October 12, 2018

Castro Releases Special Edition Podcast Episode on Incoherent Trump Foreign Policy

WASHINGTON—Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and First Vice Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, released a special edition joint Diplomatic Cable episode with Harvard University’s Future of Diplomacy Project on the direction of foreign policy under President Trump. The episode features former Under Secretary for Political Affairs Nick Burns, where they cover issues spanning from immigration, refugee quotas, trade deals, and the overall effects of the budget cuts to U.S. diplomacy and development. This will be played jointly on Harvard University Kennedy School Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs Conversations in Diplomacy podcast hosted by Amb. Burns.

“The challenges the United States faces around the world have intensified in recent years and our diplomats deserve the full support of our Congress as they promote U.S. interests around the world. But the Trump Administration chose to respond to this by slashing the United States budget for diplomacy and development by nearly 1/3. You can’t solve conflict with just boots on the ground and bullets, and putting our sons and daughters into harm’s way cannot be the only way forward,” said host Rep. Castro. “On this special edition episode, it was an honor to talk with Ambassador Nick Burns on the Administration’s incoherent foreign policy and discuss its effects on our nation at home and abroad. With 27 years of service to the United States diplomatic corps, Amb. Burns’ perspective on the harmful cuts to our diplomacy and development are invaluable to the broader foreign policy discussion at hand.

“Our Presidents, all the way back to FDR have been leader of the West—champion of the democratic world. And here we have President Trump… who is literally embracing people like Duterte in the Philippines, saying all of rosy things about Kim Jong-Un,” Ambassador Burns said on the episode. “[He] never criticizes Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping, and then he openly, consistently criticizes Angela Merkel the Chancellor of Germany, Theresa May Prime Minister of UK, and Justin Trudeau.”

The episode is available on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Play.

Future episodes of the Diplomatic Cable will include discussions with former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, German Marshall Fund’s Laura Rosenberger and Jamie Fly, former State Department Cyber Coordinator Chris Painter, Council on Foreign Relation’s Max Boot and many other experts, practitioners, Members of Congress and American citizens. Episodes will focus on repercussions of U.S. withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the consequences of a rising China, the crisis in American diplomacy and development, election security, prospects for Middle East peace and many other issues.

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