This isn’t about diplomacy—it’s about control of the narrative. The “expert class” built its reputation on managing problems, not solving them. So when someone steps in and actually tries to close the file, the reaction is predictable: discredit, dismiss, and defend the old playbook. But results matter more than résumés. If the same people ran the same strategies for decades with no resolution, that’s not expertise—that’s stagnation. Fresh approaches look risky to those invested in the status quo. But sometimes, not knowing what’s “impossible” is exactly what makes something possible. And that’s what really scares them.
Very similar to the homeless “crisis” and even chronic illness. Peace deals, getting people off the streets and making people healthier means the architecture that has been built to manage it is either no longer needed at all or is greatly reduced. And they don’t want that.
Job management is job security. Government has a lot of employees who live by a motionlessness, or type of stasis, where mere paper shuffling is seen as work. That’s why Reagan’s plan to get people back to work and off welfare created a huge problem for government workers, both state and federal.
Excellent summary. As usual, the ‘experts’ don’t like being wrong and criticize the new team as being inexperienced. The new approach is working and the Abraham Accords is the basis and proof. When the same old approach didn’t work, it’s time to admit it and stop criticizing the current approach.
I read this drive-by assassination yesterday and came to the same general conclusion. But you went so much deeper and brought the receipts! Thanks, great read!
Their failure was their success. Careers, and even fortunes, were built on “negotiating peace” or whatever the fig leaf for rent-seeking was. Just like “cancer research” is far, far too lucrative to ever find a cure for cancer.
If Trump came out tomorrow and said that a cure for cancer had finally been found, a District Court judge would send a nationwide order that all research stop immediately and all cancer was free to continue killing people.
This post castigates the authors but by no means explains what these amateur “diplomats” have accomplished. So tell me MAGAs, what have they done?
Kushner and Witkoff …. what are the odds that in this massive country of a third of a billion people, the BEST individuals to negotiate on behalf of the country just happen to be also (1) a dude who is banging the cult leaders daughter and (2) some billionaire the cult leader likes to grift and play golf with? What are the odds??? As an American who believes in meritocracy this offends me, as should it you! This is the action of a king, rewarding his nobles, not a president employed by we free people. Wtaf did our ancestors fight for? From tRumps perspective, he likes these guys because they are gold-standard pre-certified corrupt as fuck. He doesn’t care if they are incompetent - he’s gonna get paid, bitches!
In Iran, that idiot tRump withdrew the USA from the JCPOA agreement Obama negotiated (because tRump is just that childish), eventually went to war and ended up with a much worse deal than Obama. Killing hundreds, setting billions of dollars on fire, destroying American prestige through their usual tRumpian incompetence. Absolutely derailing the world economy. Including apparently giving $20 billion to Iran in appeasement (remember when Obama did that and you lost your minds 🤡) AND now recognizing Iran’s right to control the strait of Hormuz and presumably collect tolls. It was an international waterway before tRump!! The tolls will permanently elevate the price of fuel, fertilizer worldwide and literally fuel a religious authoritarian death cult. Who now know they need a nuclear weapon and know there’s nothing the USA can do about preventing this. Did your brilliant crew of nimble unorthodox geniuses negotiate that deal? You see why professional diplomats who actually understand foreign affairs might be a better idea? Ones with no ulterior financial interests?
Or Ukraine? Your idiotic amateurs wish Ukraine to cede territory to make a deal. “You have no cards!!” Huh. Probably because Putin has promised trump some personal benefit (or has some particularly disturbing kompromat on trump). Absolutely heinous.
Certainly they have been successful at enriching themselves by all manner of corruption especially in the gulf states - Jesus h Christ this country has become a corrupt shit hole quickly. Thanks for voting fascist you absolute idiots 🤡
That you continue to sane-splain trumpism is particularly galling when at this point, tRump has abandoned any restraint he ever had and is just blatantly grifting like mad, while he burns the country down. Perhaps you’re enjoying the current plot twist where he’s extracting billions of OUR taxpayer dollars from the IRS? The one HE controls? He is literally looting OUR treasury! You cultists did this. This was predictable.
It’s also about how playing stupid games always ends up with stupid prizes.
The entire State Dept. prior to Trump 2.0, was nothing more than a den of vipers, hermetically sealed into an “there’s only one way of doing things” mentality that always and inevitably resulted in failure: because that was the whole point. Just keep dragging things on, allowing for spreading more and more money around the world for nothing except to keep the game going. The very last thing anyone was interested in was actual results, especially results that would benefit the USA.
What is with you bots serving up the same link to the same old poll? Two commenters have responded to my comments mirroring each other’s words. Trump just announced the ceasefire and says Iran has agreed to everything. Israel will be negotiating with Lebanon to deal with Hezbollah.
Polls are a snapshot. With tax breaks and refunds coming in, there is going to be a huge swing to the positive. The ceasefire was just announced, so you are a little premature in your gleefully ignorant opinion.
And not just them, but the entire ecosystem that had been constructed within that Department, most notably USAID - all now exterminated.
The Herculean work Secretary Rubio has accomplished cleaning out those Augean Stables, downsizing and streamlining it, and demanding actions with results, is nothing short of miraculous!
Vance repulses all but you cultists. Telling thr Pope to "stay out of theology" because he said some Popey stuff about peace. Helped to get that super- majority in Hungary. Strong!
In a flash we went from government cogs nattering away in conference rooms to serious men of action. Great for our nation but the flaccid bureaucrats can’t stand it.
Israel is not a welfare state. Israel has a robust economy and pays its own way. The US gives its $3.8 billion in military aid as a subsidy for US defense contractors. All that money needs to be spent in the US.
Annual Baseline: The current 10-year agreement (2017−2028) includes $33 billion in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) and $5 billion for missile defense, totaling $38 billion.
Post-October 7 Emergency Aid:Since the conflict began, Congress approved additional funds, including an estimated $16.3 billion in direct military aid as of late 2024, which includes funding for missile defense systems like the Iron Dome.
Total Historical Aid: Since 1948, the U.S. has provided over $300 billion in aid, making Israel the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign assistance since World War II.
Annual Baseline: The current 10-year agreement (2017−2028) includes $33 billion in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) and $5 billion for missile defense, totaling $38 billion.
Post-October 7 Emergency Aid:Since the conflict began, Congress approved additional funds, including an estimated $16.3 billion in direct military aid as of late 2024, which includes funding for missile defense systems like the Iron Dome.
Total Historical Aid: Since 1948, the U.S. has provided over $300 billion in aid, making Israel the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign assistance since World War II.
Deep State never solves problems, it perpetuates them. After Trump declared in 2015, I read The Art of the Deal. He enjoys solving problems, the worse the better. TDS victims, I already know what you're going to say, word for word, but please hear me out. Barack gave the orders to put some rats to sleep, including the biggest rat of all. So he deserves tremendous credit for that, but what else did he ever fix? Trump got results in the private sector. In the public sector, results are to be avoided at all costs.
Hilarious :-)) If you think tRump has ever READ a book, let alone WRITTEN a book, I have a bridge to sell you dude!! lol. tRump is functionally illiterate, reading at perhaps a 4th grade level.
The credited authors of ‘The Art of the Deal’ are tRump and Tony Schwartz, but the book was actually written by Schwartz, according to multiple published sources. Schwartz later stated publicly that tRump “played no role in its writing,” aside from removing a few critical references. Schwartz has described writing it as his “greatest regret,” and the publisher has confirmed Schwartz was the primary writer.
Trump & Schwartz & Howard Kaminsky had a serious disagreement about who actually wrote it, so it's fair for us to choose who to believe. Schwartz cashed all his checks, but he promised to give it all to charity as atonement. He hasn't gotten around to doing it yet, though. If Kaminsky tried to sabotage a big best seller, how good of a publisher is he, if he allows his personal feelings to override his business sense? You believe Trump is functionally illiterate & a 4th grade reader, yet here you are calling other people stupid. Enjoy your TDS.
Always amazing to see how much you dolts will swallow. 😂. Have you seen him read a teleprompter 😂 with 4th grade words??? 😂😂 He’s obviously functionally illiterate.
Rick, you have a scorching case of TDS
The definition of TDS is frequently misstated. It is actually: Being so deranged by your blind cult-like fealty to tRump that you cannot see the obvious truth punching you in the face: that he is objectively one of the most despicable humans in America. A convicted felon, an adjudicated sexual predator, historic levels of corruption, probably a pedophile, certainly the most illiterate and intellectually limited person in the history of our government. That you still support this mound of mad flesh is true Trump Derangement Syndrome.
So thanks for voting felon (again!), the USA will take generations to recover from this or we might never recover - you mark my words. Buckle up, we’re all in for a wild ride.
One of Trump's main tactics is to convince his haters that he's stupid and/or crazy. Having your enemies constantly underestimating you is always a tremendous advantage, but you unwitting dupes always fall for it.
I wasn't going to reply, but you did call me a dolt. Don't think I've ever been called that before. Thanks.
Hilarious. Well, he’s certainly bated that trap with so much evidence of his stupidity and incompetence. When does he cunningly spring it? 😂 He never has…
“To confuse the enemy, first confuse yourself. If you have no idea what you’re doing, your enemies don’t either!”
But you missed the point entirely. Convincing your enemies to always underestimate you isn't a trap that you spring constantly, then boast about afterwards. It's a great advantage that you sell constantly over a lifetime & use whenever useful & necessary. It's called a secret. Also, Trump is going to write another book sometime after 1-20-29. He probably won't use Tony Schwartz this time, but he'll still have an excellent story to tell. Read the Cliff's Notes version if you're unable to bear reading an entire book about Trump.
Brilliant essay - thank you. Thank you also for mentioning Shop Savvy! Never heard of it but got the app just now and holy guacamole will this be helpful!
Excellent article (of course). I think what all of this political nonsense boils down to, is that those with overblown and frankly, delusional egos, cannot handle it when found totally lacking. Their egos have been so deflated that the only way their minds can deal, is by rationalizing with the mental illness called TDS.
So true. Trumptarded clowns playing their roles on screen, getting one another wealthier. They hurl the "TDS" pejorative like the Trump Dick Suckers they are.
Love your fact-filled, concise, well-organized and to-the-point essays, Amuse. I learn something new from every one of them.
I’ve known many diplomats. Most are nice, smart, well-read and engaging people. But the U.S. Foreign Service is IBM. The “leaders” are politicians whose goal is self-promotion, above all else. The “diplomats” and analysts are cogs who are 100% comfortable with being cogs. They have no expectations of greatness and no sense of personal responsibility for failure. Many equate the academy achievements that propelled them into the State Department with career success because the job does not encourage or reward ambition after they arrive. Their indicators of “success” are things like whether they get posted in Norway instead of Bangladesh, not whether they close cooperation or trade or peace agreements. Most don’t even know if their portfolio at their current post consists of real State Department goals, of if everything they do is just a cover for intelligence operations in that country. It’s a huge waste of talent and intellect and not surprising that they form elitist clubs who resent less sophisticated rubes who have the agency to accomplish things in the private sector.
This isn’t about diplomacy—it’s about control of the narrative. The “expert class” built its reputation on managing problems, not solving them. So when someone steps in and actually tries to close the file, the reaction is predictable: discredit, dismiss, and defend the old playbook. But results matter more than résumés. If the same people ran the same strategies for decades with no resolution, that’s not expertise—that’s stagnation. Fresh approaches look risky to those invested in the status quo. But sometimes, not knowing what’s “impossible” is exactly what makes something possible. And that’s what really scares them.
Very similar to the homeless “crisis” and even chronic illness. Peace deals, getting people off the streets and making people healthier means the architecture that has been built to manage it is either no longer needed at all or is greatly reduced. And they don’t want that.
Job management is job security. Government has a lot of employees who live by a motionlessness, or type of stasis, where mere paper shuffling is seen as work. That’s why Reagan’s plan to get people back to work and off welfare created a huge problem for government workers, both state and federal.
Excellent summary. As usual, the ‘experts’ don’t like being wrong and criticize the new team as being inexperienced. The new approach is working and the Abraham Accords is the basis and proof. When the same old approach didn’t work, it’s time to admit it and stop criticizing the current approach.
I read this drive-by assassination yesterday and came to the same general conclusion. But you went so much deeper and brought the receipts! Thanks, great read!
So the clique has a failure bias. That explains a lot.
😉 Just like in high school. Good one Lynn!
There is no satisfying the Left. Trump was right when he quipped that if he said breathing was good, the Democrats would all hold their breath.
Do you know what a straw man argument is? Lol 😂
She's a professional loon - https://www.amazon.com/Rubbish-Haulers-versus-Barack-Obama/dp/B0C52773PX
Their failure was their success. Careers, and even fortunes, were built on “negotiating peace” or whatever the fig leaf for rent-seeking was. Just like “cancer research” is far, far too lucrative to ever find a cure for cancer.
If Trump came out tomorrow and said that a cure for cancer had finally been found, a District Court judge would send a nationwide order that all research stop immediately and all cancer was free to continue killing people.
Do you know what a straw man argument is? Lol 😂
That's because he would be lying incoherently.
Prescient! Thanks!
This post castigates the authors but by no means explains what these amateur “diplomats” have accomplished. So tell me MAGAs, what have they done?
Kushner and Witkoff …. what are the odds that in this massive country of a third of a billion people, the BEST individuals to negotiate on behalf of the country just happen to be also (1) a dude who is banging the cult leaders daughter and (2) some billionaire the cult leader likes to grift and play golf with? What are the odds??? As an American who believes in meritocracy this offends me, as should it you! This is the action of a king, rewarding his nobles, not a president employed by we free people. Wtaf did our ancestors fight for? From tRumps perspective, he likes these guys because they are gold-standard pre-certified corrupt as fuck. He doesn’t care if they are incompetent - he’s gonna get paid, bitches!
In Iran, that idiot tRump withdrew the USA from the JCPOA agreement Obama negotiated (because tRump is just that childish), eventually went to war and ended up with a much worse deal than Obama. Killing hundreds, setting billions of dollars on fire, destroying American prestige through their usual tRumpian incompetence. Absolutely derailing the world economy. Including apparently giving $20 billion to Iran in appeasement (remember when Obama did that and you lost your minds 🤡) AND now recognizing Iran’s right to control the strait of Hormuz and presumably collect tolls. It was an international waterway before tRump!! The tolls will permanently elevate the price of fuel, fertilizer worldwide and literally fuel a religious authoritarian death cult. Who now know they need a nuclear weapon and know there’s nothing the USA can do about preventing this. Did your brilliant crew of nimble unorthodox geniuses negotiate that deal? You see why professional diplomats who actually understand foreign affairs might be a better idea? Ones with no ulterior financial interests?
Or Ukraine? Your idiotic amateurs wish Ukraine to cede territory to make a deal. “You have no cards!!” Huh. Probably because Putin has promised trump some personal benefit (or has some particularly disturbing kompromat on trump). Absolutely heinous.
Certainly they have been successful at enriching themselves by all manner of corruption especially in the gulf states - Jesus h Christ this country has become a corrupt shit hole quickly. Thanks for voting fascist you absolute idiots 🤡
That you continue to sane-splain trumpism is particularly galling when at this point, tRump has abandoned any restraint he ever had and is just blatantly grifting like mad, while he burns the country down. Perhaps you’re enjoying the current plot twist where he’s extracting billions of OUR taxpayer dollars from the IRS? The one HE controls? He is literally looting OUR treasury! You cultists did this. This was predictable.
Dream on !
It’s also about how playing stupid games always ends up with stupid prizes.
The entire State Dept. prior to Trump 2.0, was nothing more than a den of vipers, hermetically sealed into an “there’s only one way of doing things” mentality that always and inevitably resulted in failure: because that was the whole point. Just keep dragging things on, allowing for spreading more and more money around the world for nothing except to keep the game going. The very last thing anyone was interested in was actual results, especially results that would benefit the USA.
There is schadenfreude in knowing Susan Rice, Hillary, and many others, are fuming over everything that has been accomplished.
Nothing has been accomplished. Most of the world now hates the US, we're at war (or two), Ukraine/Russia rages on, the economy .....
So you speak for the EU? 😂
This, maybe. Reliability is now way down - https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/15/views-of-the-us-have-worsened-while-opinions-of-china-have-improved-in-many-surveyed-countries/
https://thehill.com/policy/international/5816375-china-global-approval-surpasses-us-gallup/
What is with you bots serving up the same link to the same old poll? Two commenters have responded to my comments mirroring each other’s words. Trump just announced the ceasefire and says Iran has agreed to everything. Israel will be negotiating with Lebanon to deal with Hezbollah.
From reality.
2026 version of the yearly Pew poll. Trumpworld made it so now China is viewed more favorably than USA in most of world, including most of the EU.
Oh, BTW M, Pew did NOT predict Trump winning in 2024. Pew is left leaning and frames results to influence policymakers.
US polling questions use the same four categories ever year;
Highly favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable, highly unfavorable.
Not much to frame. "So lefty!"
Polls are a snapshot. With tax breaks and refunds coming in, there is going to be a huge swing to the positive. The ceasefire was just announced, so you are a little premature in your gleefully ignorant opinion.
Stay hilarious 😂
" .. and many others, are fuming over everything that has been accomplished."
No diplomats are envious of what we've become. But Putin and Xi are thrilled.
And not just them, but the entire ecosystem that had been constructed within that Department, most notably USAID - all now exterminated.
The Herculean work Secretary Rubio has accomplished cleaning out those Augean Stables, downsizing and streamlining it, and demanding actions with results, is nothing short of miraculous!
Rubio has been amazing. Rubio and Vance are a great team.
Vance repulses all but you cultists. Telling thr Pope to "stay out of theology" because he said some Popey stuff about peace. Helped to get that super- majority in Hungary. Strong!
In a flash we went from government cogs nattering away in conference rooms to serious men of action. Great for our nation but the flaccid bureaucrats can’t stand it.
Kushner took billions in Saudi bribes, and is negotiating on Israel’s behalf, not that of USA.
The hasbara has failed.
Soon the welfare state of Israel will have to go begging to Rothschild for its money, not USA.
So much reality-based trump-sucking here. Totally "organic."
https://newsletter.amuseonx.com/p/the-deep-state-diplomats-who-failed/comments?comments=true
Israel is not a welfare state. Israel has a robust economy and pays its own way. The US gives its $3.8 billion in military aid as a subsidy for US defense contractors. All that money needs to be spent in the US.
Nonsense.
Annual Baseline: The current 10-year agreement (2017−2028) includes $33 billion in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) and $5 billion for missile defense, totaling $38 billion.
Post-October 7 Emergency Aid:Since the conflict began, Congress approved additional funds, including an estimated $16.3 billion in direct military aid as of late 2024, which includes funding for missile defense systems like the Iron Dome.
Total Historical Aid: Since 1948, the U.S. has provided over $300 billion in aid, making Israel the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign assistance since World War II.
WELFARE STATE.
The 38 billion has to be spent in the US. So as I said it’s a way to help US defense contractors.
That funding stops the moment pedo trump gets kicked out. Which will be soon.
You lost all credibility with that statement. You clearly have TDS.
Obama no lover of Israel signed a similar agreement with Israel. To blame this on Trump is just TDS.
Trump Derangement Syndrome is what the Emperor’s New Clothes is all about.
Rabid belief in an obvious fraudster and lifelong liar and cheat.
Nonsense.
Annual Baseline: The current 10-year agreement (2017−2028) includes $33 billion in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) and $5 billion for missile defense, totaling $38 billion.
Post-October 7 Emergency Aid:Since the conflict began, Congress approved additional funds, including an estimated $16.3 billion in direct military aid as of late 2024, which includes funding for missile defense systems like the Iron Dome.
Total Historical Aid: Since 1948, the U.S. has provided over $300 billion in aid, making Israel the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign assistance since World War II.
WELFARE STATE.
Deep State never solves problems, it perpetuates them. After Trump declared in 2015, I read The Art of the Deal. He enjoys solving problems, the worse the better. TDS victims, I already know what you're going to say, word for word, but please hear me out. Barack gave the orders to put some rats to sleep, including the biggest rat of all. So he deserves tremendous credit for that, but what else did he ever fix? Trump got results in the private sector. In the public sector, results are to be avoided at all costs.
Hilarious :-)) If you think tRump has ever READ a book, let alone WRITTEN a book, I have a bridge to sell you dude!! lol. tRump is functionally illiterate, reading at perhaps a 4th grade level.
The credited authors of ‘The Art of the Deal’ are tRump and Tony Schwartz, but the book was actually written by Schwartz, according to multiple published sources. Schwartz later stated publicly that tRump “played no role in its writing,” aside from removing a few critical references. Schwartz has described writing it as his “greatest regret,” and the publisher has confirmed Schwartz was the primary writer.
Trump & Schwartz & Howard Kaminsky had a serious disagreement about who actually wrote it, so it's fair for us to choose who to believe. Schwartz cashed all his checks, but he promised to give it all to charity as atonement. He hasn't gotten around to doing it yet, though. If Kaminsky tried to sabotage a big best seller, how good of a publisher is he, if he allows his personal feelings to override his business sense? You believe Trump is functionally illiterate & a 4th grade reader, yet here you are calling other people stupid. Enjoy your TDS.
Always amazing to see how much you dolts will swallow. 😂. Have you seen him read a teleprompter 😂 with 4th grade words??? 😂😂 He’s obviously functionally illiterate.
Rick, you have a scorching case of TDS
The definition of TDS is frequently misstated. It is actually: Being so deranged by your blind cult-like fealty to tRump that you cannot see the obvious truth punching you in the face: that he is objectively one of the most despicable humans in America. A convicted felon, an adjudicated sexual predator, historic levels of corruption, probably a pedophile, certainly the most illiterate and intellectually limited person in the history of our government. That you still support this mound of mad flesh is true Trump Derangement Syndrome.
So thanks for voting felon (again!), the USA will take generations to recover from this or we might never recover - you mark my words. Buckle up, we’re all in for a wild ride.
One of Trump's main tactics is to convince his haters that he's stupid and/or crazy. Having your enemies constantly underestimating you is always a tremendous advantage, but you unwitting dupes always fall for it.
I wasn't going to reply, but you did call me a dolt. Don't think I've ever been called that before. Thanks.
Hilarious. Well, he’s certainly bated that trap with so much evidence of his stupidity and incompetence. When does he cunningly spring it? 😂 He never has…
“To confuse the enemy, first confuse yourself. If you have no idea what you’re doing, your enemies don’t either!”
—Fart of war. By tRumpZu
TrumpZu wasn't bad. A little bit funny.
But you missed the point entirely. Convincing your enemies to always underestimate you isn't a trap that you spring constantly, then boast about afterwards. It's a great advantage that you sell constantly over a lifetime & use whenever useful & necessary. It's called a secret. Also, Trump is going to write another book sometime after 1-20-29. He probably won't use Tony Schwartz this time, but he'll still have an excellent story to tell. Read the Cliff's Notes version if you're unable to bear reading an entire book about Trump.
Brilliant essay - thank you. Thank you also for mentioning Shop Savvy! Never heard of it but got the app just now and holy guacamole will this be helpful!
Excellent article (of course). I think what all of this political nonsense boils down to, is that those with overblown and frankly, delusional egos, cannot handle it when found totally lacking. Their egos have been so deflated that the only way their minds can deal, is by rationalizing with the mental illness called TDS.
So true. Trumptarded clowns playing their roles on screen, getting one another wealthier. They hurl the "TDS" pejorative like the Trump Dick Suckers they are.
Love your fact-filled, concise, well-organized and to-the-point essays, Amuse. I learn something new from every one of them.
I’ve known many diplomats. Most are nice, smart, well-read and engaging people. But the U.S. Foreign Service is IBM. The “leaders” are politicians whose goal is self-promotion, above all else. The “diplomats” and analysts are cogs who are 100% comfortable with being cogs. They have no expectations of greatness and no sense of personal responsibility for failure. Many equate the academy achievements that propelled them into the State Department with career success because the job does not encourage or reward ambition after they arrive. Their indicators of “success” are things like whether they get posted in Norway instead of Bangladesh, not whether they close cooperation or trade or peace agreements. Most don’t even know if their portfolio at their current post consists of real State Department goals, of if everything they do is just a cover for intelligence operations in that country. It’s a huge waste of talent and intellect and not surprising that they form elitist clubs who resent less sophisticated rubes who have the agency to accomplish things in the private sector.
Well said. Nothing to add.