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It’s a song and dance as old as time: When a President names a trusted figure who is not a career diplomat to high office, the procession of disapproving sounds from critics who bemoan the hollowing out of the foreign service follows inevitably.

Thus it was last week, when Roberto Velasco was named Mexico’s newest Foreign Minister. His youth, coupled with his meteoric rise baited critics who were already displeased by the fact that 38-year-old Velasco is not a career diplomat.

“A course isn’t enough,” decried one op-ed, referring to the course political appointees to top diplomatic positions get at Mexico’s prestigious foreign affairs academy, the Matías Romero Institute. Its mere existence suggests that this isn’t the first time this course has been needed to polish up the skills of amateur ambassadors-to-be.

Something is actually different this time though. Luckily for Velasco, in the age of Trump, previous handicaps may well now be advantages.