The campaign to confirm a diplomatic novice to America’s top U.N. post

Source: Politico | December 26, 2018 | Gabby Orr

Less than two years ago, Heather Nauert was conducting interviews on ‘Fox & Friends.’ Now, she’s preparing to navigate the world’s raging geopolitical issues.

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It’s an unexpected journey for a potential United States ambassador to the United Nations — Nauert has no diplomatic experience aside from her year and a half as State Department spokesperson, a job she got with little background in global affairs. But under the Trump administration, unusual pathways to top positions have become typical. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and Energy Secretary Rick Perry both assumed posts overseeing agencies they admittedly knew little about. And there’s a team of supporters both in and out of the government working to convince lawmakers — and the public — that Nauert will be up to the task once her nomination is officially submitted to the Senate next year.

Still, the U.N. is an especially byzantine organization, foreign policy experts say, a smorgasbord of cultures and customs governed by entrenched diplomatic protocols.

Nauert, said Elliott Abrams, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, “is very well-informed about any issue senators are likely to ask about, but what she’s not experienced in is the political give-and-take she’ll need to negotiate compromises at the U.N.”

So the work now begins to ready Nauert for a nomination hearing early next year, where the former TV host will face hostile Democrats and a few skeptical Republicans not yet convinced she has the foreign policy chops to do the job. In addition to planning rounds of briefings and mock hearing sessions, Nauert’s backers — including some other ambassadors — have been reaching out to reporters to effusively praise her.

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