An Ex-Fox News Host Is Now One of Our Top State Department Leaders

We’re slowly inching closer to realizing President Donald Trump’s dream of staffing his Cabinet with the only real friends he’s ever known: Fox & Friends. In light of the mayhem of yesterday’s staff shakeup which saw both Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and his Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Steve Goldstein fired, the White House has turned to former Fox & Friends anchor and current State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert to fill the void left by Goldstein. It’s the fourth-highest ranking job in the department.

Technically, Nauert is only the acting Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, but, in confirming her new role, a White House official told Axios’ Jonathan Swan, “Heather is the only one at State we trust,” so you can expect them to try to make that role permanent. Not exactly subtle seeing as how Goldstein was canned after he released a statement that contradicted the White House’s official version of Tillerson’s dismissal, but then again, Trump’s loves to place infinitely more emphasis on perceived allegiance rather than competency—like a children’s puppet version of The Godfather.

Nauert is yet another appointee who is remarkably unqualified for her new position. She has been the State Department spokesperson since April of 2017, but has no other diplomatic experience. She just jumped from Fox News to State. The highlights of her career as spokesperson consist of an awkward first briefing where she thumbed through a giant binder for an inordinate amount of time to answer questions, and a briefing in which she responded to a question about the specifics regarding the US’s involvement in Syria with, “I don’t know what some of you expect us to do.” Fantastic.