Tillerson the next to go?

[Felya]

So Tillerson gives up the quest for Russian oil... Who replaces him?

Does Orange Shit Stain find a fucking psychopath who is dead set in a nuclear ww3 to replace him?

That's the thing... Tellison has credentials in doing one thing and one thing only.

[Paranoid Android]

You know, I kinda like Tillerson.

[Felya]

You know, I kinda like Tillerson.

You drive a hummer or something?

[Paranoid Android]

You drive a hummer or something?

Tensions escalate after Tillerson calls Trump 'moron'

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/04/politi...ron/index.html

[Crissi]

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/04/politi...ron/index.html

Wasnt he like one of 2 people who refused to give an oath to Trump, and did it to country instead when Trump had that round table of praise?

Disclaimer: investments in Exxon paid for my undergrad education

[Bullettime]

Wasnt he like one of 2 people who refused to give an oath to Trump, and did it to country instead when Trump had that round table of praise?

Disclaimer: investments in Exxon paid for my undergrad education

Correct. Tillerson was also vouched for by some big names.

Which is why it's so interesting in how and why things are playing out like this. Tillerson swore an oath to the country and not to Trump, was supported by notable figures, and could do be doing a lot of good due to his Exxon experience with some problematic countries....but instead reports from inside the state department are that he's butchering it seemingly on purpose and seems to have his own completely independent agenda.

edit: So who really picked him and why? Where are his loyalties? How did he get the support he received if he's acting like a Russian stooge? Why are he and Trump at odds if they have seemingly the same speculated end goal?

[Wyrt]

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/04/politi...ron/index.html

Oh no, the Trumpkins will turn on Tillerson now. How dare he insult the god king!

[Xeones]

Correct. Tillerson was also vouched for by some big names.

Which is why it's so interesting in how and why things are playing out like this. Tillerson swore an oath to the country and not to Trump, was supported by notable figures, and could do be doing a lot of good due to his Exxon experience with some problematic countries....but instead reports from inside the state department are that he's butchering it seemingly on purpose and seems to have his own completely independent agenda.

edit: So who really picked him and why? Where are his loyalties? How did he get the support he received if he's acting like a Russian stooge? Why are he and Trump at odds if they have seemingly the same speculated end goal?

Oh their goal is to cut the federal government to shreds. As to some deeper conspiracy? Well conspiracies aren't a topic for discussion.

There is no reason to suspect he wishes for anything other than a Russian oil deal and is cutting the federal government as part of the anti-government movement of the republican party. It's the same reason for Orangies appointments to education and the EPA, people who are completely opposed to the role of the department they head up.

[Paranoid Android]

Guess what?

Oh yeah Trump has a tweet in his past that makes him look like an ass today.

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/...60640117780480



https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/...60640117780480

[Breccia]

Ooo, he all mad now.

Tillerson Summoned to White House Amid Presidential Fury

John Kelly, the White House chief of staff, abruptly scrapped plans to travel with President Donald Trump on Wednesday so he could try to contain his boss’s fury and manage the fallout from new revelations about tensions between the president and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, according to six senior administration officials.

Kelly summoned Tillerson, and their ally Defense Secretary James Mattis, to the White House, where the three of them huddled to discuss a path forward, according to three administration officials. The White House downplayed Kelly's decision to stay in Washington, saying he did so to manage day-to-day operations.

Vice President Mike Pence, meanwhile, was fuming in Phoenix, where he was traveling, seven officials told NBC News. He and Tillerson spoke on the phone before the secretary’s public appearance on Wednesday morning.

Pence was incensed upon learning from the NBC report that Tillerson’s top spokesman had said he once privately questioned the value of Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Officials said the spokesman, R.C. Hammond, fabricated an anecdote that Pence had asked Tillerson in a meeting whether Haley, who is seen as a possible successor if Tillerson, is helpful or harmful to the administration.

NBC reported Wednesday that Tillerson had threatened to resign in July after a series of clashes with the president, at one point venting his frustrations among his colleagues by calling the president a "moron," according to multiple senior administration officials who were aware of the matter at the time.

Four senior administration officials said Trump first learned on Wednesday that Tillerson had disparaged him after a July 20 national security meeting at the Pentagon. Trump vented to Kelly Wednesday morning, leading Kelly to scrap plans to travel with the president to Las Vegas to meet with victims and first responders in Sunday’s mass shooting.

Trump was furious when he saw the NBC News report, which was published shortly before 6 a.m. Wednesday.

For the next two hours the president fumed inside the White House, venting to Kelly, officials said.

He left for Las Vegas shortly after 8 a.m., 20 minutes behind schedule.

Tillerson scrambled to pull together a statement, while his spokesman publicly apologized for his comments about Pence and Haley, saying he “spoke out of line about conversations I wasn’t privy to.”

Tillerson delivered a statement praising Trump and insisting he never considered resigning, but it’s what he didn’t say that further enraged Trump, officials said.

The secretary’s refusal to deny that he had called the president a “moron” in his opening statement and in his responses to questions from reporters stoked Trump’s anger and widened the rift between the two men, officials said.

After watching the secretary’s response Wednesday, one White House official said, “When Tillerson didn’t deny it, I assumed it was true.”

Hammond is seen by the White House, particularly Pence’s office, as untrustworthy, officials said. It’s unclear if he will remain in his post, according to three administration officials.

Pence was "very annoyed anyone would misrepresent anything he said, particularly in private meetings," one White House official said.

On Wednesday, this source said, White House officials spoke to State Department officials to make it clear that Hammond’s comment was “false” and needed to be corrected.

The revelations followed Trump’s frustrations over the weekend after Tillerson said the U.S. would talk to North Korea.

State Department officials tried to reach Tillerson on his government aircraft during his flight from Beijing to Japan, but they couldn’t reach him, sources said. The secretary and his team didn’t want to issue a clarification, further stoking tensions with the White House, on administration official said.

Trump took to Twitter, telling Tillerson not to waste his time trying to negotiate with the North Korean regime.

Bolded for emphasis.

- - - Updated - - -

Rex Tillerson has tense relationship with Trump, Nikki Haley

Although Secretary of State Rex Tillerson took the unusual step of making a press statement in order to refute a negative report about him, and the White House says the president has confidence in him, Tillerson's tenure has been stormy in recent months. And while he didn't exactly knock down a report which said he had called the president a "moron," he faces other problems, among them, tensions with U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.

There have been periods of heightened tension between Tillerson and members of the Trump administration, including National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster. In July, the two argued over certifying the Iran nuclear deal for a second time, CBS News reports.

Tillerson also felt certain foreign policy portfolios were being taken from him, besides the Middle East peace initiative being run by Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner. And soon after the president said he didn't intend to certify the Iran deal the next time it came up, Tillerson confronted the reality that the president had effectively outsourced Venezuela policy to Sen. Marco Rubio, leaving Tillerson on the outside of the policymaking, including decisions about sanctions. One source told CBS News that he "blew up" at the White House for leaving him out.

Officials have told CBS News that Tillerson would not survive another argument like the one over Iran, which is one reason he is tryng to work with Congress to find a way to stop requiring the president to sign off on the deal every 90-120 days and to convince them not to quickly impose sanctions on Iran while he tries to fix the issues the president has highlighted. Diplomats acknowledge that behind closed doors, it is apparent that the secretary of State understands the kind of international fallout that the president's unwavering opposition to the deal would cause. Defense Secretary Mattis and Tillerson continue to have a close alliance, which Tillerson acknowledged Wednesday when he said he talks with Mattis nearly every day. On Tuesday Mattis had said it was in the U.S. national security interest to stay in the deal.

Another source of tension was a remark Tillerson made about the president's comments on the racially-motivated violence in Charlottesville, when Mr. Trump indicated that he viewed the actions of counter-protesters as being on par with those of white supremacists. There was "hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides," Mr. Trump said afterwards. Then, on "Fox News Sunday," Tillerson was asked by host Chris Wallace about defending American values to foreign leaders, as they questioned the president's values. "The president speaks for himself," Tillerson said.

Mr. Trump viewed the recording a few times, and his frustration abated a bit, Tillerson privately divulged to others in his circle.

If there is anyone with whom Tillerson is experiencing tension, it's U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley. Officials complain privately that she has inserted herself into portfolios that are Tillerson's and has not consulted with the State Department before publicly delivering policy views. This is causing confusion among allies, revealing splits within the Cabinet and undercutting the secretary of State. At a speech at AEI, a conservative think tank in Washington, Haley laid out her own view of how to decertify the Iran deal without walking away from it. Tillerson's State Department was not consulted beforehand.

Then last month, Haley invited herself to the meeting with Iran and the foreign ministers of other participant countries in the nuclear deal. This surprised other countries, whose representatives privately told CBS News that this appeared to be an attempt to either undercut the secretary of State or signal distrust of him, a charge Haley's staff denied. Tillerson stuck to protocol and kept his deputy beside him, leaving Haley relegated to the seat behind him.

[Mormolyce]

It's kind of like watching an entire season of Game of Thrones where all the characters have the ethics of Ramsay Bolton and the intellectual faculties of Hodor.

Funniest part was Tillerson being furious at the suggestion that he ever considered quitting his job working for a fucking moron. A job that six months ago he was saying he didn't want and only accepted because his wife told him to.

[Breccia]

Axios is reporting that the most likely successor to Tillerson is Pompeo, the current head of the CIA.

Now they also bring up a good point: yet another high-level departure would be yet more bad press, especially at a time Trump's about to unilaterally leave the Iran deal, extort South Korea into a trade pact less beneficial to South Korea, and tweets like he's about to bomb North Korea any second now. Kelly wants to keep such departures to a minimum until next year, trying to spread out the bad so it looks less bad. But the relationship between the White House and the State Department is currently so toxic they don't speak with each other.

I'm not sure how the head of the CIA would do in a job that's 100% diplomacy, but at least he's known by international leaders and taken seriously. Tillerson...less so.

[CostinR]

I'm not sure how the head of the CIA would do in a job that's 100% diplomacy, but at least he's known by international leaders and taken seriously. Tillerson...less so.

I am reminded of a quote from breaking bad on this. I think it fits perfectly.

"We had a good thing, you stupid son of a bitch! .....We had everything we needed, and it all ran like clockwork. You could've shut your mouth, cooked and made as much money as you ever needed. It was perfect. But, no, you just had to blow it up. You and your pride and your ego! You just had to be the man. If you'd done your job, known your place, we'd all be fine right now."

That's aimed at Trump. Getting rid of Tillerson would be a Comey 2.0 situation. He might as well get rid of Mattis.

The problem isn't about Tillerson and his credibility with world leaders: He is credible, it's just no one thinks he's speaking for Trump. It's the same problem Pence faces when going abroad, same as Mattis, same as Pompeo.

[Macaquerie]

It's kind of like watching an entire season of Game of Thrones where all the characters have the ethics of Ramsay Bolton and the intellectual faculties of Hodor.

Funniest part was Tillerson being furious at the suggestion that he ever considered quitting his job working for a fucking moron. A job that six months ago he was saying he didn't want and only accepted because his wife told him to.

To some extent you have to admire Trump's track record when it comes to publicly exposing and shaming prominent conservative figures and banishing them from public life. If you just look at the cavalcade of deplorables who have tried to attach themselves to the Trump brand thinking they could sway him, but eventually butt heads and suffer a disgraceful fall, it's practically a liberal's wet dream.

[Breccia]

To some extent you have to admire Trump's track record when it comes to publicly exposing and shaming prominent conservative figures

Um...a lot of these were people he wanted brought in, and didn't want to evict. Flynn, best example, but also Bannon and his bodyguard. He didn't publicly expose shit about any of them, and probably fought against their removal.

[PACOX]

Mr Secretary, blink twice if youre being held against your will.

[Macaquerie]

Um...a lot of these were people he wanted brought in, and didn't want to evict. Flynn, best example, but also Bannon and his bodyguard. He didn't publicly expose shit about any of them, and probably fought against their removal.

Obviously all of this is completely inadvertent on Trump's part, there's just something about being around him that creates all sorts of personality conflicts, leading to dirty laundry being aired out through leaks, and ultimately public disgrace. Because Trump himself appears to be immune to that regardless of what he does, his associates are constantly having to take the fall which has happened over and over in the past year.

[Mormolyce]

Only this administration could have a scandal called "Morongate".