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<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="298667" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Pete-Hoekstra">Pete Hoekstra</keyword>, the US ambassador to <keyword id="77570" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="The-Netherlands">the Netherlands</keyword>, on Thursday visited a Dutch cemetery where members of an elite Nazi unit intricately involved in the <keyword id="6504422" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="holocaust">Holocaust</keyword> are buried. </li><li>"A terrible reminder of the cost of going to war and why we must always work towards peace," Hoekstra tweeted on his visit to the Ysselsteyn cemetery.</li><li>It's unclear if Hoekstra was aware members of the Waffen SS, the elite Nazi unit, are buried at the cemetery. </li><li>Trump tapped Hoekstra to be the US ambassador to the Netherlands in 2017.</li><li>His tenure got off to a rocky start due to anti-Muslim comments he made regarding the Netherlands back in 2015. </li></ul>President <keyword id="6354484" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Donald-Trump">Donald Trump</keyword>'s ambassador to the Netherlands, Pete Hoekstra, on Thursday visited a Dutch cemetery where many <keyword id="6511303" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="nazis">Nazis</keyword> are buried and described it as a "terrible reminder of the cost of going to war.""Walked among the graves at Ysselsteyn, a cemetery for German soldiers from WWI &amp; WWII. A terrible reminder of the cost of going to war and why we must always work towards peace," Hoekstra tweeted.Many members of the the Waffen SS, an elite Nazi military unit, are buried at the Ysselsteyn cemetery. The Waffen SS was responsible for <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/waffen-ss">numerous war crimes</a> and intricately involved in the Holocaust. Neo-Nazis have been known to visit the cemetery to honor dead Nazi soldiers, <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/german-ambassador-to-netherlands-to-visit-graves-of-ss-soldiers/">according to the Times of Israel</a>.The German ambassador to the Netherlands in 2014 faced criticism from Jewish groups over a visit to the cemetery, <a href="https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/german-ambassador-to-netherlands-to-visit-graves-of-nazis-381713">the Jerusalem Post reported at the time</a>. It's unclear whether Hoekstra, a Republican who formerly represented Michigan's 2nd congressional district in the House of Representatives, was aware of the cemetery's connection with Nazis during his visit and in tweeting the photo. The US ambassador to the Netherlands did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider. The State Department has not yet offered a comment on the matter, either. Hoekstra was tapped by Trump to be the US ambassador to the Netherlands in 2017. He was sworn in on December 11, 2017. His tenure began with a controversy over anti-Muslim comments he made in 2015 in relation to the Netherlands. Hoekstra at the time falsely said there were "no-go zones" in the Netherlands.When confronted with his remarks by a Dutch journalist in December 2017, the ambassador dismissed his own words as <a href="https://time.com/5078452/pete-hoekstra-fake-news/">"fake news."</a> The journalist then played a clip of Hoekstra making the remarks, proving him wrong. And just moments after he described his 2015 remarks as "fake <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="news">news</keyword>," Hoekstra denied ever using the phrase even though the entire exchange was caught on camera. He later <a href="https://twitter.com/petehoekstra/status/944616425284685824?s=20">apologized</a> and admitted that his remarks in 2015 were <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/01/13/577819069/i-got-it-wrong-u-s-ambassador-says-about-muslim-no-go-zones-in-the-netherlands">"wrong."</a>Hoekstra was born in the Netherlands, but his family moved to Holland, Michigan, when he was a child.

Trump's ambassador to the Netherlands tweets photo of Nazi cemetery, calling it a 'terrible reminder' of the cost of war

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Republican leaders in Georgia and Michigan are pressuring Nikki Haley to drop out.</li><li>Their statements come on the heels of Trump's double-digit win in New Hampshire.</li></ul>Republican leaders in two critical states are lining up behind former President Donald Trump, furthering the pressure on former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley to drop out of the race even though only two states have voted.Their messages come after Trump on Tuesday <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-hampshire-2024-republican-primary-results-trump-haley-2024-1">won New Hampshire's GOP primary by double digits.</a>"With President Trump's decisive win in New Hampshire, he is now the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party and we can start to focus our efforts on BEATING Joe Biden, rather than in-party fighting," Michigan GOP chairman Pete Hoekstra said in a statement <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/petehoekstra/status/1750201936190517601?s=20">posted on X</a>, formerly known as Twitter.Georgia's top Republican leadership chimed in with a similar message."As we look at the map &amp; the path going forward it is difficult to see how Ambassador Haley can secure the nomination," Georgia GOP chairman Josh McKoon and the state's two Republican National Committee members <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/GaRepublicans/status/1750146829583351866?s=20">said in a statement</a>.It's not just state leaders either. Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel strongly suggested on Tuesday that Haley should bow to the inevitable. In a sign of Trump's grip on the party, many top officials <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/CodyHallGA/status/1750148492289249776?s=20">are saying that the race is over.</a>"I'm looking at the map and path going forward and I don't see it for Nikki Haley," <a target="_blank" href="https://www.foxnews.com/video/6345453354112">McDaniel told Fox News.</a> "I think she has run a great campaign, but I do think there is a message coming from voters that has been very clear: we need to unite around our eventual nominee which is going to be Donald Trump and we need to make sure we beat Joe Biden."Haley's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nikki-haley-trump-south-carolina-gop-primary-history-2024-2024-1">campaign</a> made it clear that she will remain in the race."We don't do coronations in this country. We do elections," Haley spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas said in a statement to Business Insider. "The political elites can back Donald Trump, but Nikki Haley will continue to fight for the nearly 50% of Republican primary voters and the 70% of all Americans who don't want a Biden-Trump rematch." Not everyone is happy with this call to effectively end the race when less than 500,000 Republicans have voted. Only 61 delegates have been allocated thus far; a presidential hopeful needs 1,215 to secure the GOP's nomination."The GAGOP's role is to support our party's nominees, not try to decide them," Cody Hall, a top advisor to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/CodyHallGA/status/1750148492289249776?s=20">wrote on X</a>. "One would think they should have learned that lesson in 2022."Republicans in Michigan and Georgia won't vote until February 27 and March 12 respectively. Michigan is also doing things a little differently by awarding some of their delegates based on the February primary and others based on caucuses held on March 2nd.Both state parties have recently faced tensions <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/20/politics/republican-state-parties-chaos/index.html">over their alignment with Trump</a>. Kemp, who clashed with Trump after he refused to support his lies about the 2020 election, went so far as to set up his own fundraising organization for his reelection campaign. Michigan ousted its chair Kristina Karamo over a series of ideological and fundraising struggles. Hoekstra, her replacement, was Trump's former ambassador to the Netherlands, a post he was appointed to after leaving Congress.Georgia and Michigan are widely expected to be closely contested states in November's general election, raising the stakes over any potential squabbles that could impede the GOP's organization.

Some state GOP chairs are lining up behind Trump, pressuring Haley to drop out. Not everyone is happy.

<ul class="summary-list"><li dir="ltr">President Barack Obama appointed Rufus Gifford to be the US ambassador to Denmark; he served from 2013 to 2017.</li><li dir="ltr">There's been a critical rethinking of the role of politically important ambassadors.</li><li dir="ltr">President Donald Trump's ambassadors have been consistently inadequate, Gifford says, including his own successor.</li><li dir="ltr">Gifford says it's time to ask ourselves the question that if the system can allow for people to be confirmed to a position where they are so clearly putting ideology and political party over Constitution and country.</li><li>Rufus Gifford was part of the senior leadership of Obama's presidential campaigns and a former candidate for US Congress in Massachusetts' 3rd District.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>There have been so many headlines decrying the quality of politically appointed ambassadors. <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/155549/mega-donor-ambassadors-corrupting-american-diplomacy">The New Republic declared</a> "Mega-Donor Ambassadors Are Corrupting Americans Diplomacy." <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/11/sondland-part-growing-problem-us-diplomacy/602545/">The Atlantic</a>: "As the Rich Get Richer, the Ambassadors Get Worse."Even Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren took aim at the idea of politically appointed ambassadors."The practice of auctioning off American diplomacy to the highest bidder must end," <a href="https://twitter.com/ewarren/status/1144636813803425793?s=20">Warren said</a>.These headlines have drawn my attention because I was a politically appointed ambassador.While I was a staffer - not a "mega-donor" before I was appointed - I have been growing defensive about these headlines over the past three years because each of the authors is in some sense talking about me.While these pieces and political critiques paint with a broad brush, I must say my experience was different. Had it not been for the American system of appointing political ambassadors, I would never have had gone to Denmark. There, I had an experience that not only changed my life but, more important, left the relationship between the US and Denmark stronger.I could give you many examples of other ambassadors - including many "mega-donors" - who through love of country, dedication to service, and a unique perspective left their embassies and their bilateral relations in far better shape than they found them.While I do know firsthand that there are real and true advantages to appointing people close to the president, I won't defend the practice right now, and I want to explain to you why.Republican Sen. Arthur Vandenberg famously said "politics stops at the water's edge" in describing his relationship with Democratic President Harry Truman. "Soft power," defined as the ability to "attract and co-op, rather than coerce," was the currency. With unprecedented success and unbridled patriotism, these principles have governed American foreign policy regardless of political party since the end of World War Two.That is, until now.As I was training to be ambassador by some of the best and brightest in the American Foreign Service, it was made very clear to me that I was no longer a Democrat. I was an American. Every word that came out of my mouth, my pen, my keyboard was an official American position and anything deemed overly political would be cause for condemnation and removal.I was happy to hang up my partisan hat for a few years, doing all I could to open myself up to ideas.But President Donald Trump looks at his ambassadors the way that he looks at Rudy Giuliani - they're his bulldogs. He has appointed them to these enviable positions of unique influence and he expects them to "do him a favor" back, to fight for his politics and fall squarely in line.The sad part is, without exception, they are doing just that - waging war on the "deep state" and "fake news."I want to start by saying that most of these people are routinely criticized and mocked based on their lack of experience and political contributions, but I think those are distractions. I choose to focus on what they actually do when they assume the post.Some examples:<ul><li dir="ltr">Pete Hoekstra, the ambassador to the Netherlands, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/22/us-ambassador-to-netherlands-describes-own-words-as-fake-news" target="_blank" rel="noopener">described his own words</a> as "fake news" until he was called out by a Dutch journalist.</li><li dir="ltr">Woody Johnson, the ambassador to the UK, <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/trump-is-waging-war-on-american-diplomats" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fired his deputy chief of mission</a> because he spoke positively about President Barack Obama during a speech at a university.</li><li dir="ltr">Richard Grenell, the ambassador to Germany, is the best example of a Trump ambassador. He was even <a href="https://twitter.com/donaldjtrumpjr/status/1109850575926108161?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">praised on Twitter</a> by Donald Trump Jr. for taking more partisan positions, unlike former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. Grenell has also angered the Germans so much that many have called for his removal after an interview with Breitbart in which <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/richard-grenell-trump-germany-us-ambassador-recall/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he talked about wanting to empower</a> far-right parties across Europe.</li></ul>We have witnessed example after example of Trump dissembling or fully ignoring precedent. And while that is devastating domestically, it is also terrible when you are dealing with decades or centuries-old alliances that thrive off those rules and that precedent.<h2 dir="ltr">My successor is the perfect example of a Trump ambassador</h2>I'll start by saying that before I arrived in Denmark, I shared meals with my three predecessors - two Republican appointees and one Democrat. All three continue to be my friends, regardless of our political differences. I asked questions. I took notes. I had to learn and grow. Anyone willing to help me along the way I would welcome.My successor is a woman named Carla Sands. I have never met her.Several days before she first arrived in Copenhagen, an embassy meeting was called and the embassy staff were told that "there are two words never to be uttered in this embassy: Rufus and Gifford." Why? I had only offered to be helpful to her. To me the answer was clear: I was Obama's ambassador.Upon hearing this story, and despite the sadness that befell me, I shrugged and moved on, and never imagined I would write these words. To criticize your successor is a massive diplomatic faux pas, but at some point you need to get beyond diplomatic formality when you see the damage done every day by both words and deeds.For instance, Sands told a group of college students that <a href="https://politiken.dk/indland/art7090160/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">climate change is</a> a "good thing" because it would be "good for business."In a Trumpian manner, Sands mangled a debate about defense spending to the point that <a href="https://www.berlingske.dk/kommentatorer/tag-dog-hjem-fru-ambassadoer-sands" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an op-ed in one of the leading Danish newspapers</a> titled "Go home, Ambassador Sands!" featured civil servants and politicians alike claiming they "don't like her style" and she is "not acceptable."And then there is the latest controversy: her <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/europe/danish-think-tank-cancels-nato-conference-after-u-s-embassy-n1098826" target="_blank" rel="noopener">personal veto of an American speaker</a> at a NATO anniversary conference because the speaker had been critical of Trump on social media, a decision unprecedented and unacceptable.<h2 dir="ltr">The future of ambassadors</h2>An ambassador raises his or her right hand and pledges - just like every member of Congress and the president does. I keep my oath framed right above my desk. We pledge no allegiance to an ideology, a political party, or even any president, but rather to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States."It's time to ask ourselves the question that if the system can allow for people to be confirmed to a position where they are so clearly putting ideology and political party over Constitution and country, in roles that truly define the American brand in the capitals of some of our greatest allies, is that system sustainable?Despite my own profoundly positive experience and my exceptionally mixed emotions as I write this piece, I don't know anymore. The Trump administration, in thumbing its nose at institution and precedent, has proved that politics will extend beyond the water's edge, dousing our foreign policy with division and corruption. And that is tragic.Rufus Gifford is a former US ambassador, the finance director for President Barack Obama's 2012 reelection campaign, and a former candidate for US Congress in Massachusetts' 3rd District.This is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author(s).

I was once an ambassador, and I believe that the Trump administration's ambassadors have wrecked a once important part of America's foreign policy

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Trump's ambassador to the Netherlands tweets photo of Nazi cemetery, calling it a 'terrible reminder' of the cost of war

John Haltiwanger

Some state GOP chairs are lining up behind Trump, pressuring Haley to drop out. Not everyone is happy.

Brent D. Griffiths

I was once an ambassador, and I believe that the Trump administration's ambassadors have wrecked a once important part of America's foreign policy

Rufus Gifford

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