Donald Trump, during the current administration and his previous term in office, has proven he is not an ally of the LGBTQ+ community. Especially during his latest term, as evidenced by his executive orders targeting minorities, he has been shown to only favor those swearing allegiance to him, or to those invoking a “strong man” stereotype.
That hasn’t stopped portions of the queer community from siding with the aspiring dictator, often against their own interests, as found in groups like the Log Cabin Republicans.
This phenomenon continues in Richard Grenell, the man who Trump picked as the interim executive director at the John F. Kennedy Center. Who is this person exactly, and how does he fit into the path that Trump is currently executing?
Grenell is a longtime veteran appointee in presidential administrations as far back as George W. Bush’s first stint in 2001, where he was positioned as Director of Communications and Public Diplomacy for the United States permanent representative to the United Nations in New York. Serving at the rank of Minister-Counselor until 2008, Grenell promoted the U.S.’s position on issues like the “War on Terror,” the nuclear proliferation, and the corruption scandal surrounding the UN’s Oil for Food program.
In 2012, while running a consultancy company he founded named Capitol Media Partners, Grenell worked for Republican candidate Mitt Romney as his spokesman on foreign policy, which made him the first openly gay person to fill that role for the Republican party. Te year 2013 saw Grenell play a part in the re-legalization of same-sex marriage in California, having submitted briefs in favor of it during the Hollingsworth v. Perry case.
When coming from Republican administrations that now seem from a bygone era of the party, it doesn’t necessarily make sense that his values would have much to do with Trump, who has sat on the fence politically and bounced between sides until the 2010s.
In fact, it wasn’t until Trump became the nominee that Grenell gave praise to the man. Previously, he described Trump as “unserious,” “reckless,” and “dangerous” in since-deleted posts from Twitter. Grenell, along with many members of the party that previously denounced Trump, have seemingly fallen in lockstep with Trump and his plans for the future.
During Trump’s first administration, Grenell would take on the role of United States ambassador to Germany from 2018 to 2020. After years of being politically isolated for unprofessional comments in his role toward the German government, and his alleged association with the far-right Alternative for Germany Party, Grenell would resign from his role on June 1, 2020. During his time with the first administration, it does have to be said that Grenell used Trump’s platform to promote the decriminalization of homosexuality in nations where it was outlawed.
Throughout the years of service in the government, Grenell has seen his share of controversies. While under Romney during his campaign, Grenell used his Twitter platform to criticize various public women in office, including then Democratic Party official Susan Rice, who described Grenell as “one of the most nasty, dishonest people I’ve ever encountered” in a 2020 New York Times article.
In defiance of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), Grenell did not disclose accepting more than $100,000 from the Magyar Foundation of North America to provide public relations support for Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán before accepting his 2017 ambassador position. This type of activity would again come up during his short time as acting director of National Intelligence, with Grenell not disclosing payments for advocacy work on behalf of Moldovan politician Vladimir Plahotniuc.
While the facts and situations laid out do not give a full breadth of his actions or character, for better or worse, much like Trump himself, Grenell seems to be a person that acts for his own benefit. As to his role in Trump’s second administration, in addition to interim executive director at the Kennedy Center, Trump had also tapped Grenell to serve as an envoy for special missions regarding foreign policy. In his own words, Grenell is also looking at potentially running for California’s Governor’s office, especially if former Democratic presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris decides to run.
“If Kamala Harris runs for governor, I believe that she has such baggage and hundreds of millions of dollars in educating the voters of how terrible she is, that it’s a new day in California, and the Republican [party] actually has a shot, and I wouldn’t say no,” Grenell told reporters February 14 while on a trip in Munich.