You there, go to the end of the line
Deutsche Welle reports that the Trump administration has downgraded the diplomatic status of the EU delegation to the US.
The unannounced move by the US State Department, which has not previously been reported, downgraded the EU delegation’s diplomatic status in Washington from member state to international organization.
“We don’t exactly know when they did it, because they conveniently forgot to notify us,” an EU official who is familiar with the matter told DW in an interview.
“I can confirm that this has not been well received in Brussels,” the person said, adding that the issue and an official EU response was still being discussed.
Welllll who needs Europe when we can have Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia? Europe is for what Trump calls elleetissts.
A Washington-based diplomat of an EU member state also confirmed the downgrade and denounced the move.
“This is clearly not simply a protocol issue, but this is something that has a very obvious political motive,” the person said. The diplomat added that the negative view of the EU mission downgrade was shared by the majority of member states.
After discovering the downgrade, EU diplomats in Washington reached out to the State Department, which is responsible for diplomatic affairs, for clarification. “They have told us that they forgot to notify us and that this is a decision they have taken because that is apparently what the chief of protocol thinks is the proper thing to do,” the person said.
Meaning, it’s what the Trumpies told them to do.
The diplomatic downgrade of the EU’s mission in Washington appears to be in line with what is widely being perceived as an anti-EU stance by the Trump administration.
Trump was an avid supporter of Britain’s exit from the European Union during his presidential campaign, and as president has repeatedly lashed out at the European Union on issues such as trade and defense.
Europe isn’t authoritarian enough for Trump’s tastes.
The part that really leapt out at me was that the State department “forgot” to mention the change — like a bucnh of schoolboys who thought they could avoid being caught.
Not enough is made of just how pathetic a bunch Trump and his cronies really are.
It’s a subject so large it’s hard to do it justice.
“So sorry, my dog ate the paperwork.”
I suppose it’s possible that the career employees “forgot” to inform the EU diplomats because they figured if they didn’t tell them, things would go on as usual, and maybe Trump would forget or change his mind or something. They didn’t tell them because they were embarrassed to admit that the government they have devoted their lives to is now in the hands of junior high school bully boys, the ones who flunked 7th grade Civics and spent all their time making faces at each other and talking trash about the pretty girls in the front row. Maybe they didn’t want it to come out, and when it did, all they could say in their defense was they forgot, because they can’t risk offending the orange toddler.