which is an outright falsehood and posted an link that is from a different period to intentionally misinform people. In some countries what you just did would be considered a crime.
To my surprise, jquery is pretty much correct about it being the same thing as Obama did. This[1] is the best summary of the situation I can find:
1) Obama (and all new incoming presidents before him) did ask for the resignations of all non-career, politically appointed ambassadors.
2) Obama (and Bush) did grant extensions to some ambassadors. However, this was a (very) small number. Exactly how many it applied to is unclear, but to quote the the article I linked above:
in the past two inter-party transitions (Clinton-Bush, Bush-Obama) only about 10 political ambassadors have gotten extensions.
Basically, I'd judge that the reporting of The Independent article linked above is misleadingly critical of Trump.
I also think that jquery's point below about Obama literally auctioned off the posts is incomplete. Most ambassadorships are given as rewards (by both US parties). Most countries do the same: ambassadorships to friendly countries are political rewards and the countries actually want someone who is close to the leader of the country they represent. I don't think the moral case against that is entirely clear, but I can see arguments both ways.
[1] https://diplopundit.net/2017/01/06/foreign-service-tradition...
So, yes, some posts may be left without an immediate replacement, but it's not cause for panic if the alternative is immediately filling the posts with unqualified campaign donors.
EDIT: These are undisputed facts in response to a hostile question accusing me of being a paid actor (ridiculous, my account is 8 years old) posting things that would be a "crime" in other countries. People down-voting this should check the irony considering they're upset at the President for censorship.
That's a shady rhetorical technique, and I suspect you're arguing in bad faith. That's worth some downvotes.
My interpretation was that GP meant that Obama did the same thing (firing existing politically appointed ambassadors) and then in addition filled the positions with people who had donated to his campaign (hence not the "exact same thing", but worse).
I really don't know the facts here, but my cursory reading of the Wapo article does seem to suggest that Obama did essentially the same thing in 2008. Or am I missing something?
Ironically, you are incorrect and have strangely doubled down on it in some sort of pyrrhic victory dance of failure.
Give your fellow HNers the benefit of the doubt.
Good thing Mr. Trump would never do that kind of thing, like with the Department of Education or something.
I can't tell you how many times both online and in real life that people have made that assumption about me when I've criticized Obama, Clinton or other Democrats, or vice-versa when I've criticized Trump. I can assure you that I detest Donald Trump too.
I do have a significant D bias. Obama was by no means a perfect president - I mean, my God, I have a long list - but Trump, as far as I can see, doesn't even know what "President" means. There are loads of Republicans who I think would have done a fine job. I liked Romney, I think Kasich would have done OK, etc.
That said, an ambassadorship is normally given as a sop, isn't it? It doesn't alarm me in the slightest that Obama may have "literally auctioned off" ambassadorships - because I don't see the harm done and, as I say, I was under the impression that this was business as usual.
But you have to see that calling out possible corruption in the Obama administration (which, as I said, doesn't appear to have harmed us in any way that I know of) in the present context is ... well, it looks like carrying water for what appears to be shaping up to be quite literally the most corrupt administration America has ever suffered.
Why would you intentionally attempt to misinform your fellow citizens?
As someone who may be influenced by this discussion I am way more interested in why you think his point about nominating donors is not significant enough to discuss. Isn't that a sort of misinformation by non-acknowledgment?
"For decades, the National Park Service provided official crowd estimates for gatherings on the National Mall but no longer does.
The policy changed after the Million Man March in 1995, a gathering of black men meant to show renewed commitment to family and solidarity. The park service estimated 400,000 people attended the march, making it one of the largest demonstrations in history in Washington.
But organizers believed they reached their goal of 1 million participants and threatened legal action. No lawsuit was filed, but the dispute was enough to get the park service out of the head-counting business."
Ref: http://www.denverpost.com/2017/01/21/national-park-service-t...
Sounds like the Boston police department needs to order more Stingrays!
:(
I, for one, am happy that I live in a country where I don't have to worry about being prosecuted for making HN comments.
Can we please not do this here?
It is a very interesting question how to fight this fact, and we need to discuss it, not silence any discussion of it.
Are you paid to do what you are doing right now?
The number of true believers in various viewpoints, willing to lie in order to sway the audience vastly overwhelms the amount any organization's payroll could handle.
jquery, as many conservative and liberal commenters before him, believes that a lie to persuade someone for his noble cause is justified by its outcome. I disagree with this tactic vehemently, but it is used by many earnest believers.
I used to be on board and would have defended the mindset that asking the question is an accusation in and of itself. But now, over in /r/france, we have this stuff going on:
https://www.reddit.com/r/france/comments/5pv83r/inside_the_p...
At this point, I think it's sometimes fair to ask that question. There is no doubt that HN does have paid shills; if you turn showdead on, you'll often see some of the more egregious ones. The question is about the subtle ones.
Of course, that's what the current administration wants: For nobody to be certain of anything. Nerdwriter made an excellent video about it a couple of weeks ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geEVwslL-YY
Hm. When was the last time a government wanted its citizens not to be sure of what's true, what's false and each others' affiliations...