President Donald Trump’s decision to fire Rex Tillerson as secretary of state Tuesday morning was not surprising — the rift between the two had been apparent for months — but it seems that the timing of his firing caught Tillerson himself off guard.
Trump unceremoniously announced Tillerson’s ouster in a Tuesday morning tweet, and the statement that followed focused largely on praising his replacement, CIA Director Mike Pompeo.
It appears that Trump’s tweet may have been Tillerson’s first indication that he was fired, as a senior State Department official told NBC News.
If Tillerson was given a heads up about his ouster, he did not hear it from the President directly. The Washington Post reported that “Trump last Friday asked Tillerson to step aside, and the embattled diplomat cut short a trip to Africa on Monday to return to Washington.” Post reporter Ashley Parker later tweeted that a White House official told Tillerson on Friday that his days were numbered.
CNN reported that White House chief of staff John Kelly told Tillerson that he would be replaced. Bloomberg News reported that Kelly gave Tillerson the warning on Friday but did not say when Trump would make the announcement. However, the Associated Press reported that Kelly’s warning to Tillerson was more vague. A State Department official told the AP that Kelly only told Tillerson to expect a tweet from Trump that would concern him, without specifying what the tweet would say or when exactly Trump would publish it. Kelly called Tillerson again on Saturday to tell him that Trump’s decision to fire him was “imminent,” a White House official told NBC News.
The State Department issued a statement Tuesday morning indicating that Tillerson was caught off guard by the announcement. Under Secretary of State Steve Goldstein said that Tillerson did not speak with Trump and that he did not know the reasoning behind his firing. Goldstein was later fired over the statement that contradicted the official White House narrative.
“The Secretary had every intention of staying because of the critical progress made in national security. He will miss his colleagues at the Department of State and the foreign ministers he has worked with throughout the world,” Goldstein said in the statement. “The Secretary did not speak to the President and is unaware of the reason, but he is grateful for the opportunity to serve, and still believes that public service is a noble calling.”
Speaking to reporters outside the White House Tuesday morning, Trump also suggested that Tillerson had little heads up about his ouster.
“I really didn’t discuss it very much with him honestly. I made that decision by myself,” Trump told reporters.
The announcement that Tillerson would be replaced came after Tillerson broke with the White House in blaming Russia for the poisoning of a former British spy, but it’s not clear whether Trump made the decision to fire Tillerson before then.
Such a big boy. He made the decision all by himself.
Tillerson blames Russia. Minutes later he’s fired but there’s ‘no collusion’? Maybe just protection?
Think you can do better than this chronic dumpster fire?
This site, https://www.runforoffice.org/, allows you to enter your ZIP code and see what offices are available to you and the filing window for that office. They also have a few video short-courses on running a campaign. In my state you file for office during a 1-week period in May, just three months from now.
Become a Precinct Committee Officer, sometimes it’s a Ward officer. Meet your neighbors and get out the vote. Find good citizens willing to run for office.
Run for School Board. Make sure Civics is being properly taught. Think a majority of America knows how government works? Just 26% of eligible voters in America voted for Trump, and half of all voters stayed home in 2016. HALF! Today’s 10-year olds will be voting for President in 8 years. Make sure they’re prepared.
Run for Mayor, City Council, County Commissioner, Borough Assembly. And get on your Planning Commission.
Run for State Legislature or Congress. The next census is in 2020 when we’ll redraw Congressional Districts. Make them fair and open. Trump is ALREADY trying to rig the census- talk about ‘voter fraud’!
Register people to vote. If you need to help people overcome the GOP-led voter-run-around campaign help them do that. This site, https://www.aauw.org/resource/organize-a-voter-registration-drive/, has a how-to on organizing a voter registration drive. Or even sitting outside Wal Mart with a folding chair and a card table. Yes, that’s the American Association of University Women. And while we’re here organize a League of Women Voters chapter in your community if you don’t already have one. Fair, honest and above board. Democracy functions better with them involved.
Civics, civility and civilization all share the same roots. Get crackin’!
It was only a matter of time until Trump dumped Tillerson for a younger, more-attractive Secretary of State.
What a chicken shit wuss. No balls, no courage, nothing but false bravado.
I hope Lamb wins PA-18 today and that it foretells massive wins in November. We need to bench this pigfucker and his barnyard cronies. The congressional GOPers are useless!
“Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition !”
Rex Tillerson should have resigned after the Boy Scout Jamboree debacle, he deserves everything he gets…