In reaction to today's firing of Rex Tillerson who was this Administration's first Secretary of State, let me echo the words in today's New York Times editorial [Trump May Make America Miss Rex Tillerson] - “We are left once again to contemplate the chaos of the Trump White House." Then again, perhaps 'Chaos' is insufficient. 'Madness' perhaps is more appropriate and comprehensive.
Not only was Tillerson fired, but he was fired by a tweet which an aide showed him. Then, a State Department spokesman, Under Secretary of State Steve Goldstein, issued a release that said, "The Secretary had every intention of staying because of the critical progress made in national security. He will miss his colleagues at the Department of State and the foreign ministers he has worked with throughout the world. The secretary did not speak to the president and is unaware of the reason, but he is grateful for the opportunity to serve, and still believes strongly that public service is a noble calling." Following this statement, Goldstein also was fired.
In many ways, of course, Tillerson's firing is no odder than was his hiring. After publicly toying with and embarrassing Mitt Romney who had been the Republican nominee for President in 2012, on December 13, 2016, Trump suddenly and surprisingly named Tillerson, CEO of Exxon, who had no diplomatic or government experience, and with whom Trump had no known relationship, to head the State Department.
One of the claims Christopher Steele is said to have made in a second dossier (not the original Steele Dossier) is that when Trump was about to name Romney, the former GOP nominee for President in 2012, Putin objected. This was reported in Jane Mayer's account in her New Yorker Profile of Christopher Steele and in Michael Ishikoff and David Corn's new book, Russian Roulette.
There are plenty of domestic political reasons that Trump may have turned against Romney. Trump loyalists, for instance, noted specifically Romney's public opposition to Trump during the campaign, but why the inexperienced Tillerson? Again, the choice was a surprise to most, and a happy one for Moscow, because Tillerson's business ties with the Kremlin were long-standing and warm. (In 2011, he brokered a historic partnership between ExxonMobil and Rosneft.)"
Tillerson was not a very good or effective Secretary of State. How could he be, serving such a disruptive, reckless and ignorant man in the White House? But compared to Trump, he was a source of diplomatic wisdom. He acknowledged Russian threats on our elections, advocated diplomacy with North Korea, supported the Paris climate pact, and encouraged Trump to preserve the Iran nuclear deal.
He was clearly not a stooge for the White House.
In the 18 months when Tillerson served, there were several widely reported moments of discomfort in the relationship between Trump and Tillerson. For example, last summer Tillerson is believed to have called Trump a "moron" (some say a “fucking moron")at a gathering of national security and cabinet officials. When Trump praised the white supremacists who demonstrated in Charlottesville, Va., Tillerson separated himself from his boss, refusing to defend Trump but saying instead Trump "speaks for himself."
Then, on Monday, Tillerson seems to have committed the final violative act - a final blow to his relationship with Trump and to his tenure at State. Tillerson supported Theresa May, declaring that Russia was clearly to blame for the nerve gas poisoning of a former spy and his daughter in Britain, something the White House has steadily refused to do. “This is a really egregious act," Mr. Tillerson said. "It appears that it clearly came from Russia."
“There is never a justification for this type of attack—the attempted murder of a private citizen on the soil of a sovereign nation—and we are outraged that Russia appears to have again engaged in such behavior," Tillerson's statement said. "From Ukraine to Syria—and now the UK—Russia continues to be an irresponsible force of instability in the world, acting with open disregard for the sovereignty of other states and the life of their citizens. We agree that those responsible—both those who committed the crime and those who ordered it—must face appropriately serious consequences. We stand in solidarity with our Allies in the United Kingdom and will continue to coordinate closely our responses."
Trump, of course, as has been his mode of being, has not supported America's ally and has refused even to comment on Russia's possible involvement in the UK.
And so the question dances before us tonight - Did Trump act against Tillerson today because Putin told him to do so?
We may never know. The circumstantial evidence sure is suspicious.
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March 13, 2018