2 June, 2026.

As in Trump’s first term as US president, so even more so in his second, the Department of State has been shorn of offices that were politically out of favour, bypassed elsewhere, and generally demoralised and run down. But it is not alone among foreign ministries, especially those of so-called ‘strongman’ states.

Convinced against a Mount Everest of evidence that his gifts at ‘the art of the deal’ are unrivalled in the history of the world, it is notorious that President Trump conducts his own international relations – at all hours of the day and night – chiefly by telephone, and messages on his own social media platform, a.k.a. Lies anti-Social; personal encounters with generally sycophantic foreign leaders, either on foreign visits or in the White House in front of carefully chosen members of the press, are also a favourite because of their showbiz advantages. Since even he cannot handle everything in person, when needs must the president’s reflex is not to employ the professional skills of US Foreign Service personnel but instead a small circle of loyalists, relatives and old friends; at the apex of this pool of supposed diplomatic talent, now a permanent fixture on amateur hour, are his son-in-law Jared Kushner and real estate developer Steve Witkoff. With no background in international diplomacy and conflicts of interest galore, they have been given responsibility for complex and dangerous issues such as Ukraine, Palestine and Iran, a Trumpian reflex which has distinct echoes of the notion of the notorious Roman Emperor, Caligula, to elevate to high office his favourite racehorse, Incitatus, although it seems that in the end even Caligula eventually drew the line at that. Experienced staff are fleeing or being ejected from the State Department and over 100 of American ambassadorial posts are vacant, an unprecedented number.

Unfortunately, other authoritarian states follow the Trump model to a greater or lesser degree, among them those in Russia, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Belarus, North Korea and, until recently, Hungary. A particularly egregious example, and one of which I was not aware until alerted to it by a DiploFoundation colleague, is the foreign ministry of Javier Milei’s Argentina, which has been to all intents and purposes put to the political and administrative torch. An account of this, with clear implications for all states inclined to follow the same route, not least the dire consequences of failing to keep accurate records of foreign encounters, has been provided by Consuelo Thiers, which I strongly recommend.