One of the biggest surprises came when I met Mamadou Tangara, Gambia’s ambassador. Tangara reported to Gambian president Yahya Jammeh, a vindictive dictator who had been in power for more than two decades. When I dropped into Tangara’s office, he told me he had never been paid such a visit and quickly opened up. “I’m worried,” he confessed, explaining that Jammeh was growing increasingly erratic. “Things are getting worse every day,” he said. “He is pushing away anyone who tells him the truth.” A few months later, I saw Tangara at the annual Fourth of July reception I hosted on behalf of the
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