Next month, German voters will go to the polls to elect the government that will lead one of America’s most important allies for the duration of President Trump’s current term in office. Conspicuously absent from that unfolding political drama, however, is one crucial observer: a U.S. ambassador.

America’s envoy to Germany is just one of dozens of high-level diplomatic posts the president has yet to fill. And this particular appointment warrants swift nomination given the precarious place in which America finds its relationship with Germany.