President Donald Trump will be accompanied by a leaner force of diplomats when he attends UN General Assembly meetings next month, with officials planning to shave away hundreds of people from the diplomatic entourage.
At the same time, the president plans to introduce a new geographic element into the East Side-centric event, staying at his golf club in Bedminister, New Jersey and likely setting up shop there the weekend before his Sept. 19 speech.
The diplomatic trimming are part of a cost-cutting initiative where Secretary of State Rex Tillerson plans to implement a 30 per cent cut.
The diplomatic force will have a ‘toe-print, not a footprint,’ Politico reported.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is overseeing cutbacks that will see the size of the entourage to the annual UN General Assembly meeting shrink
But that won’t prevent the president from bringing along some of his favorite diplomatic emissaries from within the family. Son-in-law Jared Kushner, just back from a trip to the Middle East and Persian Gulf, will be there, as will the president’s daughter Ivanka Trump, who filled a chair for Trump during a NATO meeting in Europe.
The two visited UN headquarters last month for a private luncheon with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Foreign Policy reported last month.
The publication put last year’s diplomatic delegation at 347, though according to Politico, the U.S. presence surpasses 1,000 when security personnel get counted.
‘The UN General Assembly can be a soul-destroying political circus — a lot of foreign officials wander about looking dazed and giving dull speeches,” Richard Gowan of the European Council on Foreign Relations told the publication.
TRAVELS LIGHT: U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump depart the White House in Washington on their way to view storm damage in Texas. Trump goes to the UN next month
Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner and daughter Ivanka Trump are set to join the president at the UN
There were 347 members of the diplomatic delegation to the UN for President Obama’s final trip there while in office
“But given the unhappiness overseas with Trump, the U.S. should actually be pursuing ‘flood the zone’ tactics and getting as many diplomats and politicians up to New York as they can to press the flesh and reassure foreign leaders that Washington is not really imploding,’ he said.
Whatever the costs of shuttling all the diplomats to New York, it could actually save the costs of overseas trips that might otherwise be required.
Trump plans to deliver a closely-watched speech on Sept. 19th, his first to a gathering that brings heads of states of up to 190 countries and gives each a platform to spout off.
With Trump reportedly planning to be in Bedminster Sept. 16 and 17th, it opens the opportunity to engage in some golf course diplomacy with foreign leaders willing to make the trek.
There will be much to discuss, with North Korean missile launches, continued turmoil in Syria, a ramp-up in Afghanistan, and continued strain with European allies amid ongoing tensions with Russia and China.