The American Conservative published on 20 July 2026 an opinion piece titled "Why Does Trump Hate the State Department?" by Peter Van Buren.
This is a blanket condemnation of the State Department as an institution, at least under both Trump administrations if not all Republican presidencies. The only positive comment about the Department comes at the end of Van Buren's remarks when he states: "Of course there will always be some role for the State Department overseas at least, primarily in consular staff assisting American citizens and the few traditional diplomats needed to handle the bureaucratic concierge work and VIP logistics that State has always been good at."
Comment: Van Buren's cherry-picked half-truths and non sequiturs are still a useful reminder to State Department personnel, who tend to be more liberal than the populists of the Trump administration, that it is important to follow the policy direction of the administration in power.
I spent thirty-seven years as a Foreign Service officer in the State Department under Republican and Democratic administrations (but not a Trump administration) and concluded that Department personnel with rare exception do, in fact, pursue the policies laid down by the White House.
The Reagan administration, for example, attached considerable importance to support for the development of American trade and investment overseas. Appointed in the late 1980s by Reagan as ambassador to Burkina Faso, I devoted much of my three years in Ouagadougou promoting American trade and investment, albeit with only modest success. My ambassadorial colleagues throughout Africa were equally supportive of Reagan administration policies.
Reagan's Republican successor, George H.W. Bush, and his Secretary of State, James A. Baker was highly respected throughout the Department of State. In return, I believe Bush and Baker respected State Department personnel. It is simply not accurate to conclude, or at least imply, that State Department personnel do not follow the policies of Republican administrations.
Van Buren writes that "State's Foreign Service Officers saw themselves as resistance superheroes who would take down Trump I." This is utter nonsense. Based on my continuing contact with active-duty officers, they are quietly doing their jobs as directed by political appointee supervisors or just trying to stay out of harm's way until there is an administration, Republican or Democratic, that gives them a little respect.
