Trump ends humiliation of Rex Tillerson with sacking via tweet
Rex Tillerson’s tenure as US secretary of state was always in doubt after his falling out with Donald Trump.
When Rex Tillerson’s phone rang in his Nairobi hotel room in the middle of the night last weekend, it should not have come as a surprise that there was bad news on the end of the line.
For months, Tillerson knew that his job as US secretary of state was hanging by a thread.
In November last year, President Donald Trump had come so close to sacking the former head of ExxonMobil that US media outlets were writing professional obituaries about the shortest serving top diplomat in modern US history. Commentators had already dubbed him “Rexit”.
What’s more, they predicted that he would be replaced by CIA chief and former Republican congressman Mike Pompeo.
Fake news, said Trump. Tillerson was here to stay.
So the only surprise about yesterday’s sacking was that Tillerson himself reportedly was surprised when he was removed in favour of the 54-year-old Pompeo.
Mike Pompeo, Director of the CIA, will become our new Secretary of State. He will do a fantastic job! Thank you to Rex Tillerson for his service! Gina Haspel will become the new Director of the CIA, and the first woman so chosen. Congratulations to all!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 13, 2018
Tillerson’s slow drift from the President was a painful one, played out in public with lashings of humiliation along the way.
When Trump appointed Tillerson as secretary of state he did so because Tillerson was someone with whom Trump identified. Like Trump, Tillerson was a highly successful businessman and had skilfully steered the behemoth that is energy giant ExxonMobil.
What’s more, he was an outsider like Trump, a secretary of state who, like the US President, had not come from the establishment of politics, military or diplomacy. He was, at least on paper, someone born to serve under a president such as Trump.
But the reality was different. On key global issues, from Iran and North Korea to climate change and trade, Tillerson did not turn out to be a Steve Bannon-style populist bomb-thrower. He was not the disrupter Trump had imagined and hoped for.
Within the administration, Tillerson quickly adopted a more centralist tenor to foreign policy, aligning himself with Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and economic adviser Gary Cohn. To Trump’s critics, these three were the “grown-ups” dissuading the President from his more extreme ideas.
On key issues, Tillerson began to drift away from the President. He did not support Trump’s move last year to withdraw from the Paris Agreement.
On the question of Iran, Trump had campaigned strongly against US involvement in the Barack Obama-brokered nuclear deal that rewards Tehran on sanctions in return for a freeze on its nuclear program.
Trump described it as “an embarrassment to the United States”. But Tillerson argued that the deal, while flawed, was not one the US should unilaterally withdraw from. He was backed in this argument by Mattis, but the issue divided the White House.
So Trump, an instinctual politician, did something that he later regretted — he went along with Tillerson’s recommendation and delayed a US withdrawal from the deal, and therefore delayed a serious diplomatic confrontation with Iran. At this point Trump appears to have sensed here was a problem. Tillerson was not the popular nationalist the President had hoped for but was too “establishment” for Trump’s liking.
“Rex is not tough enough,” the President would say to his aides.
Then came North Korea. While Trump was threatening to rain “fire and fury” on the rogue regime for its step-up of nuclear and ballistic missile tests, Tillerson was keeping the door open to a resumption of diplomatic talks with Pyongyang.
In the first of many uncoordinated messages from the administration, Tillerson would say one thing while Trump would say another.
In frustration, Trump began to embarrass Tillerson publicly.
After Tillerson said he was open to talks with North Korea if it was willing, Trump slapped him down, tweeting that he was: “Wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man … Save your energy Rex.” On Russia, Tillerson also was far tougher in his rhetoric than was the President. Tillerson attacked Russian President Vladimir Putin in a way that Trump did not.
On other issues, Tillerson was also proving to be his own man, an attitude Trump interpreted as him not being a team player. Trump would get angered by Tillerson’s body language in meetings where he wouldn’t try to hide his frustration with the President.
In this atmosphere, when the media reported that Tillerson had dubbed Trump a “moron” and that the secretary of state believed the President had a dangerously shallow understanding of international affairs, it was an easy accusation for Trump to believe.
While Tillerson was slowly falling out with his President, he wasn’t doing himself any favours on other fronts. He was distant and often hostile to the media, banning journalists from some of his trips and therefore failing to properly sell his mission to the world as America’s top diplomat. In Washington, he managed the US State Department poorly, threatening to slash its staff by 8 per cent and treating the department as a bloated, self-indulgent bureaucracy that needed to be slashed.
The combination of Tillerson’s weakness within the administration and his neglect of the State Department has turned the once-proud State Department into a bit player in foreign policy compared with the White House.
In addition to this, Tillerson made no effort to establish a support base on Capitol Hill.
So in November last year, when Trump lost patience with Tillerson, the secretary of state had nowhere to turn to shore up his support. And by this stage, Trump had found a new best friend in foreign policy.
Each day at the White House he would be visited by a straight-talking pugnacious CIA chief in Pompeo.
Pompeo shared Trump’s politics, having been elected in 2011 as a Kansas Republican to congress, where he became a fierce critic of Obama and secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
Like Trump, Pompeo deplored Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, saying after Trump was elected: “I look forward to rolling back this disastrous deal with the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism.”
He also was on the same page as the President on North Korea, backing Trump’s inclination to pursue potential military options if nothing else worked.
“If we conclude that (diplomacy) is not possible, we present the President with a range of options that can achieve his stated intention,” he said in January.
Trump liked Pompeo’s plain-speaking manner and began to promote him inside the White House.
Pompeo’s relationship with the President was an unlikely one given that he was appointed head of the CIA at the time Trump was openly criticising the agency for its findings on Russian interference in the 2016 US election.
Trump dismissed the US intelligence community’s assessment that Russia tried to intervene in the election in favour of Trump, saying it was a hoax fabricated by Democrats as an excuse for their loss.
But Pompeo deftly managed to bridge the gap between his agency and the President. He presented his daily intelligence briefing with a hawkish interpretation that the President liked without throwing his agency under the bus.
As Trump said yesterday: “I respect his intellect … we have a very good relationship for whatever reason chemistry — from day one I have always got on well with Mike Pompeo.”
But Pompeo, assuming that his nomination is confirmed, will have some immediate challenges.
Despite his open disdain for North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, he will have to manage the historic summit between the two leaders, knowing that any failure will reflect badly on him.
As CIA chief, Pompeo knows more than anyone in the US about Kim’s nuclear program and the potential threat he poses to America and the world.
Pompeo said last weekend that for the meeting to occur, Kim must “stop the missile testing that he’s been hard at for the past year, continue to allow us to conduct our militarily necessary exercises on the (Korean) peninsula and leave on the table discussions for denuclearisation”.
Although Malcolm Turnbull said yesterday that the transition of Australia’s relationship with the US under Pompeo would be “absolutely seamless”, there are some areas of concern.
“We know him very well. He’s a great friend of Australia. The transition will be absolutely seamless,” the Prime Minister said.
The obvious difference of opinion between Australia and Pompeo is on Iran. Australia recognises that the Iran nuclear deal is not perfect but argues that it is better than no deal. Pompeo disagrees and, given that Trump is of the same opinion, it is difficult to imagine the US will not withdraw within months from the nuclear deal.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was philosophical when asked by The Australian in New York last week about the rapid turnover of staff in the administration following the resignation of Trump’s economic adviser, Cohn.
She said it was up to Australia to re-establish connections following each departure.
‘‘We have sought to establish the connections through the administration,” she said.
“Even prior to the (President’s) inauguration we have made contact with those who we believe will be useful contacts for Australia. So where there is turnover it just means you will have to start again and make contact with the incoming staff.”
Australia, and the world, will now be making urgent contact with Pompeo, trying to assess how he will change US foreign policy and global affairs.
Cameron Stewart is also US contributor for Sky News Australia.
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A year of disagreements
Former secretary of state Rex Tillerson, an ex-chief executive of ExxonMobil, was frequently at odds with Donald Trump on various issues
Feb 1, 2017: Tillerson confirmed as secretary of state. In his confirmation hearing, Tillerson voiced a range of views that differed from those expressed by Trump, including a hawkish line towards Russia in some instances.
May 24: John J. Sullivan was sworn in as deputy secretary of state. Trump earlier rejected Tillerson’s first pick, Elliott Abrams, after learning that Abrams had been critical of Trump during the campaign.
Apr 28: Tillerson proposed cutting 2300 jobs and 26 per cent of the budget from the State Department, in line with the Trump administration’s budget proposal in March to fund “hard” military power over diplomatic resources.
June 2: Trump said he would withdraw the US from the Paris climate accord and would begin negotiations to re-enter the pact under new terms or craft a new deal. Tillerson pressed the President to keep the US in the accord, as did Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and leaders at the Pentagon.
June 6: In a series of tweets, Trump sided with Saudi Arabia and other regional countries in a dispute with Qatar over allegations the emirate supported terrorism. The tweets diverged from statements Tillerson made in Australia the day before, in which he urged all sides to crack down on terror financing and de-escalate tensions. Later, Tillerson called for an end to a blockade of Qatar and the State Department questioned the motives of the Saudis and others for keeping the conflict going.
July 18: The administration said it notified congress that Iran was complying with the international nuclear deal reached two years earlier, but the fate of the agreement remained uncertain as it was still under review. Tillerson was among several advisers who urged the President to certify Iran’s compliance, which Trump did only after tense discussions.
July 25: In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Trump questioned the decision on Iran, saying, “Look, I have a lot of respect for Rex and his people, good relationship. It’s easier to say they comply. It’s a lot easier. But it’s the wrong thing. They don’t comply.”
July 26: Tillerson told reporters at the State Department that he was “not going anywhere”, after tussles with the White House over policy and questions about his future in the cabinet. Tillerson said he intended to stay “as long as the President lets me” and said he had a good relationship with Trump.
Aug 2: Trump signed a bill imposing sanctions on Russia for interfering in the 2016 election, but called the law “seriously flawed” and said provisions limiting his power to lift the penalties were unconstitutional. Tillerson a day earlier also expressed reservations about the bill, saying the legislation would hamper efforts to re-establish a closer relationship with Moscow.
Aug 27: Tillerson said the US maintained its commitment to freedom and “equal treatment to people around the world” after international criticism for the White House’s ambiguous response to a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Asked about the values of Trump, Tillerson said “the President speaks for himself.”
Sept 30: Tillerson said the US was in direct contact with North Korea, “probing” to see if Pyongyang was willing to engage in talks despite tensions that remained overheated.
Oct 1: Trump said he didn’t think it was worth pursuing negotiations with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. “I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man,” Trump said on Twitter, using a disparaging reference to Kim. “Save your energy Rex, we’ll do what has to be done!”
Oct 4: Tillerson said he hadn’t considered leaving his job and said he supported the President’s foreign policy, adding that suggestions to the contrary were an attempt to divide administration officials. Tillerson declined to address a news report that he called Trump a “moron”. Trump later called the report fake news.
Mar 8, 2018: On a visit to Ethiopia, Tillerson indicated the US wasn’t ready for direct talks with North Korea, saying “the first step” was “some kind of talks about talks.” Later that day in Washington, Trump accepted an invitation to meet North Korea’s leader.
Mar 12: British Prime Minister Theresa May told parliament it was “highly likely” Russia was behind a nerve gas attack in a British city on an ex-Russian spy. Later, White House press secretary declined to point the finger, saying only “we are standing with our UK ally. I think they’re still working through even some of the details of that.” Tillerson blamed Russia: “We are outraged that Russia appears to have again engaged in such behaviour.”
Mar 13: Trump fired Tillerson, telling reporters the two had a “different mindset” including on the Iran nuclear deal. “We’ve been talking about this for a long time,” he said. “We disagreed on things.” CIA chief Mike Pompeo named new secretary of state.
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