Controversial U.S. ambassador to Canada adds to Trump’s many diplomatic woes

When it comes to U.S. ambassadors, Donald Trump has two broad problems. The first is that the president just hasn’t nominated enough people to serve in key diplomatic posts.

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The Wall Street Journal reported a couple of weeks ago, “Over 100 U.S. ambassador posts around the world are sitting empty in the Trump administration, a vacancy rate without modern precedent and one that some current and former officials warn is hamstringing U.S. diplomatic power abroad.”

Even in the midst of a war in the Middle East, the United States doesn’t have ambassadors in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Iraq or Kuwait. What’s more, this isn’t a situation in which a sclerotic Senate has struggled to confirm nominees; rather, there are vacancies because the White House hasn’t bothered to even nominate anyone for many of these posts.

But the other element of the problem is just as notable: In too many instances, Senate-confirmed ambassadors are in office, but they’re doing a remarkably bad job. The Hill reported:

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra on Monday morning shared a post from President Trump about Canada being the “51st State,” reupping his acquisition push for the U.S.’s northern neighbor.

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Hoekstra posted a screenshot of a Monday Trump Truth Social post in which the president said “51st State!” and linked to a Bloomberg article about economic struggles in Canada.

The online antics did not go unnoticed north of the border, though Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters that Ottawa would not take steps to expel the U.S. ambassador.

Of course, the fact that the Canadian prime minister was even asked about the possibility of expelling the U.S. ambassador was extraordinary.