
Trump’s other “quid pro quo” is Washington’s biggest open secret - johnshades
https://www.fastcompany.com/90436584/trumps-other-quid-pro-quo-is-washingtons-dirtiest-secret
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smacktoward
TL;DR: The "other quid pro quo" is giving out ambassadorships to campaign
contributors.

I tend to agree that this is an obnoxious practice that should be ended.
However, in Trump's defense (ugh, there's a phrase I hate writing), it should
be noted that this has been a practice of presidents from both parties for
approximately forever. The article indicates that he does it slightly more
often than his predecessors, but the moral difference between "sold 45% of
ambassadorships" and "sold 30% of ambassadorships" is not large.

It's also worth noting that the ambassadorships given out to these clowns are
nearly always completely insignificant ones, typically ones to small countries
with pleasant climates. American foreign policy is not going to succeed or
fail based on who is the Ambassador to the Bahamas. And in other cases where
the diplomatic relationship is actually significant, like the ambassadorships
to Israel and the UK, the heads of state of both nations are typically in such
regular direct contact as to render the ambassador more or less ornamental.

Really the take-away here is that it's not clear what the actual function of
an ambassador in the modern age _is_. When it could take weeks or months for a
letter sent from one capital to reach another, having "our man in [insert
capital here]" be someone who could reliably think on his feet was crucial.
Today, when world leaders can reach each other directly in seconds via phone
or text or tweet, who happens to sit in an ambassador's chair matters much
less.

