Diplomacy Matters: My 2022 CPAC Address

Diplomacy isn’t a weak option. But we all know that diplomacy without the credible threat of force invites contempt. However, diplomacy that sees military force as the first option, rather than a last resort, results in war. Diplomacy done right, however, is the opposite of war.

This week we have witnessed a total collapse of diplomacy. DC newsrooms won’t say it, but American diplomats failed. President Biden told us that he was going to bring diplomacy back – but instead it is ON its back.

We desperately need new, creative, visionary diplomacy. Muscular Diplomacy, to secure meaningful peace when a conflict arises.

Last summer, we watched helplessly as our credibility, our deterrence and our national honor crumbled in the retreat from Afghanistan. Presidents Trump and Biden were dealing with the same country, the same enemy, and had the same diplomatic and military tools at hand. Both shared the ultimate goal of withdrawal. But the difference is that President Trump had unapologetic pro-American diplomacy – with a credible military option behind him.

It is clear that the Taliban respected and feared President Trump. He sought to withdraw on his terms, leaving a delicate but viable order behind while reading the situation on the ground and adjusting his plans when necessary.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden constantly radiated provocative weakness, announcing an arbitrary pullout date for a 9/11 anniversary photo op, and squandering all his leverage. Then he pulled our military forces prematurely, exposing our embassy, diplomats, and American citizens to mortal danger.

We watched as American troops were called back to Afghanistan because of Biden’s poor planning; and we were horrified by the images of US troops trapped in a desperate mission to maintain a vulnerable security perimeter at the Kabul airport. This Obama 3rd term-crew left hundreds of U.S. citizens behind enemy lines, and what did they say when honest voices called them out on it? They bragged that they brought 90% home.

Bringing 90% home means you left 10% behind.

It was irresponsible, it was immoral, it was un-American. Americans don’t leave Americans behind.

Our allies and others feel the weakness coming from the White House. They watched in horror as less than one month into the Biden administration, Secretary of State Antony Blinken revoked the terrorist designation for the Iranian-allied Houthis in Yemen only to see the Houthis launch drone and missile attacks on the UAE, a country that signed the Abraham Accords.

Do you think our Middle East allies think America has strong diplomacy?

And what do they think when they see the re-writing of borders, again, in Europe.

Is American diplomacy working?

Let’s be clear, Europe has seen its borders re-written this week under Joe Biden – and in 2014 when Barack Obama was President.

And yet the Left continues to mock the successful America First diplomatic strategy even today. They think demanding NATO members pay their obligations is somehow undiplomatic. They think sanctioning Russia BEFORE an invasion in Europe is reckless. And they pretend that Donald Trump’s unpredictability was harmful.

Well, I saw first-hand that having a President putting the American people first, and calling out the Germans for their hypocrisy, and not telling our enemies what our strategy is - made America and Europe safer. 

The American left also continues to push this phony narrative that President Trump’s Ambassadors were “mean,” or “rude”.

Well, if avoiding war could be accomplished by a dinner party then we wouldn’t be seeing Putin’s forces inside Ukraine. 

President Trump expected American Ambassadors to represent Americans – not Europeans. And he expected us to stand up against European media outlets and the NGOs in Brussels, Berlin or Paris who don’t want an America who leads.

The Biden diplomats of Europe who simply attended fancy dinners and receptions these past few months failed to avoid war. Some of them even left Europe just as diplomacy with muscle was needed. They failed the American people.

But do you think they will ever be held accountable for failing to find a peaceful solution? The answer is NO. They will continue to mingle, exchange business cards, and send each other gifts. There will be no condemnation, ridicule, or self-reflection for this diplomatic failure.

Instead, the U.S. media will continue to prop them up and celebrate their language skills and designer clothes, but the people will suffer. Certainly, the people of Ukraine but also the people of Europe – who now live in a region where the Russians have invaded.

So where do we go from here? We have the example of President Trump and his America First diplomats who were able to pull off a series of foreign policy miracles despite constant and fierce opposition from the bipartisan foreign policy establishment and self-described “experts” in Washington.

To dig ourselves out of this diplomatic hole, we must be honest about what went wrong. And we must commit to Muscular Diplomacy for the future: a deep and systematic reform of our foreign policy institutions is needed to peacefully advance the interests of our nation.

While official Washington is now dramatizing war, I want to focus on what went wrong in the lead up to this disaster, and specifically the diplomatic failure.

It’s time for the State Department to rediscover its mission and reclaim its purpose: preventing war and working to keep the American people strong and prosperous. And we have a lot of work to do.

We should start by making sure every Foreign Service Officer and every employee understands and believes in this mission.

I’ve worked at the State Department for 11 years. And I believe US diplomats should be on the ground resolving problems even while the military moves into place.

It’s vital now that we give our diplomats new tools and training in aggressive, preventative, and creative diplomacy. We need diplomats who are willing to push back without regard for the inevitable media attention or consequences.  And we should protect them when they do it. Foreign service officers must not be afraid to challenge the status quo.

I know career diplomats at the State Department who want to use impactful diplomacy, they just have to be led by the right people. They need to be rewarded, not penalized, for taking creative risks. There is a growing sense that Biden and Blinken are removing them before they’ve had a chance to do their job.

And we should never hear again about “non-essential workers” at our embassies. Every worker on the payroll should be essential! Why, in God’s name, are we employing people who aren’t essential?

Every foreign service officer should be prepared, equipped and ready to be sent to dangerous situations. It is called the *Foreign* Service and we should equip them and empower them to do what they committed to do.

Politicians from both political parties are trapped into a cycle of sending in weak negotiators who are quickly shoved aside to make room for U.S. troops.  The State Department is viewed- and used- as if they simply schedule meetings, deliver stale and recycled speeches and then enjoy a good meal.

We’ve asked our courageous military members to win hearts and minds when they should be brought in only after diplomatic negotiations have been exhausted. 

The State Department has what they call career “cones”. You can choose a public affairs cone, an economics cone, a management cone, and so on.

And although State has a Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization and USAID has a Crisis, Stabilization and Governance Office, the time has come to have an official Crisis Cone as a career option. This would give those Foreign Service Officers who want to serve actively in crisis situations the support they need and deserve.

Right now, we have political appointees at the State Department who are inept. There’s no other way to say it.

We have witnessed an appalling waste of diplomatic capital these past 4 weeks, as the Biden team hyped a bloody war to come, shifting U.S. troops around Europe, stoking paranoia in the West, destroying the Ukrainian economy and utterly failing to deter Vladimir Putin.

Think about this: Joe Biden promised unprecedented sanctions AFTER a bloody Russian invasion. If you want to avoid war, you need to impose crippling sanctions BEFORE the war starts. And he’s done neither.

The key to the Ukraine conflict, and the symbolic core of the growing turmoil in Europe, has always been energy – and specifically the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. It is a pipeline that will carry natural gas across the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany. But what it really is, is a pipeline of influence. It is a pipeline that makes Germany and Europe dangerously dependent on Russia for its energy.

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline is still not operational! It is still our most important point of leverage over Putin. But sadly, the Biden diplomatic team refused to use it before the Russian invasion.  Joe Biden and Democrat Senators dropped the sanctions on Russia’s pipeline creating the precise moment Putin saw American weakness.

They also failed to leverage our existing alliances. One of the most cynical lies about America First foreign policy is that we squandered our relationship with NATO, by demanding NATO members pay their required minimum 2% GDP on defense.

But I would argue that Donald Trump helped NATO by not ignoring its failures, limitations and inequities.

Unfortunately, we have witnessed a Germany which wants to have a foreign policy like Switzerland.  They want to sell cars to everyone and be an economic powerhouse with no geostrategic responsibilities. But this is not acceptable. Generations of Americans have sacrificed too much for Germany to drift away from the Western Alliance. We must insist they do more.

If Germany and other NATO countries refuse to pay their NATO obligations, then they shouldn’t be allowed to vote on items that affect the future of the alliance.

I want to be clear - the opposite of “America First” is “Consensus with other countries.” And we shouldn’t be hell-bent on reaching consensus with countries who don’t share the same threat assessment as we do. Berlin, Paris and Brussels, don’t prioritize some threats that we prioritize.

And that’s ok, but U.S. policy must not be subordinate to European policy. Our goal cannot be consensus for the sake of unity. Consensus sounds good, but it is usually terrible for the U.S. It usually means a watered-down statement or set of policies reflecting the lowest common denominator between countries.

The Left will tell you that we must be unified.  I will tell you that we must have an effective policy.

America First is not just withdrawing from optional wars and bringing our troops home, it is empowering our allies to do more -in their own regions, in their own interests- so we can do less. Muscular Diplomacy makes that happen. Sometimes we simply must insist.

Its why President Trump wanted to bring more troops home from Germany and move existing ones to Poland.  And it’s why we wanted our troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan under our own timeline. It’s why we brought all our troops home from Somalia and asked the Kenyans to police their own neighborhood, and started discussions to bring the U.S. troops home from Kosovo when Kosovo and Serbia began to make economic normalization progress.

Muscular Diplomacy means using all the tools of the U.S. government’s economic might, including weaponizing America’s abundant natural resources, and moving USAID back to the State Department where it can better strengthen American diplomacy.

Muscular Diplomacy means tough, savvy and sober diplomats who advocate tirelessly for our national interest.

For decades, U.S. foreign policy has been based on unenforceable global accords. It has tried to force democracy on regions and countries who didn’t want it and couldn’t handle it. It has prized a nebulous “war of ideas” over pragmatic solutions to real problems. Most importantly, it has failed to define a clear understanding of the threats the United States has faced or the successful outcomes it could realistically achieve.

Donald Trump was a temporary break from this failed style of diplomacy. We must not let the Biden administration drag us back into the unsuccessful policies of the past and unnecessary wars.

This great nation deserves more. It deserves America First. And it deserves tough diplomats who can articulate why an America First policy is good for the world. When we speak clearly that America stands for peace, human rights and the rule of law, our allies will follow.  In fact, they are hungrier than ever for these principles and a strong America.