Trump reveals he has an 'envoy ambassador' making foreign visits for him

Ah, yes — just what U.S. foreign policy needs.

Former President Donald Trump revealed in a statement he has his own "envoy ambassador," who on Thursday visited the Kosovo-Serbia border to highlight an agreement brokered during the ex-president's administration.

"The great people of Serbia and Kosovo have overcome tremendous obstacles in their pursuit of economic normalization. The agreements my administration brokered are historic and should not be abandoned, many lives are at stake," Trump wrote Thursday. "Today, my envoy ambassador Ric Grenell visited the Kosovo-Serbia border to highlight this important agreement." Grenell previously served as the special presidential envoy for Serbia and Kosovo peace negotiations during the Trump administration.

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As noted by The Wall Street Journal's Vivian Salama, Trump's phrasing regarding Grenell's is rather odd, considering no former president should have an active envoy. In all likelihood, she adds, Grenell's visit was probably more of a "courtesy" than anything of diplomatic substance.

Still, that didn't stop Twitter from highlighting the worrying absurdity (and possible illegality) of the idea of Trump conducting his own foreign policy, nor journalists and pundits from poking fun at the bizarre phrasing the ex-president used when sharing the news (though it was perhaps just a grammatical error).

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Brigid Kennedy

Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.