Yes, the President is absolutely furious with our Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson. No, it’s not for a good reason, as usual.
In what is being dubbed as “Morongate,” after the famous Watergate scandal during President Nixon’s term, the fighting in the White House just escalated a little bit more. Reports state that Tillerson called Trump a “moron” during a meeting over the summer. Trump has done everything he can to deny it, but Tillerson has failed to deny it himself, leading to skepticism about how bad of a state the White House is in.
There have been many others that have faced this wrath of Trump, but Tillerson is a key player in the upcoming months. Trump is preparing to withdraw or possibly redraw the Iran Nuclear Deal, which Tillerson strongly opposes. On top of this, Tillerson is planning Trump’s Asia tour in November.
For the moment, Tillerson may be safe. But when he is “dismissed” (and the day of reckoning will come), America’s already decreasing credibility will plummet even faster.
Foreign leaders barely understand where the Trump administration’s interests lie, due to the number of times Trump contradicts himself, and with Tillerson gone, that will throw foreign political analysts into turmoil.
The other major problem that Tillerson is needed for is North Korea. Tillerson has tried to keep an open channel of communication with Pyongyang, therefore, trying to keep a diplomatic approach. But Trump undermined him last week when he said Tillerson was just wasting his time. If Tillerson is gone, any hopes of diplomacy with North Korea disappear with him. Trump is making it increasingly clear that he prefers military intervention and no one else is there to say anything against him.
There’s no doubt that Trump has given Tillerson a bad hand of cards. He has contradicted Tillerson multiple times to the latter’s severe embarrassment and has eroded his position by giving the position of Middle East peace initiative to his son-in-law, Jared Kushner (someone with no diplomatic experience at all).
If Tillerson can overcome the chaos of the White House, he may just be able to guide America onto the right path. If not, there seems to be no one else who is willing to guide Trump down the American lane: diplomacy.
Image Credits: The New Yorker
