Rex Tillerson is out as the Secretary of State. This is a wild story, so let me give some background. First of all, Christopher Steele has documented evidence that Russia chose Tillerson for State. Trump was thinking about and vetting Mitt Romney for SecState, but Russia was wary of Romney so Tillerson was “Russia’s choice,” and that’s who Trump chose. Tillerson has a long relationship with Vladimir Putin and Russian political-financial interests. But Tillerson also criticized Trump (reportedly calling him a moron) and Tillerson just this week criticized Russia for the assassination attempt on a Russian spy in Britain. As in, Tillerson did what the White House/Trump would not do: put the blame on Russia for nerve-gassing a turned spy. And now Tillerson is out.
President Trump has ousted Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and plans to nominate CIA Director Mike Pompeo to replace him as the nation’s top diplomat, orchestrating a major change to his national security team amid delicate negotiations with North Korea, White House officials said Tuesday. Trump last Friday asked Tillerson to step aside, and the embattled diplomat cut short his trip to Africa on Monday to return to Washington.
Pompeo will replace him at the State Department, and Gina Haspel — the deputy director at the CIA — will succeed him at the CIA, becoming the first woman to run the spy agency, if confirmed. In a statement issued to The Washington Post, Trump praised both Pompeo and Haspel.
“I am proud to nominate the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Mike Pompeo, to be our new Secretary of State,” Trump said. “Mike graduated first in his class at West Point, served with distinction in the U.S. Army, and graduated with Honors from Harvard Law School. He went on to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives with a proven record of working across the aisle.” The president continued, “Gina Haspel, the Deputy Director of the CIA, will be nominated to replace Director Pompeo and she will be the CIA’s first-ever female director, a historic milestone. Mike and Gina have worked together for more than a year, and have developed a great mutual respect.”
Trump also had words of praise for Tillerson: “Finally, I want to thank Rex Tillerson for his service. A great deal has been accomplished over the last fourteen months, and I wish him and his family well.”
The president — who has long clashed will Tillerson, who he believes is “too establishment” in his thinking — felt it was important to make the change now, as he prepares for talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as well as upcoming trade negotiations, three White House officials said.
Clearly, Tillerson was never going to be a friend to the Resistance, but he was never a total enemy either. At best, he was a Grey Hat trying to do his job properly at various times. Of course it’s totally possible that Tillerson is mixed up in all kinds of shady sh-t too. I suspect Bob Mueller will find out.
Rex Tillerson statement last night: "From Ukraine to Syria – and now the UK – Russia continues to be an irresponsible force of instability in the world, acting with open disregard for the sovereignty of other states and the life of their citizens."
— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) March 13, 2018
Yesterday, Rex Tillerson was the only member of the Trump administration to acknowledge Russian responsibility for the nerve gas attack in the UK.
Today, he is fired. Trump is so guilty it's insane.
— Denizcan James (@MrFilmkritik) March 13, 2018
.@mitchellreports says Rex Tillerson's ousting is "came as a shock" to many of Tillerson's top advisers.
"There was no hint at all to the people closest to him in the State Department that this was about to happen." pic.twitter.com/UW7k9WVULB
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) March 13, 2018
Photos courtesy of Getty.
What even is this country anymore.
A Putin satellite, that’s what.
Where’s the mass walkout, people
you guys saw the report that Steele also said Russia directly intervened when Trump was considering secs of state as his initial gut was to pick Mitt Romney, an outspoken Russian critic, and there was kind of this absurdly long waiting period for finding his sec of state during which Russia was backchanneling, and he ended up picking mr moscow friendly Rex.
I can’t see how Trump would have picked Romney, so I’m not sure I agree with this story about Romney being Trump’s gut pick. Romney was one of the few who criticized Trump through the end of the campaign, and Trump is just too petty to let that go. I just can’t wrap my head around that part.
Tillerson is interesting as he sure seemed like a Putin defender. Receives awards from Putin while at Exxon, but Tillerson was more traditional in his role as a Republican Secretary of State. He did criticize Russia, certainly more than Trump. I started to like Tillerson when he called Trump a moron and then didn’t really deny it.
It looks to me at this point, like Putin dgaf who knows that he personally owns America at the moment. And it’s starting to look like he feels the same way about the UK as well.
I really feel that we were conquered and Putin is calling the shots here now. I am so beyond disgusted.
Russia used money to buy / invest in countries governments / industries / high tech. They didn’t need bombs just traitors greed!!! Now everyone it up to thier necks in rubles and legal trouble. Doing whatever they can to delay justice and obscure facts. Everyone is focused on Tillerson instead of how Trumps personal assistant was dragged out of the W.H. (without even his jacket) and is under investigation for financial crimes by department of homeland security!!!
Saras, I agree, and I didn’t miss that story either. I wonder if Trump timed this to coincide with that? He is truly the master of chaotic distraction.
Of course, democracy was only ever a pretense (any nation that invades and occupies other lands can’t really call itself a democracy) but we can’t even keep up that façade anymore. Truly scary!
You speak the truth. As long as rights are denied, and people are treated as second or third class citizens democracy in America is a myth.
Yep, Russia definitely has something on the Orange one. We knew it but this is further confirmation.
This is genuinely terrifying – on the one hand with have Russian state sponsored assassination attacks on British soil…and the only American official to acknowledge this is fired the following day. Which also happens to be the day after the House GOP morons cleared Cheeto and his cronies of collusion.
Not to mention the optics of making the spy chief Secretary of State. Cold War, anyone?
And a woman who has engaged in torture head of the CIA.
This spy chief is Trump-friendly and therefore Russia-friendly.
The Trump administration continues to go from strength to strength : (
I worry that what happened in the UK will happen here. I worry about Mueller.
It feels like we are in the middle of a surreptitious third world war and nobody but Russia is participating.
Trump was essentially penniless in the late nineties, with no US or European banks willing to lend to him, before being saved by taking up money laundering for the Russian mob through incredibly sketchy real estate deals following the fall of the USSR.
Putin knows where all the bodies are buried, which is why there are no Russian sanctions, none of the money earmarked for fighting Russian meddling has been spent by the state department, the NSA has not been instructed to investigate election tampering and anyone caught criticising Vlad has been s***canned.
No puppet! No puppet! You’re the puppet!
Trump has revealed nearly every way a rich spoiled brat can exploit the already closely entwined American systems of capitalism and democracy.
Elkie
You are 100% right….what i dont understand is how Americans aren’t panicking more about this…
And there’s a pee tape. Believe that.
But what is it? It can’t just be the pee tape? What is so bad that these people are all willing to destroy their country instead of just taking their lumps and admitting the kompromat? What have they done?
Every day it’s some new bullsh*t. What a nightmare.
Gina Haspel should NOT be confirmed by the Senate. She has been involved in torture and attempted cover ups of torture.
You’re right. And Pompeo is a maniac too.
Truth. Source: I’m a Kansan.
Yes, but she is a career CIA person. She was ordered to do these things and at the time they weren’t illegal, and kind of approved by the President at the time, aka Bush 2. Many people at the CIA really hated torture interrogating, but had to do it as it was ordered, and I am sure she will be asked many questions by the Senate Democrats to ascertain her opinion on this. I know people on here think you should not obey those orders, but when you are a career person in the spy or military industry, you really don’t have that luxury. I don’t think I want them to either. I want the leadership to be better and I blame them.
She’s an interesting pick, as we usually don’t promote career individuals to political appointees in the CIA, and she’s a woman. We have to have someone, and Sen. Tom Cotton was supposedly Trump’s first choice, and he is a blatant idiot!!! With McCain missing a lot of the votes, and now only 50 Republican Senators they can’t have any Republican not vote for the nominee. Cotton being a Senator meant he couldn’t vote for himself, and if McCain isn’t there he probably wouldn’t have been nominated. So he picked the career deputy woman, because he probably couldn’t find anyone of simpatico mind that he liked. I want to hear her testimony, and see what she thought about it, before I yank her out. She may be just be under the radar enough that she isn’t bad. We need a CIA director, and the second choices are probably worse.
I’m sorry but can you further explain how what she did was not illegal?
If she is prepared to blame the destruction of evidence of torture because of orders from a higher up then she is going to do whatever illegal thing Dump asks her to do. To be a real leader you need to stand up for what is right and not blame others. She is unfit to run the CIA. The senate needs to block her appointment.
*Mueller walks in to see his impeachment board.
Stares at a picture and picks up the phone
Someone picks up on the other end…
…Its Rex.*
Another one gone. This is the most turnover in my short lifetime. Banana republic continues to prove how stupid and insane this country is.
While it’s insane that he got dumped immediately after he criticized Russia, his days were numbered once that “fucking moron” story got out. Also-he has absolutely gutted the State Department. I can’t even imagine who’s left to celebrate that he got pushed out. God only knows how Mike Pompeo will be.
Hi cynical Ann- YES. There have been rumors for many months now that Rex was on his way out to be replaced by Pompeo. Dump was just waiting for what he deemed to be a valid reason to let him go. This man is such a thug, such a f*cking mobster.
They are saying Tillerson knew he was fired when he did criticize Russia. Not sure how true that is…but this all is such a mess. I hope Tillerson’s next call is to Mueller.
While this is completely true— he was always going to go— I truly do not think it’s a coincidence that the Sentient Asshole fired Tillerson on the very morning that a little book called Russian Roulette (my copy is already on its way), a book which breaks a LOT of news, launched. The revelations in the book would absolutely have been the storyline this morning, but now it’s all Tillerson. Convenient considering that a few of the tidbits in this book include that Joe Biden said “if this is true, it’s treason” when he was fully briefed on the Russia situation last January, and that Trump reportedly encouraged George Papadopoulos to continue cultivating back channel relations with Russia. Hmmmm.
Love the “SA” moniker. I saw the book’s co-authors on TV last night, so the press tour and headlines related to their revelations could be what he’s trying to bury today.
This is why the media annoys me. They fall for it every time. I don’t watch as much anymore. What is the point? He throws a ball, and they run to fetch.
International news is more interesting.
The highlights are enough. They are destroying everything while somewhere in hell Falwell plays his fiddle.
There is a silver lining to this.
A broken system will have to be rebuilt, and this time it will be with new hands. And when the truth comes out and it will. All the things that remind us of 45 will be a thing of the past. It is an opportunity to become more civilized and forward thinking.
Burn it to the ground. Let a bunch of old sexist white dudes flame the eff out of the constitution and show their true faces to the world and to the nation. This is what the GOP has been building up to anyway.
After 45 there will be no righteousness for them to wrap themselves in to justify their hypocrisy and fragility. And maybe this country needs the pain and deserves it. Let the greed and misogyny flow. Let them wallow in it and screw their voters until they are empty husks. They don’t seem to respond to kindness and respect. They will be hit with some cruel home truths and sharp lessons and injustice served up by one of their own. Maybe they will finally learn who they should fear for real and that it isn’t immigrants, feminists, people of color, people of different belief systems and liberals.
Scorch the earth and let the old biased system crumble and let them be the ones who stoke the flames.
@Magnoliarose
I can see the hope that after Trump burns down our current government as well as the GOP, that we will get to start all over again out of the ashes. But my issue with that hope is as much as we resist, Trump has set the new normal. It’s going to be several decades before we can go back to the old normal. The Republicans are pro’s at getting the American public to forget their past misdeeds and the Democrats are weak, easily intimidated and continue to bring knives to machine gun fights.
Trump has empowered the worst instincts of 35% of Americans who worship him as a deity and these people are not going away. And they vote. We still won’t have majority rule voting for the presidency.
@Original T.C
I don’t think it will ever go back to the way it was. I don’t think we will ever be the same. But that might be a good thing. In fact, I think it is.
In my opinion, we were heading here but slowly over the last decades. The GOP is showing what they are and many of us knew who they were all along. Until they were exposed, they were going to continue to go low to destroy their opponents. They were never going to stop with the cultural warfare.
They still won’t, but I think a lot of people want to feel settled again and I don’t really think 45 has set a new normal as much as we are forced to endure him.
But on the ground levels, local and state, the energy is there. We just aren’t paying attention to the federal level and their shamelessness because there is no low they won’t go. We resist by winning on the ground and accept that DC is a broken mess, but we can build a better future by electing fresh people with new ideas that reflect the needs of their communities.
I believe it won’t be easy, but we have a clear view of history and what hasn’t worked. We needed to wake up and decide what we want and build it on a strong foundation.
It is hard to explain I feel like we are waking up and deciding enough is enough. 30 percent will always be who they are in any society. But that leaves 70 percent of us who want something different.
Trumpster Fire
I’m stealing that ….
Criticize Russia, get fired. I feel like Mueller cocked an eyebrow at this.
The trump administration is like a box of chocolates where nothing is really good – there’s no caramel or truffle. It’s just weird reject flavors. But you eat the less weird ones first and then you are left with chocolate-covered garbage. Rex Tillerson was – shockingly and comparatively – palatable.
Earwax flavored jelly beans, as in Harry Potter. POTUS is vomit-flavored. I know that’s what I taste every time I think of him.
Exactly! Tillerson was earwax. trump is vomit.
Mueller probably also would like a word with John McEntee, Trump’s personal assistant, who was fired yesterday for security infractions.
They announced that he’s working on the Trump campaign, though. Likely a background check clearance issue?
OG OhDear, but consider that they didn’t seem to have problems with background check clearance issues in the past, even when there were MAJOR issues. like, they just ignored any problems that came up.
no, I think this is something different…a different kind of “security issue”. dude was escorted out “immediately” and wasn’t even allowed to collect any personal items. I think it’s more like he was leaking info to someone (Mueller, the press, etc.)
Thank you!
I thought I was going insane. I swore that I saw a news blip that Tillerson criticized Russia but couldn’t find it after a quick search.
The firing was amazingly quick. I read in the Washington Post that he was asked to step down Friday. If that’s true, and he made the comment after he was asked to resign, it’s even more so intriguing.
Still can’t believe Rexxon spoke out against Putin….i guess they broke up?
And lol at Trump thought Rex was too establishment in his thinking. Um….of course he is. He’s big oil.
drump has now proclaimed to the world his allegiance to Putin.
We know why drump loves and needs Putin. But the Republicans who shut down the Russia interference investigation must also have deep Putin ties. The level and breadth of corruption is horrifying.
Devin Nunes was able to obstruct the House committee investigation since he was the chair. His behavior from the beginning has suggested that he is very afraid and that means he’s in it himself up past his hairline.
Nobody would go to such lengths to protect a pig like Trump (apologies to real pigs). That’s self-defense. My guess is that he was one of the Americans unmasked at the request of the Obama’s national security adviser, in transcripts of phone calls with monitored Russians. He has business relations with Russians and he is not visibly very rich. He repeatedly tried to bury anything produced by the Democrats on the committee, refused to call witnesses that were needed, wrote a demonstrably false memo on the FBI activity – he was the fox guarding the henhouse. So now he’s pretending the investigation that he blocked is somehow over and they didn’t find anything to perturb Trump. Yeah, and I have a bridge to sell.
I was appalled when Tillerson was picked for the position in the first place. When the billions all anticipated from Russian oil after lifting sanctions didn’t materialize, it was just a matter of time before he was out. And of course he didn’t suck up to Trump as expected, quite the contrary. He has been rumored to be on the chopping block for quite a while, but the timing here is certainly interesting. Pompeo is more qualified, but hard right, friend of Koch bros. and NRA, fan of regime change etc. The GOP will be delighted by this choice.
Yeah, Rex was not there to do his job, he was there to make sure those sanctions were lifted so Russia can start going for oil. He completely dismantled the State Department, got rid of all non white staff and majority of women, and complained about having to travel for the job.
This idiot does not needs to be put on a barely mediocre pedestal let alone one at all.
He knew what needed to be said to get fired because Pumpkin Prostate is so transparent I can see him from over 1500 miles away.
And if one Democrat vote for Pompeo, they need to lose their job. Period. That man will kill us all.
Tillerson did try to appoint deputies but President Tweeter wouldn’t follow through. He also kept trying to push sane approaches to North Korea, Iran, and Syria but the Toddler-in-Chief ignored him and undercut his efforts repeatedly. So although Tillerson’s one job was to get that profitable oil deal going for Putin, he did try to do other things to avoid WWIII. He didn’t succeed and he didn’t do right by the State Department as a whole, but he did try to push back against Trump’s insanities.
Notice that Trump keeps reshuffling cabinet members. Other people must not be lining up to work with him.
Donald Trump is a sick coward. MSNBC just read a statement from an under-secretary that Rex Tillerson found out that he was fired via Twitter. He’s so much of a coward that he couldn’t even fire Tillerson in person. Trump spoke to the press before he left for CA this morning, he claims he couldn’t speak to Tillerson because he was out of the country. Then you WAIT idiot!
There is no such thing as common courtesy or dignity, much less courage, in Trump’s world.
He pulled the same stunt with Comey – he does it to embarrass people who he doesn’t like. He gets his rocks off humiliating people, I so pray for Mueller to turn the tables on the Orange one – I would drink to his end.
I’m no trump apologist, but I think Tillerson knew long before it was on Twitter. That’s why he suddenly bowed out of all his commitments in Africa, saying he was “sick.” He wasn’t sick, he jo longer had the ability to represent the U.S. in any official capacity, meaning = he was fired, and he knew it. That is just poorly executed spin on Tillerson’s part. Not that Trump deserves any passes in this – I just don’t buy Tillerson claiming he didn’t know what was going down.
Enny, you’re right. CNN now reporting that Kelly told Tillerson he was out last week.
Kelly told Twitter the President isn’t happy with him. According to Tillerson, he spoke to the President, on Air Force One this morning, where he was officially fired. That was after the Tweet.
He never fires anyone because it makes him look bad. And what about all those secure phones they have when they travel. He couldn’t even call him? Also, makes it interesting that Tillerson was “sick” on Saturday and couldn’t do any of his planned events.
And that Under Secretary was fired a few hours later for telling the truth. Contradict President Tweeter’s odd view of the world, get fired.
Although Tillerson was Russia-friendly, he wasn’t naive and I think he may well have been genuinely disturbed as the magnitude of Russian attacks on our election process became more evident. He wasn’t willing to look the other way when a very typical Russian-style poisoning occurred in the UK, with an agent not easily accessible other than to the Russian government. Ironically, President Tweeter knows about such things himself, and my bet is that this knowledge is why he’s afraid of poisoning. He’s playing with tough guys who are not that pleased with his failure to lift the sanctions (or pay them back for loans).
I don’t believe the story that Tillerson was informed that he was fired on Friday. Kelly apparently told him something important involving him would be tweeted, but I believe the Under Secretary’s version that Tillerson was not really informed beforehand and had not had any discussion about the reasons and had been willing to stay despite all the knives Trump has been throwing into his back. It is very interesting that when Tillerson made a public statement, he did not mention Trump at all. And he didn’t look like a guy who expected to be fired by a tweet.
So Tillerson criticized Trump’s butt-buddy Putin and Putin ordered him to give Rexxie the boot. Any doubt who’s running this country?
Methinks some indictments are going to be unsealed this week. Also, I have no expectations that Cheeto will abide by Article 5 of NATO should the UK determine that the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter was an act of war. Putin’s goal all along was to destabilize Europe via the destruction of the NATO alliance.
Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to the United States, plain and simple.
Punky you are spot on about NATO.
There’s no one in that administration who will do what needs to be done. Those indictments can’t come soon enough.
Clear and present danger to the WORLD, not just the US!!!
It’s high time that the U.K. stopped pretending the US under Trump is their ally. At the very least, drop the pretense that you want Trump to come visit. How many slaps in the face do you take before closing the door? Tough love, people. Get a restraining order against Trump… He has to stay x kilometers away from the U.K. at all times.
So many people have faith in Mueller. It’s like we’re in such a state of PTSD FROM Putin’s compromised insane clown that we are projecting this Captain America persona onto Mueller. That he will right all wrongs. I hope he doesn’t disappoint you, me, us.
Yes. It shouldn’t have to be about one heroic figure. It should be about the people working to save their democracy — and hundreds of thousands are, but it’s an uphill battle.
I have some faith in him. His team of prosecutors = the Avengers. Their bios are crazy.
This makes me nervous. One step closer to impeaching Trump but then we have Pence. Pence scares the absolute living shit out of me.
Hi, me not living in the US or being American, I read about lots of the things that Trump does (and I hope he will be removed asap), but I do not have any clear idea about Pence. If it does not bother you, may I ask the reasons of your fear? Thanks in any case.
If Pence had his druthers, we’d live in a theocracy. Same-sex desire and non-binary identification would be outlawed, women would be one step closer to living in A Handmaid’s Tale.
To be blunt, the fear of Pence is that White Women and the White LGBTQ community will be his targets as opposed to Trump who targets people of color (including LGBTQ people of color) non-White foreigners, Non-Christians, U.S. Democracy, the rule of law, our Democratic global allies, global peace, and is seeking to be the first president to use nuclear weapons. Basically to set the world on fire.
It’s fear for your own sub-community instead of fear for the rest of America and the world. It’s selfish but also very much Human as was the election of Trump for self-interest.
ORIGINAL T.C., this is far from a white woman-only issue. This is an all-woman issue. If abortion is criminalized and the social safety net dismantled, this has a devastating impact on WOC. And LGBTQ POC will suffer the worst discrimination of all. I’m puzzled as to why you think this is a white issue. Though it’s true Pence would likely focus his terror on domestic rather than global issues. Pick your poison. Both will kill you, just in different ways.
First, Pence is not going to blow up the world and he’s beholden not to Russia, but to his fellow Republicans.
Second, Pence’s disturbing and reactionary domestic agenda is already being enacted. The US is ALREADY HAVING THE PENCE EXPERIENCE. Might as well get it out in the open.
Third, as to the fears about Pence, it’s because he’s reactionary religious zealot who knows how sneak his ‘agenda’ through the halls of Congress. However, Trump is no ‘secret liberal’ himself. His domestic social policies are 100% Pence and Ryan.
In any case, fearing Pence is not a good reason to “keep Trump” or stop fighting against his authoritarian forces.
Finally, Trump has a cult following and knows how to grab media attention (because they’re lazy dupes). Pence does not have a cult following and is seemingly dull as dishwater. This stuff matters.
Oh, he’s up to his neck in Russians too. He was Paul Manafort’s pick for VP, and he led the transition team. And he deliberately dodges all questions about himself and Mike Flynn. There’s kompromat on him too, and I don’t think Mother would like it.
I’m not so worried about Pence. Yes, he’s awful (I’m in Indiana). And he’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer. And he has always been manipulated by the national Republicans who pushed him into power in Indiana.
But we can handle him because he’s basically a normal person who is unlikely to start WWIII on a whim and responds to political pressure. He knows more about the world than Trump and is capable of learning. Not a lot, but some. He still will be hopeless on climate change, for example, and still will be anti-science in general. But he won’t seem as scary to the rest of the world – we’ll be the ones most at risk from his domestic policies.
Trump is impossible to deal with – he is beholden only to himself and Putin, he is crooked to the core and has no sense of ethics or empathy. He is impulsive and vindictive and willfully ignorant, and I have grave doubts about his ability to even take in new information now. In contrast, Pence shares his home with a big bunny and cats and dogs and they seem to like him. That actually is rather significant. There’s something human inside him, buried a bit by his draconian religious beliefs in particular (which really shape the rest, I suspect).
Unfortunately I think Trump is going to beat the Russian investigation. As much as I’d like him to be gone nothing I’ve heard thus far has convinced me it’s going to happen.
I am very grateful to every person that replied to me. Now I understand better. Thanks again.
Pence will be powerless after the midterms.
Broken record time: don’t count on Dems winning in the midterms unless every machine is fitted with a paper backup viewable by the voter and manual recounts are mandatory. We’ve been having trouble with selective hacking of the vote counts since those machines were installed in response to the 2000 election (when the Republicans scurried to the US Supreme Court to stop the recount that would have given Gore Florida’s electoral votes and thus the Presidency). It’s not just Russians who meddle, and the stakes are very high now in 2018.
I hope Stormy releases whatever videos and photos she may have. I think she’s ready to grab the spotlight her Orange former paramour keeps desperately pulling away.
Lordy. Those images are going to be the kinds of things at which one squints. On the other hand, can’t wait to see them plastered on the front page of the New York Daily News.
Seems as if they’ll come out eventually. Everything does.
Isn’t it a mix of dread yet anticipation? She’s not going anywhere. It’s just a matter of time.
I wonder what she has…and what my brain needs to prepare for.
My guess is that they are not salacious but prove her relationship with him. I think she’s partly ticked at being called a liar. She says she can describe his private parts if needed to convince people she’s telling the truth.
For someone who constantly and often inappropriately demands loyalty he really has none.
In organized crime, “loyalty” is just another word for “intimidation.”
He manages by fear.
The Intercept is claiming Haspel ran a black site for “interrogations.” But no worries, the CIA Is a white hat!/sarc
Can someone refresh my memory. I am trying to remember the last time the Secretary of State was fired by Tweet. .
Notice how Trump said he “almost” has the cabinet he wants this morning? After firing Tillerson?
He’s going to fire Jeff Sessions or Rothenstein, or both. He’s going for Mueller, one way or the other.
Supposedly McMaster is next.
If he fires Mueller I think it will be an explosion like America has never seen before. All this pent-up rage will just be pushed beyond the brink.
God please protect our Country from the orange Cheeto from hell.. please don’t let him turn us into Russia 2.0 the Putinump Years.
Apparently there has been a 48% turnovers staff since last year. There won’t be anyone left in 3 years’ time.
“Putin’s puppet” – HRC
I would disagree that Tillerson wanted to do his job well. Unless by doing it well, you mean he played the role the Russians wanted him to.. Tillerson did/said just enough to look semi-competent at his job without angering Putin.
Tillerson has strong connections in Russia. He closed a major oil deal with the Russians (that was foiled by the sanctions Obama put in place). After that deal, Tillerson received the Russian “medal of friendship” from Putin himself. This medal is the highest honor a non-Russian citizen can receive.
I think that trump was explicitly directed by Russia to place Tillerson in the role as Secretary of State. He could then assist the Russians by making sure the State department became a shell of what it once was. It still is massively understaffed and barely able to function in its normal capacity (which is exactly what the Russians want).
It seems quite obvious that Tillerson became unacceptable to Russia once he blamed them (rightfully) for the assasination attempt. Putin must have directed trump to cut Tillerson loose.
This is the current state of our country. We have an incompetent Russian puppet serving as our illegitimate President. Russia is calling the shots. It is TREASON and I pray Mueller exposes all of it ASAP.
We’re an embarrassment… nothing but a giant whack-a-mole game. The news everyday is disturbing yes, but I find Congress more disturbing. I find half the voters more disturbing. The fact that I’m still reading frenzied comments like, “Put ’em down!” in response to killing drug dealers, or cheers to embracing being called racists, misogynists, et al, is dismally devastating. I don’t understand half the people I share a country with, and it kills me.
U.S. folks, call your Senators and Congresspeople! The U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 will connect you with all three. If you’re not sure who your representative is, you can look it up at https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative
Yours, like mine, may be the boot-kissingest Trump worshippers this side of the Mason Dixon line, but they still have to take our calls. I called both my scarlet-red, 45-loving Senators today and (politely) expressed how frightening it was that they seem to be ignoring threats to our national security for short-term partisan gain. It may feel like nothing matters, but every call, no matter how short and awkward, puts pressure on the wall of Republican denial and obstruction.
So I guess we’re not celebrating the appointment of the CIA’s first female director then? 😕
I’m not celebrating. She’s as bad as the boys. That excuse “but I was just following orders” was put to rest many decades ago. She actually supervised torture repeatedly. That makes Trump comfortable with her, since he thinks it’s okay to go after even the families of terrorists.
Don’t they have to get past the Senate for confirmation? There are almost equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans there. McCain hasn’t been available for many votes because of his illness. Let’s hope all the Dems stay very, very healthy.
Waterboarding and destroying torture videos? Um, no.