State Dept. Dissent Cable On Travel Ban Hits 1,000 Signatures

US President Donald Trump arrives to annonce the Supreme Court nominee in the East Room of the of White House, January 31, 2017. Photo by Olivier Douliery/Abaca(Sipa via AP Images)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

A dissent cable from State Department diplomats opposing President Donald Trump’s order suspending the refugee program and barring travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries reached 1,000 signatures by Tuesday afternoon, according to the New York Times.

State Department officials told the Times that the cable was being sent to management and that more diplomats have expressed interest in signing the cable. The cable has the more signatures than any other recent cable, per the Times.

The dissent channel was created for diplomats in the 1970s during the Vietnam War as a way to express opposition to policy internally. Several diplomats signed a dissent cable last year opposing President Obama’s Syria policy.

The cable circulated this week argues that Trump’s order barring immigrants from certain countries does not actually make the U.S. safer.

Asked about the cable during a briefing on Monday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said that State Department officials should either back Trump’s policy or leave.

“I think that they should get with the program or they can go,” he told reporters.

Latest Livewire
25
Show Comments

Notable Replies

  1. Commendable, but won’t do a thing.

    Tweeto Donnie will just ignore it, since it is based on experience, knowledge, and common sense, not to mention decency.

  2. Avatar for jsfox jsfox says:

    you resit where and how you can. Just because it may not do anything obvious doesn’t mean you don’t do it. Death by a thousand cuts comes to mind.

  3. Haven’t heard anything from Diplomat Donnie on the recent turmoil in the Ukraine as his bud Vlad gives him the first inkling that he was a stooge. I would have though at least a tweet.
    Nice to know the State Department won’t have your back Donnie

    Ukraine conflict: UN warns of dangerous deterioration

  4. Avatar for ggus ggus says:

    It’s all about having the news media talk about it. Sooner or later the stories stick. That’s how the right worked to delegitimize Obama and Clinton.
    Drip, drip drip…

  5. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that this and all the other resistance movements are occurring and expanding, but all of this can only be changed by the courts, and Tweeto Donnie is already stacking the deck.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

19 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for rxbusa Avatar for jsfox Avatar for mattinpa Avatar for sickneffintired Avatar for lastroth Avatar for seaturtle01 Avatar for geofu54 Avatar for firewing2 Avatar for lizzymom Avatar for jlredford Avatar for ggus Avatar for cub_calloway Avatar for maximus Avatar for libthinker Avatar for krux Avatar for bashful Avatar for loss_mentality Avatar for empathicgal

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: