Ohio Senator and Republican Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance tried to bulldoze qualified diplomatic officials’ nominations if he thought they were too "woke" to serve, a new report shows.
According to the Washington Post, Vance pressed would-be diplomatic appointees on their stance on LGBTQ+ rights, representation, and commitment to DEI hiring practices, subjecting qualified candidates to his “anti-woke” screener before advancing their nominations.
“Where, if anywhere, do you believe it is not appropriate to ‘celebrate and prominently support local and regional Pride celebrations?’” a question in Vance’s screener read, also asking candidates if they would support State Department goals like providing gender dysphoria resources and increasing gender-neutral bathroom availability.
Per the Post, Vance used the screener to block dozens of hirings for key posts in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.
JD Vance’s stances on abortion and divorce are already a liability for the Trump campaign, but so-called “anti-woke” and anti-LGBTQ+ ideology is commonly seen as a losing electoral strategy, only driving out the most extreme segment of Republican voters.
Vance — whose foreign policy chops are widely criticized — was accused by diplomats of dissuading top candidates to serve his political and ideological goals.
“It puts career diplomats in a bind to be asked to go on the record commenting on how they would support policies that are favored by the current administration but may not be by the next,” Barbara Stephenson, a former Panama ambassador, told the Washington Post.
Vance, who once asked on the Senate floor why U.S. embassies were “taking a hotly contested issue” abroad by displaying pride flags, released a number of the holds he brought in April after extensive conversations with the State Department, but permanently blocked at least one nomination.
