Donald Trump has done it again. In his quest to convert his presidential administration into an Augean stable of Fox News talking poopheads — K.T. McFarland, Scott Brown, Tony Sayegh, Mercedes Schlapp, Richard Grenell, Georgette Mosbacher, Anthony Scaramucci and John Bolton were all contributors to the scatological network — he has gone and hired Heather Nauert, the absolute epitome of photogenic mental vacancy, to be this nation's second-most essential diplomat — ambassador to the United Nations.
Ms. Nauert's knowledge of international affairs and world history is impressive, to be sure. One is thunderously impressed by her summer reflection, for instance, on the 74th anniversary of D-Day. "When you talk about Germany, we have a very strong relationship with the government of Germany," said Heather, as the State Department's spokeswoman. "Tomorrow is the anniversary of the D-Day invasion. We obviously have a very long history with the government of Germany, and we have a strong relationship with the government."
One normally would not cite the U.S.-led allied invasion of Europe, so that we might reduce Hitler's Germany to rubble, as a high point of "strong" U.S.-German relations. Indeed, in contemplation of Ms. Nauert's historical analysis, the Washington Post was brought to hilarious understatement: "The D-Day comment raised eyebrows over the summer, when some suggested it demonstrated a lack of historical understanding."
As historians are wont to say, however, Nauert's unoccupied brain, in this case, is nothing new. I am reminded of George W. Bush's spokeswoman, Dana Perino, another blonde vacancy, who was once required to meditate on another high point of U.S. foreign relations. "I was panicked a bit because I really don’t know about … the Cuban Missile Crisis. It had to do with Cuba and missiles, I'm pretty sure. I came home and I asked my husband, I said, 'Wasn't that like the Bay of Pigs thing?'"
Ms. Nauert's diplomatic experience lies in her years of work as a Fox News contributor, a health insurance lobbyist, and as a minion for "her family’s financial services company," notes the Post. In her labors as an opinion vendor, "She has broadcast just about every right-wing talking-point under the sun," adds the Post. (Example: "In 2013, she said that a swimming group for Muslim girls at a YMCA in St. Paul, Minn., was evidence that 'sharia law is now changing everything.'")
Fox News, that fountain of Trumpian integrity, repeatedly labeled Ms. Nauert as a "GOP Consultant" and a "GOP Strategist." Such labels "[invest] Nauert with just the right wonkiness and insider cachet," observed the Post's Paul Farhi in 2000. "Except that she says she’s never worked for the Republican Party.
Asked Farhi, rather reasonably: "Why, other than looking like the younger sister of another Heather (Locklear), is she on TV at all? From what well of life-shaping experiences do our anointed dispensers of video wisdom draw their opinions?"
We now must ask, Why, other than being an impressive reincarnation of Perino's ignorance under W.'s aegis, will she be at the United Nations? From what well of life-shaping experiences do Trump's anointed dispensers of video wisdom draw their foreign policy opinions? We reflect for only a second or two. Why of course, Ms. Nauert is merely another manifestation of the Trump's squalid quest to convert his presidential administration into an Augean stable of Fox News talking poopheads.