Trump ambassadors force conflicts with multiple EU governments

Kushner had been called for consultations on the afternoon of Monday, February 23, to explain himself for the comments made by the Trump administration on social networks after the death of Quentin Deranque, a young ultranationalist activist who was attacked in Lyon by several far-left people. The Elysée considered the message, formulated by the US Counterterrorism Office and translated by the embassy in Paris, as a meddling.

In the text, the US representatives considered that “left-wing violent extremism is on the rise“, and that the death of Deranque, 23, demonstrated “the threat he represents to public safety.” The State Department led by Marco Rubio warned that “they would continue to monitor the situation” and hoped that the “perpetrators of this violence” would be prosecuted.

The event has caused particular animosity in Emmanuel Macron’s Executive. The president of France himself was angry with his Italian counterpart, Giorgia Meloni, for also condemning “left-wing extremism.” Along the same lines, the French Foreign Minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, had reacted harshly before call Kushner for inquiries in the face of what he considered an “instrumentalization of pain.”

“We have no lesson, regarding violence in particular, to learn from reactionary international“Barrot counterattacked. “We can use the analyzes of political life and the violence that occupies positions ourselves with enough eloquence“. Kushner was scheduled to appear at 7:00 p.m. at the ministerial headquarters on the quai d’Orsay, but he sent a subordinate to inform him that he was was absent for personal reasons.

It was the second time that the American ambassador was summoned and stood up in less than a year. Last August, he was called to answer for accusations against Macron of lukewarmness against antisemitism. This second rudeness has had consequences: Barrot attributes a “basic misunderstanding of the basic implications of an ambassadorial mission” and prevents him from accessing any instance of the French Government.

However, the Elysée also extends an olive branch. The statement clarifies that said sanction will be repealed from the moment Kushner appears, so that “the diplomatic exchanges that allow to alleviate friction that, inevitably, arise from a friendship that goes back 250 years.

Late on Tuesday, sources close to Barrot leaked that Kushner had called the French minister. In that conversation, the American ambassador would have committed to “do not interfere again” in the public debate in France.

Conflicts in other capitals

The profile of Charles Kushner is paradigmatic of the men with whom Donald Trump usually surrounds himself. Construction magnate, convicted of embezzlement and pardoned by Trump himself, and with ties to Israel, is also in-law of the president of the United States. His son Jared Kushner, another of the White House’s regular collaborators, is Ivanka Trump’s husband.

This biography, as well as the head-on clash with the governments to which they have been sent on a diplomatic mission, points to being the trend among ‘MAGA ambassadors (Make America Great Againthe movement founded by Trump). Tom Roseambassador to Poland, unilaterally announced that he was breaking with the president of the Polish Lower House for refusing to support the candidacy for the Nobel Peace Prize that the US president coveted.

Last December, Ken Howeryco-founder of Paypal and ambassador to Denmark, outraged the country in the midst of the controversy over Greenland by removing the flags at the legation that honored Danish soldiers who fell in Afghanistan. The decision, which seemed to fit into Trump’s criticism of the contribution of European allies to NATO, was responded to with dozens of new flags planted in front of the embassy.

However, none has reached the acrimony of Bill WhiteAmerican ambassador to Belgium. He also, like Kushner, began by accusing the Belgian Executive of “anti-Semitism” for not stopping an investigation into circumcisions performed irregularly in Antwerp. The practitioners were mohelsa traditional figure in Judaism, who would not have performed the rite with health workers present as required by law.

In a furious post in capital letters, imitating Trump’s own style, he defended the “thousands of years of experience” of the mohels and demanded that the investigation be put to an end. The Belgian Foreign Minister, Maxime Prévot, then called White for consultations. “An accredited ambassador has the responsibility to respect our institutionsour elected representatives and the independence of our judicial system,” he censured.

Sin embargo, este era solo el comienzo de una semana de furia en la que White ha atacado a varios políticos belgas, a menudo en forma de comentarios a sus ‘posts’ en redes sociales. El punto álgido llegó cuando acusó al ministro de Sanidad belga, Frank Vandenbroucke, de “sugerir quemar el dinero negro” del partido socialista flamenco. Se trata de una referencia a un escándalo de los años 90 por el que Vandenbroucke nunca fue acusado o inculpado.

El estupor por el comportamiento de White, que donó 5 millones de dólares a la campaña de Trump, alcanzó al primer ministro de Bélgica, Bart de Wever. El mandatario lamentaba la costumbre estadounidense de mandar a personas cercanas al presidente en lugar de diplomáticos de carrera. “[White] seeks controversy with national political figures. We have never seen anything like this“.

The controversy over the behavior of the ‘MAGA ambassadors’, however, is not limited to this shore of the Atlantic. Charles S. Shapiroformer US ambassador to Venezuela and former president of the Institute of the Americas, summed up this way: “As a former ambassador, one of the basic rules is that if the Foreign Minister of the country that hosts you summons you, you go. And you are punctual. It is not optional“.