By Daniel Dunaief
Former Ambassador Ed McMullen Jr. was flying to Italy to visit his vineyard when he received a text from Peter Capobianco, his best friend growing up.
Capobianco, whose family owned Cappy’s Carpets, was congratulating McMullen on the work he did to help get President Donald Trump reelected when the former ambassador was flying over Long Island.
“It’s amazing to see how friendships from home continue,” said McMullen, who is a 1982 graduate of Earl L. Vandermeulen High School and served as Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein during the first Trump administration, from 2017 to 2021.
In a wide-ranging exclusive interview, McMullen spoke from President-elect Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida about his upbringing, his experience as ambassador and his expectations for the second Trump administration.
When he returns from his current residence on Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina to the Port Jefferson area, where his family has roots that extend for four generations and over 100 years, he enjoys sailing in the Port Jefferson Harbor and Long Island Sound. During the summers, he also travels out to the Hamptons.
McMullen, whose parents Christine and Ed, were high school sweethearts in Port Jefferson, is an appreciative graduate of the public school system.
He suggested some of his teachers, including history teacher Richard Olsen, had “huge impacts on me throughout my life.”
He reflects fondly on his upbringing, surrounded by friends and family, including 14 cousins, and supportive teachers and professors.
His grandfather Irwin McMullen had a store on East Main Street called McMullen Market, where he “knew everyone in town,” McMullen said.
His education on Long Island and beyond at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia prepared him well for a life that would include representing the country as ambassador and serving currently as a senior policy advisor at Adams and Reese LLP in South Carolina.
His language classes in high school didn’t enable him to connect with Europeans.
From seventh grade through his senior year, he studied Latin. That provided a “great foundation,” helped him with his SATs and enabled him to speak English properly.
In Switzerland, however, they speak four languages. He found German and Romansh the hardest, while French and Italian, which he now speaks, were easier.
Swiss roots
McMullen had several connections to Switzerland before serving as ambassador. He skied in the country and traveled there with his grandparents.
After college, he attended a 10-day American Swiss Foundation Young Leaders Conference. Faith Whittlesey, who was former president Ronald Reagan’s Ambassador to Switzerland and was on the board of The Heritage Foundation where McMullen worked, brought him into the program.
“Getting exposure to a program like that, where you’re spending time in the country, not just skiing it as a tourist, being there and experiencing it is a way to learn” about the beauty of the country and its “amazing” people, McMullen said.
McMullen recalled that he traveled with Ueli Maurer, the president of the Swiss Confederation for a bilateral meeting with President Trump, where the two leaders discussed a “serious trade deal,” McMullen said.
“That was an experience with the Swiss,” said McMullen. “When they want something, they are very clear about what they want.”
Switzerland, which has compulsory military service for all men after the age of 18, has the second-highest percentage of firearm ownership in Europe. The country doesn’t have the violent episodes that have caused tragedies in communities throughout the United States.
“The Swiss start educating their children about the benefits [of guns] and why they’re used and the problems that can be created if they’re not used properly,” McMullen said.
Hunters have shown an interest in these educational efforts, the former ambassador said.
Next steps
McMullen, who was a vice chair of the inauguration committee in 2017 and is playing the same role in January, is prepared to work in the administration.
“If there’s a place for me to serve, I will be happy to have that conversation,” he said. “I don’t lobby. I don’t pursue things that everyone is out there trying to play the Game of Thrones for.”
McMullen is helping the former and future president not only with the inauguration but also with filling State Department jobs.
In searching for members of the Cabinet and to work with the administration, Trump is trying to guard against the kind of people from his first administration who “thought they were put in those posts to do their agenda, write books to make millions of dollars and to talk about things that mostly were not true,” McMullen said. “Those are the people who are about themselves and not the good of the public and the good of the country.”
Most people take these jobs with the best interests of the country in mind, although some pursue their own self interests. McMullen suggested that was true of former National Security Advisor John Bolton, who is an outspoken critic of his former boss.
The process of finding people to work with the current administration is different, as Trump is conducting meetings with people on his own turf.
McMullen said that abortion, which was a focus of the campaign from Democrat Kamala Harris, did not determine the outcome of the election.
“The President has nothing to do with abortions,” he said. “It’s the role of the states and state courts and legislatures.”
People can choose where they want to live based on their priorities and agendas.
“If you’re in a state that’s pro choice or is limiting abortion, where do you want to live?” McMullen said. “In all likelihood, if you’re in one of those states that’s limiting abortion, if you’re a big advocate for pro choice, you’re not going to agree with much of what’s being done in those states.”
Climate crisis
McMullen suggested that Trump’s view is that innovation and research and development will solve the climate crisis.
Throwing money at government programs for electric vehicles and that pollute groundwater through discarded parts such as batteries won’t solve the problem, he said.
“The president’s goal is to inspire innovation,” McMullen said.
As for energy, that could involve forms that are clean and efficient, including fossil fuels with scrubbers and nuclear energy, the former ambassador said.
The solar energy arena provides an example of where innovation and research is needed.
In the world of nationally funded research, the country is likely to see an effort to cut what administrators consider fat and waste.
“Where there is legitimate research and development in academia or institutes for health or areas where there is something that is completely legitimate, yes” funding will continue, McMullen said. “Studying the lifecycle of hermaphroditic worms in Borneo is not the kind of things we should be wasting billions of dollars on.”
In the crisis facing the country, those areas of research t aren’t important, he added.
Funds need to go towards pressing issues facing society.
McMullen snapshot:
Mantra Trump has shared: Fight, fight, fight. That’s not something he came up with standing on the stage after the attempted assassination. Every time you enter a dilemma or problem or question that can’t be answered, fight, fight, fight is the way he approaches a problem, the former ambassador said.
Toughest class in high school: chemistry, without a doubt. I hated it
Favorite food in Switzerland: The best chocolates in the world are Läderach chocolates [which have expanded all over the country].
Weight gained in Switzerland: 60 pounds in four years. Trump told McMullen he sent an ambassador to Switzerland, who was a great ambassador, but he discovered chocolate.
Proudest achievement: President Trump’s attention to getting American prisoners home from Iran.
Wish he had done more of when he was in Switzerland: relaxing.
Pitch that encouraged companies to move jobs to the United States: The average salary for a Swiss company is $130,000. Trump wanted to get more such jobs in the country.
Trump promised to create the tax and regulatory environment, which helped vault Switzerland from the 8th largest foreign investor in the country to the 6th during Trump’s first term.
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