Trump’s mass purge of state department likely to sow chaos, US diplomats say

Project 2025 blueprint for second Trump term envisages replacing thousands of career staff with political loyalists

America's career diplomats are braced for the threat of a mass purge if Donald Trump wins the November election and for the potential flooding of the state department with loyalty-tested political appointees.

Rather than leading to a seamless change of course in a rightward Trumpist direction, the diplomats' union and former ambassadors argue, such an attempted takeover would be much more likely to end in legal challenges, gridlock and chaos.