Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Rexit!

March 22, update #4: Final thoughts about Rex? For now at least. I debated whether or not to update this post with the tacky denouement of the "Rex is fired" story, namely the "way too much information" detail that leaked about just exactly where Tillerson was when he found out he was going to be fired. I decided not to go there, specifically, but I will share this tweet:


This is the tweet Stein is referring to:
I'll also share this item from Eugene Robinson's Live Chat on Tuesday,
March 20:

Q: Rexit

I didn't admire Tillerson as Secretary of State, but I feel some sympathy at the inglorious end to his career. You don't get to be Chairman of Exxon by being stupid or incompetent, yet he sure didn't succeed as S of S. Granted nobody in their right mind would agree to work for Trump in the first place, but with his towering success in the business world, Rex probably figured he could outsmart and outlast Donald Trump. Then to be fired via tweet and with Kelly's TMI detail about the bathroom. Yuck. The whole thing is a disaster and I wonder what's he's thinking now. Regret at taking the job in the first place? Regret that he didn't resign in disgust before the moron could fire him? How did someone as dumb as POTUS get the better of me? I'm hoping he's already planning his revenge memoir, with all the juicy details about what it was really like working for Trump.

A: Eugene Robinson

From your lips to God's ear, about the book. Seriously, I have the same feelings about Tillerson. He was a lousy secretary of state but he's a smart man who, working with Mattis, probably saved us from countless foreign policy disasters. He's also a very proud self-made man and I have to wonder if he'll take such treatment lying down.

Saturday afternoon, update #3: And then there were three, this time with animation:


Thursday morning, update #2: An interesting tidbit from CNN:


The tweet is not completely clear, i.e., "guidance from Washington" could be anything from the White House Chief of Staff to Jared Kushner to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The CNN story the tweet links to says that the guidance came from a "deputy assistant secretary." 

And one more thing. As I re-read the statement from Steve Goldstein (below,) I realized that even the State Department could use a good editor. I assume the last paragraph is supposed to say "But he is grateful..." #EditorsAreImportant

Tuesday evening update: Steve Goldstein, the State Department spokesman quoted below, was also fired this afternoon, apparently for speaking the truth about how Tillerson was fired.

Original post:


This New York Post cover is from last July, shortly after the Mooch was fired. Will they update it with today's news that Rex Tillerson has been fired? Maybe.

And consider this statement from the State Department:


Apparently Tillerson found out he was fired by reading a tweet. ("The Secretary did not speak to the president and is unaware of the reason.") Yikes. For all of Trump's tough guy posturing on The Apprentice, in real life he doesn't have the guts, much less the professional courtesy, to stand face-to-face with someone and tell them they're fired.

I can't help wondering if Tillerson is wishing he had resigned in disgust at some point, which he had been rumored to be considering. And did he, Mattis and Mnuchin really have a so-called suicide pact:


We'll see.
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