President Donald Trump faced a massive international backlash after allegedly referred to Haiti, El Salvador, and several African nations as “shithole countries” in a Jan. 11 Oval Office meeting. But if you look past the cable news hysterics over the commander-in-chief’s word choice, the White House’s stance on Africa should come as no surprise: In the aftermath of the deadly ambush in Niger last October that left four Army special operations soldier dead, spurring concerns about the U.S.’s widening counterterror ops across the continent, the Trump administration’s stable of Africa experts and advisors is a ghost town.