Firing 65-year-old former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State March 12, the media went into its predictable seizure, claiming proof again that 71-year-old President Donald Trump was in chaos. Tillerson’s firing happened last Friday while on the tail end of an African trip, abruptly postponing a visit to the sub-Sarharan country of Chad. At that point, Tillerson was notified by White House Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly that he was being replaced by 54-year-old CIA Director Mike Pompeo. When Tillerson went through his confirmation hearing Jan. 23, 2017, there were objections on both sides of the aisle that the former ExxonMobil CEO lacked foreign policy experience, other than putting deals together for the world’s largest oil company. Tillerson barely got through his confirmation with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), questioning his experience and competence.
Now that he’s been fired by Trump for a variety of reasons, he’s become the media’s darling of White House moderation—a steady hand in a chaotic Oval Office. When the South Korean Foreign Ministry announced March 8 that 33-year-old North Korean Dictator Kim Jong-un asked for a meeting with Trump, it was clear that Tillerson was the wrong man for the job. When Tillerson suggested the Trump enter into direct talks with Kim Dec. 13,2017 Trump rebuked his Secretary of State, essentially saying it was premature to hold direct talks. “I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he’s wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man,” Trump tweeted, prompting the anti-Trump media to pounce on his hypocrisy. But back in January, Kim showed zero interest in meeting with Trump, insisting his country would never give up its nukes and ballistic missiles.
Yet the anti-Trump media has a field day with Tillerson’s firing, proving its White House chaos theory. Tillerson never disavowed caling Trump a Trump a “moron” in a Pentagon meeting Oct. 5, 2017, showing, if nothing else, the two didn’t see eye-to-eye. Unlike other key Cabinet posts using former Pentagon generals, Tillerson was a former CEO of ExxonMobil, not used to taking orders, no matter how distasteful. Like former CIA Director James Comey, the media’s now in love with Tillerson, when they had nothing but disdain for Secretary of State. Comey was reviled by Democrats and their media friends for sabotaging former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign only nine days before the election. Yet once Trump beat Hillary Nov. 8, 2016, Comey became Democrats and Media’s best friend in their relentless attacks on the 45th president.
When faced with the high stakes of war-and-peace meeting Kim in May, Trump realized that Tillerson was over his head. He didn’t really get Trump’s tough approach to Kim, threatening U.S. military intervention if Kim did not disarm his nukes and ballistic missiles. Showing how disingenuous the media, Trump pushed Kim into making concessions, when all thought it was impossible, by a combination of tough U.N. sanctions and, more importantly, the threat of U.S. military force. When Kim weighed out his options, after trading barbs with Trump over the last year, he realized his regime was threatened by continuing to harbor nukes and ballistic missiles. When North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Hong-ho told the U.N. General Assembly Sept 24, 2017 that it was “inevitable” that Pyongyang’s nuclear missiles would hit the U.S., Trump heard enough, realizing the consequences.
Handing the baton to Pompeo, Trump has a unified front heading into direct meetings with Kim. Kim told South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha that he was ready to talk to Trump about nuclear disarmament. Putin said Sept. 5, 2017 that Kim would rather “eat grass” that give up his nukes and ballistic missiles. Six months later, he’s ready to discuss disarming his nukes and Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles [ICBMs]. Tillerson was fired because he disagreed with Trump’s get-tough approach with Kim and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei about the Iranian Nuke Deal. Trump wants a tougher approach with Iran, to whom the Obama administration gave $150 billion to end Iran’s uranium enrichment program. Pompeo agrees with Trump that Iran is poised for a nuclear weapon.
Tillerson’s firing stemmed from his past insults of Trump but, more importantly, that he did not support backing out the July 15, 2015 Iranian Nuke Deal with the U.S., U.K, France, Russia, China and Germany. Iran refused to give the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] unfettered inspections at military sites, something Iran insisted was off limits. Without unfettered inspections, the deal had no teeth, leaving Trump to believe its better to re-institute economic sanctions to prevent Iran from getting the bomb. Every time the U.S. suggests scrapping the deal, Iran threatens to ramp up uranium enrichment, proving, beyond any doubt, that Iran’s real goal is developing an A-Bomb. Instead of getting on the same page, Tillerson backed the Iranian Nuke deal, taking a hard line against Russian meddling in the 2016 election, something that discredits Trump.
