title:  Trump Demotes Career State Department Official After Breitbart Questions Her Loyalty To America
text: McCarthyism has returned.Donald Trump is literally letting a white nationalist publication dictate personnel decisions in his administration.Sahar Nowrouzzadeh is an American citizen of Iranian descent. She is an expert on Iran and has played a crucial role in shaping U.S. policy in the Middle East. She was born in America, first served at the State Department under the George W. Bush administration in 2005 and was on the team that negotiated the Iran Nuclear Deal under President Obama.But because she is of Iranian descent, Breitbart and other conservative outlets believe she is in league with Iranian leadership against the United States. Seriously.According to Politico,Nowrouzzadehad had been detailed since last July to the secretary of state s policy planning team, where she handled ongoing issues related to Iran and Gulf Arab countries. Her yearlong assignment was cut short earlier this month, after critical stories about her and others appeared in the Conservative Review and on Breitbart News, according to the State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter. Nowrouzzadeh did not want to be reassigned, according to the official.Indeed, being reassigned is basically a demotion and one based on racism and fear instead of one based on her job performance.Nowrouzzadeh will now be working in the Office of Iranian Affairs despite the State Department praising her work as  valuable in furtherance of U.S. national security. Nowrouzzadeh is the kind of State Department employee America needs right now as tensions between Iran and the United States remain strained because Trump and his Republican allies have repeatedly threatened to trash the nuclear deal.Former State Department official Phillip Gordon slammed the Trump administration for caving to pressure from conservative media. Like many civil service experts and career foreign service officers, she possesses just the sort of expertise political leaders from either party should have by their side when they make critical and difficult foreign policy decisions,  Gordon said.The bottom line is that this smacks of McCarthyism from the right-wing just as it did when Joe McCarthy led a witch hunt against government employees in pursuit of alleged communists.Only this time, conservatives are targeting anyone who has a name that sounds Middle Eastern or Muslim.Breitbart should not have the power to affect personnel decisions at the State Department and Donald Trump should not listen to them. Doing so only makes us weaker because the experts we need on the front lines are being persecuted or living in fear of being persecuted.It also makes America less safe because this demotion will be used as an example of how the current United States government treats people of Middle Eastern descent in order to recruit terrorists.Sahar Nowrouzzadeh already swore an oath to defend the United States Constitution when she was hired by the State Department in 2005. It s the same oath that members of Congress swear when they enter office. Questioning her loyalty based on the color of her skin or her birth name is wrong and constitutes discrimination. Frankly, she should file a lawsuit against Trump.Featured Image: Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images