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Trump will use Grenela as a weapon for everyone

As a diplomat, Grenell ignored professional mores. Now he will be Trump's special envoy for international conflicts. The former US ambassador to Berlin will enjoy freedom of action. Tensions are inevitable, and Trump is implementing a strategy

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Photo: Beta / AP
Photo: Beta / AP
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

With Donald Trump, the era of political disruption began. Provocation of the existing system through unpredictability and deviation from norms was and remains the guiding principle of Trump's "dealmaker" policy. The composition of the government for his second term, which begins on January 20, reflects this principle, and one of the most recent appointments in particular.

Trump has appointed Richard Grenell as special envoy. Grenell, who was the US ambassador to Germany from 2018 to 2020, will now work personally for the US president "in some of the most dangerous areas in the world, including Venezuela and North Korea." What this means in practice is not clear. But what is clear: Grenela will be used by Trump as a weapon for everyone.

Grenell will not be subordinate to the State Department or the Pentagon, but directly to the president. When Trump sends him on a mission, Special Envoy Grenell will come explicitly on behalf of the most powerful man in the world. It has weight and significance. Both foreign and domestic.

Grenel is a disruptor, and when needed, a destroyer. Although cabinet members rank higher than him, each must be confirmed by the Senate - Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, Defense Secretary Pete Hegsett - all have already made multiple mistakes. Grenell is famous for delivering quick results. He, as a graduate of Harvard, became the top of the top with this appointment.

Many in Washington speculated that Grenell would be given the post of cabinet minister in the Cabinet Room. Especially since he is closely associated with the Trump clan. And he is also a great friend, as a declared homosexual, with Trump's wife Melania, with whom he attends pro-LGBT events.

Together with Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, he is active in the Balkans, where, among other things, they are building million-dollar real estate projects in Belgrade. "Nobody should ever apologize for wanting to make money," Grenel commented on his activities on Albanian television last year.

The American edition of the newspaper "Politico" recently documented how much Grenell wanted to become foreign minister. "Either secretary of state or nothing," he made clear in Trump's circles. Grenell's "Make America great again" supporters even planned to hire online influencers to spread positive comments about him and other potential candidates, according to Politico.

But nothing came of it. Rubio, Waltz and, for the left, the controversial Hegseth, will be responsible for foreign, security and defense policy in Trump's cabinet. This pushes them into the mills of US parliamentarism, which Grenell can avoid thanks to his ad hoc work. That makes tensions with the administration inevitable — but that's exactly what Trump likes. It keeps his followers "under temperature".

Many in Berlin still remember Grenel's disruptions, with which the now 58-year-old showered German diplomacy when he took over the American embassy on Pariser Platz in Berlin in the spring of 2018. As soon as he presented his credentials to the German federal president, Grenel made it clear to his German hosts to the knowledge that the old transatlantic seclusion is over.

"German companies that trade with Iran should immediately stop these activities," Ambassador Grenell announced on Twitter. Companies and politicians in Berlin reacted with alacrity to this brutally direct request for an ambassador.

The American left is now asking whether the appointment of Grenell still needs to be confirmed by the Senate. The US Congress, with a left-wing majority at the time, approved in 2023 an amendment to the law according to which special envoys must also undergo an official hearing in the Senate. However, Trump could appoint Grenell as his special envoy directly to the White House instead of through the State Department. This would avoid a hearing in the Senate, the content of which could make headlines, among other things, due to Grenell's lucrative business ties with Serbia and Albania.

And neither the president nor his envoy would like that.

(World)

Translation: Mirko Vuletić

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