Friends of the American president, colleagues from the development industry and political donors who were appointed EU ambassadors during Trump's second term, they cause dissatisfaction in the capitals of the countries where they perform their functions.
Their grittier style of diplomacy — an American response to China's “wolf warriors” who also delighted in breaking convention and criticizing their hosts — is not an accident at work. This is a new style of operation.
For Trump's emissaries, “the target audience is always one person. And only one person,” notes Eric Rubin, a former head of the American Foreign Service Association who served as ambassador to Bulgaria during Trump's first term. The hosts' feelings are secondary to the key tasks of seeking Trump's attention and approval and the sharp shift in the center of European politics towards the right.
The two most prominent envoys irritating European governments are Charles Kushner in Paris and Tom Rose in Warsaw.
Rose tagged Trump twice in a post in which he announced he was cutting off relations with the Speaker of the Polish Sejm, Włodzimierz Czarzasty, over what he called “scandalous and unjustified insults.” Czarzasty said that Trump does not deserve the Nobel Peace Prize.
When Kushner, the ambassador to Paris who is the father-in-law of Trump's eldest daughter, condemned French anti-Semitism in a letter to President Emmanuel Macron, he did not send it to the Elysée Palace or Le Monde. He published it in The Wall Street Journal.
Relations deteriorated further last week after the US embassy in Paris made a sharp political comment over the murder of a far-right activist. Kushner angered the French even moreignoring the call to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The situation was to be alleviated only by a “sincere and friendly” telephone conversation, the US diplomatic mission in Paris announced on Monday.
U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Kushner in Paris, December 4, 2025.JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP
U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Bill White, who describes the president as a friend, has given embassy staff three priorities aligned with Trump's 2026 policy, according to two people with knowledge of the mission's internal dynamics who, like others mentioned in this article, asked not to be identified.
In line with Trump's emphasis on commemorating the 1776 Declaration of Independence during his State of the Union address, White pushed for large celebrations to mark America's 250th anniversary. In February, he also hosted a screening of a film about first lady Melania Trump and prioritized media appearances that would keep him in the president's spotlight.
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Matthew Whitaker, the US ambassador to NATO, also ensures a constant presence in the media preferred by Trump. Widely considered one of Trump's least controversial ambassadors to Europe, he prefers to appear on Fox News and Newsmax over other media outlets.
Guests visiting the residence of U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg Stacey Feinberg, who was a close friend of murdered right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, will find red MAGA hats decorating the furniture, according to photos shared with POLITICO.
Multiple U.S. embassies in Europe and the Department of State declined to comment for this article or did not respond.
Non-diplomatic corps
American diplomats have stepped on the Europeans' toeswhich is nothing new. During Trump's first term, ambassadors Richard Grenell in Berlin and Gordon Sondland in Brussels severely violated diplomatic norms. Meanwhile, Joe Biden's man in Hungary, David Pressman, has repeatedly criticized Viktor Orban's government. It is also not unusual for the United States to entrust important positions in Europe to generous donors and other political appointees rather than to career diplomats.
However, current and former State Department officials complain that recent violations of diplomatic rules go a step further and undermine America's interests and relationships that have been nurtured for more than two centuries.
— If you refuse to attend a meeting you've been called to to work on improving your relationship, why are you even there? It's childish, embarrassing and undermines any pretense that you're there to help your country, says one US diplomat.
“Frankly, it's just rude,” adds a former senior State Department official.
In the past, policy decisions and public statements were carefully calibrated and passed through multiple departments through the National Security Council and the vast State Department bureaucracy.
This process has been largely replaced by ambassadors acting on their own, communicating with a small group of political appointees in the White House, notes Rubin.
— This is the first case in our historyand probably also in modern history, when a great power tries to conduct diplomacy without diplomats, experts and analysts, he adds.
Guidance for each hotspot involving U.S. ambassadors can be found in the national security strategy released in December. It assigns American diplomats the task ““cultivating resistance” to the path set by current European leaders and applauds the rise of “patriotic” far-right parties seen as aligned with Trump's MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement.
However, a diplomatic fight requires two sides, and not all European countries have been drawn into this game.
According to one US official, US Ambassador to the UK Warren Stephens has “key topics he is keen to talk about”, including energy and freedom of speech, and is “not afraid to say what he thinks”. He delivered many of them during a dinner speech while standing near British Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy in November. These interventions have raised eyebrows in British government circles, but so far the UK government has been taking the blows.
U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle meets with Greek President Konstantinos Tasoulas at the Presidential Palace in Athens, November 4, 2025.COSTAS BALTASANADOLUAnadolu via AFP / AFP
Also in Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle, the former fiancée of Trump's son Donald Jr., raised both admiration and surprise. Despite irritating the Greeks over the sale of the port of Piraeus to China, her relations with her hosts in Athens are, as she says, exceptionally good.
“We see each other probably three or four times a week,” she said of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at an event last week.
The same – as she emphasized – applies to many government ministers. – They always answer the phone. It doesn't matter if it's the weekend, they come, if we meet at my house, they just show up, she added.
I’m Ashley Davis as an editor, I’m committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity and accuracy in every piece we publish. My work is driven by curiosity, a passion for truth, and a belief that journalism plays a crucial role in shaping public discourse. I strive to tell stories that not only inform but also inspire action and conversation.
