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Good afternoon, Press Pass readers. The August recess is almost over, which means lawmakers will soon be roaming the halls of the Capitol again, bickering and stepping on rakes. Don’t miss any congressional pratfalls: Sign up for a Bulwark+ membership at the link below. It will feel good to laugh again.
Today’s edition reconnects us with Nick Adams, President Donald Trump’s Hooters-obsessed nominee to serve as U.S. ambassador to Malaysia. Officials in that country were irked to discover that his nomination was not a joke of some kind, but the self-styled “alpha male” Adams is not backing down. He is, however, recalibrating his social media posts to be less about Hooters and pounding domestic beers and more about good, old-fashioned Trump flattery. We’ll then leave the wings behind to take a look inside one of the most unique government buildings in the United States. Lovers of classic midcentury design will find much to savor in the photos. All that and more, below.
Is Trump’s Hooters-Obsessed Ambassador Nominee Toning Down His Shtick?
Plus: Take a look inside Frank Lloyd Wright’s magnificent government building.
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NICK ADAMS, THE MASCULINITY HOBBYIST and naturalized immigrant from Australia whom President Donald Trump nominated to be U.S. ambassador to Malaysia, appears to be toning down his macho online persona as it grows likelier that he will be confirmed as a key diplomat in the Asia-Pacific region.
Adams’s nomination confounded lawmakers and experts, which is saying a lot: Everyone who has been paying attention to Trump’s nominees, from his cabinet to lower-level appointed positions, has become accustomed to an endless succession of horribly unqualified and in some cases almost comically inept individuals receiving influential administration posts. But Adams has roiled even the most cynical and pessimistic observers of the Trump administration. No one is upset enough for his nomination to be at real risk, of course—relatively few Trump nominations requiring Senate approval have been withdrawn, and no nominees have been outright rejected in the Senate yet. But Adams is so ostentatiously buffoonish, and so obviously unqualified, that the senators tasked with overseeing his confirmation process are a bit perplexed.
The Asia-Pacific region is the setting of some of the United States’ greatest foreign policy challenges of the coming decade. Malaysia is one of several countries with overlapping claims over parts of the South China Sea, where about a third of global maritime trade passes; much of this trade goes through the narrow Strait of Malacca off the Malay coast, which offers the shortest route between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. In recent years, Chinese incursions into Malaysian waters and airspace have created disruptions for the latter country, which cannot respond effectively without relying on its partner nations in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), but ASEAN remains divided over what approach to take to the issue of China’s growing belligerence. Malaysia also recently became subject to new 19 percent tariffs from the United States and remains under the threat of a 300 percent duty on semiconductors and chips, which account for a large share of Malaysian exports to the United States; because of the scale of growth-fueling American investment in the country, its leaders have refrained from retaliating. And in the background of Malaysia’s specific challenges, there is the dark and growing possibility of a Chinese land invasion of Taiwan.
Adams has given little indication of what he thinks about this complex set of issues. Instead, he generally prefers to post about the greatness of President Donald J. Trump, the weakness of “woke” Democrats, garden-variety culture-war issues, and his fondness for Hooters, which has yet to expand its franchise to the country where the masculinity performer has been nominated to serve as ambassador on behalf of the United States of America. (Hooters is serving customers in Taipei, however, which could help clarify the stakes of regional politics in a way that uniquely suits Adams’s interests.)
After Trump nominated Adams, senators on the Foreign Relations Committee expressed confusion and even outrage that Adams got the nod.
“I think we’re used to ambassadorships being given on the basis of politics, but this is over the line—this guy’s not ready for prime time,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) told me in July. “This is serious business. The Asia-Pacific region is incredible for our national security and our economy, and I’m not sure that this guy could walk you through the basics of Asia or specifically Malaysia.”
Curiously, after being nominated in July, Adams stopped posting entirely about what was once his favorite subject: Hooters. He only posted about steaks once. I was starting to wonder if someone needed to arrange for a wellness check at the enormous house in which Adams lives alone. But last Friday brought this tetchy early-morning post: