U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) is amplifying The Atlantic article titled ‘The World No Longer Takes Trump Seriously’ on social media, writing: “As the son, grandson and nephew of Foreign Service Officers, I grieve that our President is a nincompoop with a child’s fragile ego, wasting our immense power.”
[Note: Whitehouse’s father, Charles Sheldon Whitehouse, worked in the CIA and the State Department before becoming a foreign service officer, and later served as U.S. Ambassador to Thailand and Laos. His grandfather, Edwin Sheldon Whitehouse, was appointed by President Herbert Hoover as the U.S. Minister to Guatemala, and by Franklin D. Roosevelt as the U.S. Minister to Colombia.]
The author of The Atlantic article, Professor Emeritus of National Security Affairs at the U.S. Naval War College Tom Nichols, wrote: “We are an unserious nation led by unserious people, and our enemies have noticed. The parade in China was worse than a mere snub; it showed that the world doesn’t respect Trump – and doesn’t have to.”
As the son, grandson and nephew of Foreign Service Officers, I grieve that our President is a nincompoop with a child’s fragile ego, wasting our immense power. https://t.co/j8olUxmh8u
— Sheldon Whitehouse (@SenWhitehouse) September 8, 2025
That parade in Beijing was hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. Xi invited fellow authoritarian leaders, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. As Nichols noted, “Trump, much like America itself, was left to watch from the sidelines.”
Note: This isn’t the first time Senator Whitehouse has mentioned his foreign service family while protesting Trump.
During the first Trump administration, when State Secretary Mike Pompeo was under scrutiny in the midst of the 2019 Trump-Ukraine scandal, Whitehouse wrote: “As the son, grandson, nephew and cousin of foreign service officers, who served often in dangerous posts, I agree: our diplomats are right to be angry. Pompeo has been a disgrace. He has let them down. He has stained a tradition of honor and loyalty.”
As the son, grandson, nephew and cousin of foreign service officers, who served often in dangerous posts, I agree: our diplomats are right to be angry.
— Sheldon Whitehouse (@SenWhitehouse) October 6, 2019
Pompeo has been a disgrace. He has let them down. He has stained a tradition of honor and loyalty. https://t.co/K6wNbcJ5gL
