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Diplomats are creatures of protocol. It's those very rules of verbal and political

engagement that allow the machinery of international relations to function.

Imagine then, Nahal Tucci's surprise at the beginning of this year, when she started talking

to foreign diplomats about their views on the global impact of U.S. domestic politics.

I want you to talk about US partisan politics,

which is something that foreign diplomats just don't do

as a general rule.

I've tried so long for so many years, and oftentimes I've just been brushed off.

Nahal is a reporter with Politico.

But this time when I went in, first of all I was like, look, I'm writing this column, do me a favor, you've known me for a while, you know, you can trust me,

I won't have to use your name, I had all this stuff, right?

But I also found that because of what was happening, just in our political system, and

especially the linking of Ukraine aid to border security,

that a number of these diplomats, including current diplomats, were kind of letting

go of their inhibitions and were're ready to talk. It was just

fortuitous timing and I was I was astonished at how Frank some of them were.

...