There’s no comment or confirmation from President Trump, so take things with the proverbial grain of salt, however, what Reuters is reporting here does make a lot of sense.
According to Reuters ‘exclusive’ reporting, President Trump is considering former Acting DNI, former Ambassador to Germany, and former peace negotiator for Serbia/Kosovo, Ric Grenell for the position of Special Envoy to Ukraine. This would position Ric Grenell as the peacemaker in the center of something that is very strategically important to President Trump and the world.
Many people have wondered why we have not heard the name Ric Grenell before for any other position. If the report is accurate, this could indeed explain the void. Remember, Marco Rubio is nominated for State Dept, but Trump appears to be putting guardrails against the neocon tendencies of the Florida Senator and junior McCain.
President Trump has removed the mid-east from Rubio’s portfolio with the appointment of Steven C. Witkoff to be Special Envoy to the Middle East. That appointment stops Secretary Rubio from blocking a restart of the peace process via the Abraham Accords. If President Trump wanted to smartly keep Rubio out of the Ukraine dynamic, appointing Ric Grenell would be a solid option.
WASHINGTON, Nov 22 (Reuters) – President-elect Donald Trump is considering tapping Richard Grenell, his former intelligence chief, to be a special envoy for the Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to four sources familiar with the transition plans.
Grenell, who served as Trump’s ambassador to Germany and was acting director of national intelligence during Trump’s 2017-2021 term, would play a key role in Trump’s efforts to halt the war if he is ultimately selected for the post.
While there is currently no special envoy dedicated solely to resolving the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Trump is considering creating the role, according to the four sources, who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
Trump could ultimately decide not to create a special envoy for the conflict in Ukraine, although he is strongly considering doing so, the sources said. If he does, he could ultimately select someone else for the role, and there is no guarantee Grenell would accept.
[…] During a Bloomberg roundtable in July, [Grenell] advocated for the creation of “autonomous zones” as a means of settling the conflict, which began after Russia invaded Ukrainian sovereign territory. He also suggested he would not be in favor of Ukraine joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in the immediate future, a position he shares with many Trump allies. (read more)
This would be a good opportunity for Grenell and come with very high worldwide visibility. A major-league powerful and important job, that would put Grenell at the center of the geopolitical universe for the first year of the Trump administration. President Trump does appear to trust Ric Grenell, and the trust aspect in the relationship would be extremely important.
All in all, while it is only a rumor right now, the Reuters story does make a lot of sense.
Personally, if true, I think it is a great idea.
Envoy=Emissary: This sounds similar to SD’s suggestion of appointing an Emissary to relay specific messages from PDJT to strategic decision-makers. Mr. Grenell seems to be the one for the job. Praying for peace.
Interesting article about Grenell being a shadow SoS during the last 3 years for PT. IIRC he had cancer years ago and I recall reading that he (paraphrasing) might not want another really full-time stressful job in PT’s 2020 admin….This sounds like the emissary position SD wrote about. He wouldn’t be in the front-line position, like SoS, but in reality doing the job in select situations. Steve Witkoff to handle the ME. Rubio can do the grunt work & pressers.
FTA: But not Richard Grenell, a former diplomat and intelligence official in Donald Trump’s administration, who arrived in Guatemala in January, days before the new president was to be sworn in — and threw his support behind a right-wing campaign to undermine the election.
Grenell met with a hard-line group that sued to block the inauguration, which thanked him for his “visit and trust.” He defended Guatemalanofficials who had seized ballot boxes in an effort to overturn a vote declared “free and fair” by the United States and international observers, and he attacked the U.S. State Department’s sanctions against hundreds of anti-democratic actors.
Grenell’s intervention highlights the extraordinary role he has carved out in the three years since Trump left the White House. From Central America to Eastern Europe and beyond, Grenell has been acting as a kind of shadow secretary of state, meeting with far-right leaders and movements, pledging Trump’s support, and at times, working against the current administration’s policies.
https://www.christianforums.com/threads/richard-grenell-is-trumps-globe-trotting-shadow-secretary-of-state-meeting-far-right-leaders-and-undermining-the-biden-administration.8296133/
Great catch! ☝️
Special envoy great idea for Ukraine. WWIII must be prevented/stopped. There is no higher priority as a WWIII would kill any domestic agenda, which is why deep state is trying to start it. Grenell would be a good fit to offset the neocons.
He is one, he’s just a lighter version.
Hmm. This could be interesting. Although, a part of me feels that Biden has really made this rapprochement very, very difficult. A lot of the anger that Russians have at us preceded Trump, and has been building up for quite a while.
I would guess that Ric Grenell would be an excellent pick for such a position.
As far as Rubio goes, he probably would be especially good for working with Latin America. We need that.
There he is!
cross posted at https://freedomaustralia.freeforums.net/thread/6346/potential-peacemaker
I know this is crazy, but it is an idea. One of many ways to play 3d chess.
It almost appears as if he is putting his enemies into cabinet positions (they’ll be confirmed) and then insulating them from causing damage with people just under them as heads of the special projects we don’t want the pseudocabinet members to affect. It get him confirmations, it give him control of the enemies, it keeps the enemy pseudocabinent members busy trying to prevent the progression of MAGA goals by the secondary project chiefs.
Rubio is no longer a senator. He couldn’t be trusted anyway. Grenell can outsmart Rubio. Rubio can’t do anything backhanded against the president if he is having to report to him every day on the directives the president gave him.
If Rubio screws up or outs himself as subversive to MAGA goals, he is fired at the pleasure of the president AND is no longer Senator.
I never underestimate President Trump…he’s always a step ahead of the others. Ric Grenell👌
finally.
glad he got something.
rather it be dir of cia.
but as long as he has a spot…i’m happy.
now…i hope there is a spot for sarah palin.
What does Sarah Palin have to offer?
hellava lot.
He’s not a peace maker, he’s bad news when it comes to NATO and Ukraine, look at the history he has regarding Ukraine, he was all for project Ukraine during his time in Trump admin 1.0 when in Germany. He may not have called for conflict, but he was one of the big pushers for destroying NS2 either via sanctions on Germany (yes you read that right) or actual destruction because it would help ‘our ally ukraine’ (yeah not to meantion those us lng sales right rich?), and said sanctions would destroy russia’s ability to do anything. How’d that work out Rich? He’s a pound the chest, all stick take it or leave it type, that works as a messenger boy but not as a serious diplomat imho. More and more looks like we’ve been sold a bill of goods again. I hope we don’t share the same fate as those that voted for Ze because he ran on peace and implementing minsk2 only to turn around and do a 180 on day one of his admin. Nothing so far seem to indicate to me that the incoming administration has any sense of reality about ukraine, it’s not the 2020 world, or even 2022 anymore, lots of serious things have happened. Most if not all these ‘plans’ you see proffered in the press read like an insulting jokes if you’re Russian and show little to no understanding at all about the security concerns at play. At best they just set the stange for more conflict later. TLDR: He’s a neocon imho (just not the lucy pronounced type) with a particular disdain for germany or other nato members having any sovereignty. -2c
Just one sampling from 2022 (about a week before action was taken):
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/ric-grenell-house-subcommittee-russia-ukraine/2022/02/16/id/1057093/
https://www.newsmax.com/newsmax-tv/ric-grenell-antony-blinken-sanctions-war/2022/03/19/id/1061999/
This post makes me feel so much better about things.
Trump is appointment people to the big name posts that make the swamp happy, then clipping their wings so to speak by taking the important stuff off their plate.
Another advantage is the Uke-Russia conflict is anticipated to be over very quickly, “on day one, or even before” according to PDJT, although realistically it MAY take a little longer than that to negotiate, maybe up to a year to resolve all of the questions,….
Point is, once that was settled, Grenell would be freed up to move on to other things.
I suspect PDJT is waffling because he is torn about whether to do it himself, rather than delegating it to ANYONE else.
Problem I have is I don’t see what a post-conflict Eastern Europe looks like. Having the “vision thing” might help orientate all of us.
Do it!
It’d be classic Trump. It’s a hot war, and no way can he trust State, Pentagon, CIA or anybody else. He needs the raw data. And he needs his simple messages to get through.
So, now our President elect has hired somebody correctly? Color me shocked………:>}
We know there is some big role President Trump is planning for Rick Grenell and Kash Patel. No way did he overlook these two great American Patriots! They’re America’s best!
Yeah, was wondering just yesterday. There are bullets and there are silver bullets, I suggest.
Uhhhh-huuuh!
Now the photo with Zelensky meeting with PDJT last month, with Grenell walking closely behind, makes sense!
Personally, I would be very pleased if Rubio is NOT involved with all of Trumps foreign policy
I remember Sundances comments on Rubio when he was with Warner during Russian hoax
Back when we were all on Twitter😉