Tillerson Fired by Tweet - Weak! (Was Russia the Reason?)
March 13, 2018 - Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was fired by Donald Trump today. In another show of personal weakness, Mr. Trump did not tell Mr. Tillerson face to face or man to man, but announced the dismissal via an early morning tweet. It took another five hours before the Secretary was made aware of his release when White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Mr. Trump contacted him by phone.
Mr. Trump briefly indicated that his decision was due to policy differences with the Secretary, but cited only the Iran nuclear deal. No reason for the dismissal was given to Mr. Tillerson. In a brief statement later that afternoon, the Secretary thanked his colleagues at the State Department, and discussed both the progress that had been made on his watch and the serious issues that still were being addressed. It was noted that he did not thank or credit Mr. Trump in any way.
Mr. Tillerson was widely viewed as one of the few "adults in the room" within the Trump administration, bringing a disciplined approach and independent thinking to the chaotic first year of the Trump presidency. He was forced to spend much of that year re-assuring allies that the many bizarre Trump tweets and pronouncements usually did not represent a change in U.S. foreign policy, but were simply the Chief Executive's frustration made public.
 (image from newsweek.com)
It probably did not help Mr. Tillerson's standing at the White House that he was one of the few Cabinet members who was willing to disagree with Mr. Trump. Also, that he never denied news reports that he had called Mr. Trump "a blanket-blank moron" during a meeting at the Pentagon. Mr. Tillerson undoubtedly had come to realize that Mr. Trump's business and administrative skills were far below those of Mr. Tillerson. The Secretary had come to Washington after a successful business career, culminating in his role as Chief Executive Officer at Exxon Mobil Corporation.
A number of people are speculating that what led Mr. Trump to dismiss Mr. Tillerson at this time was the Secretary's statement agreeing with Conservative British Prime Minister Theresa May that Russia was behind the recent nerve agent attack of a British citizen in Britain. As with all other stories of Russian bad behavior during the past year, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has refused to concede any involvement by Russia in the attack.
Mike Pompeo, the head of the CIA and a current Trump favorite, will be nominated to replace Mr. Tillerson. It remains to be seen whether Mr. Pompeo will be willing to stand up to his boss the next time Mr. Trump wants to make a decision based on emotion rather than reason.
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