This new State Department leader loves it when 'national security bureaucrats fail'
A closer look at acting State Department undersecretary Darren Beattie
Darren Beattie was recently tapped by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to serve as his acting undersecretary of state for public diplomacy — a role where Beattie will help guide U.S. outreach and messaging on issues including counterterrorism and violent extremism. Those are topics that Beattie should know a lot about, given his record promoting racist and anti-government conspiracy theories.
I laid out some of the reasons I found Beattie’s appointment equal parts dangerous and laughable in my latest column at MSNBC. His political career has centered almost entirely on shoveling hateful and anti-government conspiracy theories into MAGA audiences and politicians, alike. Between publishing white nationalist writers and promoting racist conspiracy theories popular with mass-shooters, Beattie was influential in Republican efforts to deny the history of the 2021 Capitol riot.
He has also expressed views about foreign policy that should immediately disqualify him from his new position. Beattie has praised US adversaries, dismissed Uyghur genocide, and expressed extreme hatred for the “Globalist American Empire” that he will work on behalf of.
“Imagine having respect for the State Department.”
-Darren Beattie, newly appointed acting undersecretary of state for public diplomacy (October 2021)
You can read my column at the link below. News coverage of Beattie’s appointment has not been flattering, but has still managed to undersell what makes him dangerous.