Rubio Tells All U.S. Diplomats They Have to Talk Like Trump
· Yahoo NewsMarco Rubio has instructed U.S. diplomats not to comment on the legitimacy or fairness of foreign elections, breaking with decades of American diplomatic practice.
The memo, sent to all Foreign Service officers overseas, states that U.S. missions abroad will no longer be issuing election-related statements or social media posts unless there is a “clear and compelling” foreign policy reason for doing so.
“When it is appropriate to comment on a foreign election, our message should be brief, focused on congratulating the winning candidate and, when appropriate, noting shared foreign policy interests,” read the cable, which was seen by Reuters.
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It added: “Messages should avoid opining on the fairness or integrity of an electoral process, its legitimacy, or the democratic values of the country in question.”
The only legitimate election-related messages from now on should come from the secretary of state himself, the president, or an official department spokesperson, the memo read, warning diplomats not to speak on such issues without explicit approval.
Citing comments made by President Donald Trump during a visit to Riyadh in May in which he criticized “Western interventionists” telling Middle Eastern countries how to conduct their affairs, the memo said: “While the United States will hold firm to its own democratic values and celebrate those values when other countries choose a similar path, the President made clear that the United States will pursue partnerships with countries wherever our strategic interests align.”
Overseas diplomats are still permitted to post public messages congratulating the election winner without high-level approval, unless the result is contested, but are instructed to focus on the “election result, not the process.”
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“DO NOT use election-time messaging to advance a U.S. foreign policy goal,” the memo read. “DO NOT use it to promote an ideology.”
Diplomatic personnel writing official messages are instead instructed to ask themselves: “Would the President say this?”
The move marks a wider shift by the Trump administration to downplay the promotion of democracy and human rights around the globe, as the president increasingly cosies up to autocratic leaders and pushes his “America First” approach to foreign policy.
In May, the administration formally notified Congress it planned to cut thousands of jobs from the State Department’s human rights bureau, reshaping it to focus on promoting “Western values” and complaining the agency had become a platform for “left-wing activists to wage vendettas against ‘anti-woke’ leaders.”