Trump Appoints Richard Grenell to Holocaust Museum Council

Donald Trump has appointed openly gay former ambassador Richard Grenell to the council of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, media outlets report.

The Dec. 22 appointment "was met by mixed reactions from across the political spectrum," reports The Jerusalem Post. Though Grenell is a proponent of Israel, "figures in Germany's Jewish community criticized the appointment and Grenell for lauding the rise of the 'anti-establishment' right in Germany and Europe," The Jerusalem Post reported.

" 'Anti-establishment' was seen as a euphemism for hypernationalist right-wing parties that have engaged in apologetics about Europe's anti-Jewish past," the Post article went on to add.

Others greeted the news with praise, with Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center telling The Jerusalem Post, "No U.S. Ambassador posted to Berlin in recent history has done more to combat antisemitism in Germany, from neo-Nazis to Islamists linked to Iran and Hezbollah, than Richard Grenell."

Grenell, a staunch Trump supporter, resigned as Ambassador to Germany last summer after two years, having become "infamous for his combative, critical and, at times, non-cooperative diplomatic style," noted DW at the time.

"Fiercely loyal to Trump, Grenell spent his time as ambassador actively advocating for the president's 'America First' foreign policy vision," the DW story added.

Grenell also served the administration earlier this year as Acting Director of National Intelligence, departing that role in May. That appointment made Grenell "the first openly gay person to serve at a Cabinet level in the United States," Wikipedia notes.

While openly gay, Grenell has drawn criticism for his stances and his silence around LGBTQ issues at what would otherwise have been opportune moments for equality advocacy. Though he spoke at the Republican National Convention in August, Grenell made no mention of LGBTQ issues or his own status as a gay American, EDGE reported at the time.

Grenell also drew criticism for a Twitter tiff in which he tussled with the Victory Fund, a group that finances LGBTQ political candidates. The Victory Fund had critiqued Grenell for lashing out at ABC News for a post about political representation, tweeting that ABC's post was "dangerous and offensive,: and declaring that "Gay is NOT an ideaology [sic]".

Grenell was among those who lauded Trump for using force against peaceful protestors last summer before posing in front of a church for a photo op, recalled the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

More recently, Grenell has joined those who allege, without evidence, that president-elect Joe Biden benefited in this year's presidential election from widespread voter fraud, the Sun Sentinel added. Such allegations have repeatedly been disproven, with the courts and even some Republican officeholders rejecting them.

Trump also appointed two others to the council on Dec. 22, the Sun Sentinel reported: "Martin Oliner, the vice president of the American Zionist movement who has penned a number of pro-Trump op-eds, and Susan Levine of Arizona, who has been a major donor to the museum."