Mother Jones illustration; Hu Yousong/Xinhua/ZUMA; US State Dept.; Wikimedia

In February, President Trump included the US Institute of Peace in an executive order targeting federal entities he deemed “unnecessary” and which he planned to cut as much as he legally could. In March, the USIP’s Washington, DC, offices were invaded by armed private security as part of a brute force takeover by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. Amid the subsequent running court battle, the USIP, which once employed over 200 people, has been reduced to a ghost organization, with around four total workers. In court, DOGE and the Trump administration continue to insist they can seize both USIP’s famous headquarters, situated near the National Mall, as well as its finances. 

“How can this person be one to lead any peace-building? It just seems absurd.” 

In late July, the State Department also announced a new, eyebrow-raising acting president for what’s left of USIP: former academic Darren Beattie, who was fired from the first Trump administration for speaking at a conference heavily attended by white nationalists.

Beattie is also an undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs at the State Department, despite the act that created the USIP seemingly barring him from accepting a salary for both roles. When asked for comment, a State Department spokesperson did not address the issue, but sent an anonymous statement suggesting Beattie’s appointment was in response to USIP having “slipped in its mission over recent decades” and saying he would “advance President Trump’s America First agenda in this new role.”

Beattie’s background and history of racist and extremist remarks has generated concern. He tweeted in 2024 that “competent white men must be in charge if you want anything to work;” another time that year, he floated an inflammatory rhetorical question: “What if America moved on to some national religion other than coddling and excusing inner city black dysfunction, violence, and misbehavior?” He has also advocated for stripping what he called “undesirables” of US citizenship, adding, “ship them out, put them to........

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