Trump allies say that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson went “off script” in his comments Tuesday, in which he offered talks without preconditions with North Korea. This perhaps isn’t surprising in and of itself, as the White House offered a correction Wednesday,and Tillerson retracted the offer Friday.
Another embarrassing chance for the White House to undercut diplomatic comments by the Secretary of State, however, appears not to have been enough for Trump’s top aides, who say that the incident proves Tillerson “hasn’t learned his lesson,” and can’t remain in his post.
Trump has repeatedly undercut Tillerson on the idea of diplomacy with North Korea, and back in late November, it was suggested he would soon be fired and replaced with CIA Director Mike Pompeo. This threat was said to have originated with President Trump himself, though he had since denied it.
Now, his allies say once again Tillerson remains on the chopping block, though Pompeo may no longer be the front-runner to replace him, with Trump preferring to keep the hawkish CIA director in his current spot because he likes to get daily briefings from him.
Perhaps a “crooked” Secretary is better than a “yes-no” Secretary?
No, a Secretary selling her office is worse. At least a yes-no Secretary could have one of his options accepted, and then we could go from there.
Wow… why is Tillerson even staying in the office if he’s going to repeatedly be so undercut that he can’t be effective? He should really consider resigning, perhaps in a tell-all fashion.
I’ve been saying Tillerson would be gone by Christmas. This might not be the case, but I don’t see him lasting another year. He may be gone by spring depending on how the North Korea crisis develops.
Trump seems to be using him as “good cop” with Trump as “bad cop.” That isn’t going to get the US anywhere with North Korea or any other crisis.
The real problem is who will replace Tillerson. It’s either going to be the trailer park queen at the UN or worse, John Bolton, a certified lunatic.
Pompeo, the guy who can ‘do everything’, is the next Great White Hope. It doesn’t really matter who’s talking, it’s all BS.
Actually, its probably closer to the opposite; Tillerson is getting tired of trotting out with trial balloons that get nuked over his head.
Recall that Candidate Trump made the first offer by a prospective American President to talk directly with North Korea, and the sentiment was followed up by President Trump, albeit adding the precondition of NK giving up its nukes.
“Exclusive: Trump would talk to North Korea’s Kim, wants to renegotiate climate accord”, Steve Holland, Emily Flitter, May 17, 2016, Reuters.
“Donald Trump: I’d be honored to meet Kim Jong-un under ‘right circumstances'”, Julian Borger, May 1, 2017, The Guardian.
Also, the Trump Administration has been discreetly in direct talks with NK since September 2017.
“Trump administration confirms it is in direct talks with North Korea over nuclear programme”, Neil Conner, Se. 30, 2017, The Telegraph.
The main obstacle would have been be the Deep State’s refusal to sign a peace treaty and so keep the war alive. By now, the NKs will almost certainly never accept being non-nuclear and will trust no-one else but themselves to their security.
Its so bad that every moment the NKs exist as is, is a moment the U.S. loses face, and its not Trump’s fault beyond not being able to buck the Washington NK playbook. Peace treaty or no, NK now has the diplomatic victory for no other reason than the Deep State’s refusal to deal when they had a chance.
This ‘jiggery pokery’ is problem one in America to-day. It’s all part of the switch to false news as an information/intel/decision-making source.
T Rex is desperately trying to do something diplomatic but POTUSTRUMPET hates any thought of such an unamerican act, so as usual makes matters much worse. If Kim Jong-Un considered diplomacy, he can be fully sure now that the USA cannot be trusted. He won’t give up the only weapon which causes any fear to the USA, even if Mad Dog Mattis thinks it is unable to hurt the mighty exceptional country.