What’s the price of an ambassadorship? Officially, it’s nothing. Yet increasingly, presidents aren’t picking as many career diplomats for the posts — the jobs are instead going to cash-rich donors.
Donald Trump’s ambassadorship nominees collectively donated almost $60 million in political contributions to Trump and other Republican candidates and committees in the two years leading up to their nominations, according to Federal Election Commission data.
That sum is nearly three times what Joe Biden’s non-career ambassadors and their spouses donated to Democratic committees in the 10 years leading up to their nominations, according to a 2023 report from the Campaign Legal Center. Meanwhile, Trump has only filled about a quarter of the posts.