As the Washington Post reports:
Rex Tillerson spent a tumultuous year at the helm of the State Department, frequently undercut by the president he disagreed with on key foreign policy issues and derided by many of his employees who blamed him for marginalizing their role and diplomacy itself.
But after months of denying he intended to resign, Tillerson was ousted Tuesday just as he seemed to be hitting his diplomatic stride. In recent weeks, he grew even more outspoken in his criticism of Russia, more confident that his patient pressure on North Korea was bearing fruit and seemingly more comfortable that he would outlast his many critics in the West Wing.
In the end, no one was more surprised that Tillerson was fired than Tillerson himself. As recently as Monday night, while he was in the air flying back from a week-long trip to Africa, an aide said Tillerson was staying put…
…“The secretary did not speak to the president, and is unaware of the reason,” said Steve Goldstein, undersecretary of public diplomacy for the State Department. [Pols emphasis]
The Secretary of State, fired via Twitter.
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Why am I not surprised? I thought Nikki Haley would move into the SOS when this happened but looks like Pompeo will be the new whipping boy.
That move was apparently made to open room at the top of the CIA for a war criminal . . .
Trump likes Pompeo, which is probably why Pompeo personally gives Trump the daily intelligence briefing (coloring book and crayons included)
I know that the tradition of running spy operations out of embassies is a long one, but how many times in the past has a Secretary of State come from the spy services? And how does any foreign power treat a diplomat who was just switched from head of the CIA?
. . . Like he was President (for life) of Russia???
Trump did promise during the '16 campaign to bring back water-boarding "and worse." We may now find out what that consists of…
Goldstein was just sacked for contradicting the White House about Tillerson's firing. Report here…
I'm wondering if Goldstein's 4-month tenure at Tillerson's State Department is enough to permanently brand him as a Trump-ite, or if being fired so quickly provides a bit of insulation from the stain from the toxic sludge of the Sad!-ministration.