U.S. foreign policy experts say there are growing reports from North Korea and Iran that those governments have given up trying to make contact with moderate elements in the U.S. government.
“The word I get repeatedly is that they had a certain amount of luck in the Department of Agriculture and the Census Bureau, but otherwise there was nothing but crazies,” said Journal of Strategic Studies editor Hamlish English. He quoted one Iranian scholar who asked him, “What is the deal with this Huckabee person?”
The Central Intelligence Agency has reportedly briefed Congress on its own efforts to make such contacts within its own administration, without success.
“I kept raising things like Brexit, the Saudis and interference with the 2020 election, but all they wanted to talk about was walls,” said a CIA analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity. “You think I want to be associated with this group?” she said.