HOUSTON – Joe Barnes is a Bonner Means Research Fellow at the Baker Institute for Foreign Policy at Rice University. He was a career diplomat for 14 years in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
He looks with interest at the evolution of the Donald Trump transition team and says the challenge of finding the right people for Trump's administration is a direct result of his divisive campaign that left even a lot of Republicans withholding support.
“Unlike a lot of previous president-elects, he doesn’t have a huge bench,” he said. “He is left with people in think tanks or former government officials that endorsed him and are therefore obvious candidates for the various positions.”
Barnes weighs in on the direction a Trump foreign policy might take and the challenge of setting the proper tone for negotiations on the world stage.
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Jim Granato, Ph.D. is the executive director of the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston.
He says nothing should be read into the amount of time it’s taking for the Trump transition team to find good people. He does, however, think the choices so far send clear signals, starting with the appointments of RNC Chair Reince Preibus as Chief of Staff and Breitbart Chairman Steve Bannon as Chief Strategist.
”The Bannon appointment strikes me as a little tone deaf. Because of the blow back they’ve already gotten,” he said. “It’s unnecessary, and so that appointment to me raises red flags about the recruitment process and what they’re doing inside.
"The Preibus appointment, though, is going to satisfy a lot of people inside the Republican Party, particularly people like Paul Ryan.”
Much more insight into the changing political landscape and the introduction of the “Nothing But the Truth” segment will be on Houston Newsmakers.
Houston Newsmakers with Khambrel Marshall, is on every Sunday Morning at 10 a.m. right after Meet the Press on KPRC Channel 2.
More Information:
• Jim Granato, Ph.D. , Executive Director Hobby School of Public Affairs, 713-743-3887, jgranato@uh.edu, http://www.uh.edu/class/hobby/about/
• Joe Barnes, Bonner Means Research Fellow, Baker Institute for Foreign Policy at Rice University. 713-348-4646 jjbarnes@rice.edu www.bakerinstitute.org