Donald Trump still refuses to concede even as Joe Biden shapes his top foreign policy team
America is waking up to another week of political dysfunction, with President Trump still refusing to admit he lost an election that took place nearly three weeks ago.President-elect Joe Biden is doing his best to ignore the absurdity of the situation. Instead, he is pushing ahead with the transition.Key appointments are being floated. We expect Tony Blinken to be the new Secretary of State. That will be widely viewed as sending a signal to the world that the United States is back as a reliable partner.
“America First” is buried as an operating principle, a pitchfork driven through its nativist heart.Blinken is highly capable, experienced, and - importantly for the job - exceedingly close to the boss. He was Joe Biden’s top foreign policy adviser for many years.
He is unassuming, accessible, and universally popular - the three rarest qualities in this town. Blinken is seen as someone who will try and put a moral compass back into American diplomacy.One widely shared video from the Obama years has Blinken talking about the need to respect and learn from refugees - as different from the Trump worldview as it’s possible to get.
There are two immediate European winners in the likely foreign policy line-up.France will be delighted.
Blinken was educated in France, is a Francophile and he is bilingual. His first move will be to rejoin the Paris climate accord, a boost for President Macron, and to try and revive the Iran nuclear deal.And Ireland is the other winner.
Dublin has the ear of the President-elect, who is so proud of his Irish heritage, and of the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.
Biden has already made clear any breach of the Good Friday Agreement by No. 10 would be unacceptable to Washington.
As for the UK, Downing Street will argue that it too will welcome a consummate professional like Blinken as an interlocutor.
But the UK has to recognise that Brexit is seen as a disaster by the Biden-ites.
They feel it’s bad for Britain. Remember, the new team arriving in the White House believes in multilateralism again.
More importantly, the incoming Biden administration also feels that Brexit is bad news for America.
They want the UK sitting at the EU’s top table, arguing the pro-Atlanticist corner. That seat is now empty, and Britain’s influence in Washington is diminished as a result.So as the world evaluates the likely foreign policy of the new administration, France and Ireland have reason to be happy, and the UK has grounds for concern.
A UK-US trade deal may still happen, depending on the mood in Congress, but it’s no longer an American priority.
Meanwhile, Washington has to navigate 58 days until the inauguration, with the constant uncertainty of what Trump might do during his final weeks in office.Is it even possible that he refuses to vacate the White House, and is forcibly removed from the presidential mansion?It’s been a roller-coaster ride for four years and the final heart-stopping dip and twist might still be ahead of us.