The Trump administration’s perennial push for steep budget cuts, an exodus of senior staffers with decades of experience and constant allegations that agency employees represent a deep state has sent morale at the State Department to an unprecedented low.
On top of that, President Trump has fired a senior diplomat after a whisper campaign mounted by his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and abandoned steadfast allies in the Middle East to fend for themselves on the battlefield at the behest of Turkey’s government.
Current and former diplomats say the weight of those events is taking a startling and measurable toll on American foreign relations, and on their ability to carry out policy set by the White House.
View the complete October 21 article by Reid Wilson on The Hill website here.