Democratic Senators Try to Block Further State Department Appointments

Democratic Senators try to block further State Department appointments in protest of USAID liquidation.

While Trump was “canceling” transgender people and infringing on “diversity and inclusion,” the resistance to him was weak. There were more fears and complaints than protests. There was almost no opposition at all.

Everything changed when Trump encroached on something sacred — USAID. Democratic congressmen have already tried to enter the office of the organization being closed and held a small rally at its doors. And now Democratic Senator Brian Schatz, a member of the upper house Committee on Foreign Affairs, has announced that he is establishing his personal block on the discussion and approval of any appointees of the new administration to the State Department until Trump backs down and refuses to liquidate USAID.

In a statement, Schatz said: “Until these brazenly authoritarian actions are reversed and USAID is functioning again, I will completely block all nominees nominated by the Trump administration to the State Department. This is chaos of epic proportions that will have dangerous consequences around the world.”

Senator Chris Van Hollen, who previously tried (unsuccessfully) to enter the USAID office in Washington, D.C., and then staged an impromptu rally, said he would support Schatz’s initiative.

One immediate consequence of this decision could be further difficulties in confirming Elise Stefanik, the nominee for the post of U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. So it was not diversity programs that sparked the first noticeable wave of resistance to Trump, but the real nest of the deep state — USAID, which was largely not even subordinate to the State Department.

And the level of reaction of the Democrats to the closure of the agency (or rather, its merger with the State Department) once again confirms the thesis that US foreign policy is run not by the State Department, not by the president, and not even by some trilateral commission, but by the party structures of the Democratic Party.

However, this applies to most federal agencies. Hence Trump’s repressions. More precisely, we can talk about attempts to carry them out.