Trump UN envoy to deliver message minus ‘bombast’

Bloomberg

Kelly Craft is expected to leave bombast to Donald Trump, swagger to Michael Pompeo and hard-line strategy to John Bolton when she takes her seat as US ambassador at the UN next week.
In an administration known for its confrontations with both allies and adversaries, Craft, a wealthy Trump campaign contributor who previously served as envoy to Canada, has signalled that she intends a lower-profile role at the United Nations than the one carved out by her predecessor, Nikki Haley.
Interviews with people familiar with Craft’s thinking say she’ll focus on a narrower range of issues at the world body where her involvement — and her connections to President Trump — could help move the needle.
She’s cited the need to muster more resources from “other responsible nations” to respond to “massive and protracted” humanitarian crises from Sudan to Yemen and Syria.
“Making progress at the
UN requires constant attention to relationships, a knack for knowing the bottom line, and a belief in incremental, but determined, steps forward,” Craft, 57, said at her Senate confirmation hearing in June.
It’s a strategy encouraged by a veteran former diplomat. “Pick one or two things and do them well,” said Robert Hormats, vice chairman of Kissinger Associates and a former State Department undersecretary.
“Lone Rangers get nowhere at a place like the UN. You will find allies in unexpected corners, depending on the issue.”
Craft’s new job may require her to deliver strongly worded statements defending Israel against criticism and condemning Iran’s leaders and Syria’s Bashar al-Assad.
But she’s unlikely to start from the combative stance of her politically seasoned — and politically ambitious — predecessor, Haley.
On her first day at the UN, Haley memorably vowed: “For those that don’t have our back, we’re taking names.”
Officially, Craft will have a lesser standing than Haley because Trump is no longer giving the UN post the full Cabinet status that the former South Carolina governor enjoyed.
That means Craft will be acting on policies set by Pompeo, who likes to boast that he’s brought the swagger back to the State Department, and Bolton, who famously said in the 1990s that if the
UN building in Manhattan “lost 10 stories, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.”