The diplomatic representation of the United States has a peculiar duality: on the one hand, there are career diplomats who are appointed on a professional basis, while ambassadors are typically appointed on political grounds, although some of them are career members of the US foreign service, Laszlo Dornfeld, senior analyst at the Center for Fundamental Rights told our newspaper.
In the case of political appointees, it is customary for ambassadors to tender their resignations by inauguration day, giving the new president the opportunity to install his people in their posts,
the expert said.
"The politically appointed ambassadors are being pulled back because they are the representatives of the outgoing administration," as highlighted earlier by Ronald Neumann, president of the American Academy of Diplomacy. In 2017, Donald Trump immediately called on the ambassadors appointed by the Obama administration to leave their posts, breaking with the previous practice of extending appointments for certain reasons (such as completing a child's school term), Laszlo Dornfeld pointed out.
We can probably expect nothing different now, and perhaps even quicker changes of personnel will happen in the early days of the Trump administration,
the expert said.
This means that the US ambassador to Hungary, David Pressman, will most likely have to tender his resignation by the presidential inauguration day, on January 20, 2025, at which point his mandate will end, he added.
What happens after that? Every US embassy usually has a number two diplomat, the so-called deputy head of mission, who will take over the role of acting head of mission until the succession issue is decided. In essence, he becomes an acting ambassador who continues diplomatic duties. The president's ambassadorial appointments are approved by the Senate, and this House of the legislature is already expected to be Republican-majority,
explained Laszlo Dornfeld, adding that Trump appointee David Cornstein took over as ambassador on June 22, 2018, a year and a half after the president's inauguration.
It does not seem unlikely, that the incoming president of the United States will have a new ambassador to Hungary much sooner this time around,
especially as Hungary's role in US foreign policy will be significantly enhanced in the coming period. The new ambassador could pave the way for a return to the close friendly relationship the two countries had between 2016 and 2020, and serve to cultivate this relationship rather than meddling in Hungarian domestic affairs, the senior analyst at the Center for Fundamental Rights concluded.
Cover photo: David Pressman, US Ambassador to Hungary (Photo: Anadolu via AFP)
