One of Donald Trump’s first big hires was Rex Tillerson, the former ExxonMobil CEO tapped to be Trump’s secretary of state. But, the bloom was soon off the rose. As Tillerson settled into the job, he realized (and this is a reported quote), Donald Trump "a fucking moron." Slightly more than one year into the job, Rex Tillerson had had quite enough and it was apparently mutual because Donald Trump fired him. Well, Donald Trump doesn’t fire anyone in person because he’s a coward. He sent John Kelly to do it and Kelly would go on to humiliate Tillerson, telling senior staffers that (and I’m not making this up), he fired Rex Tillerson while he was on the toilet, suffering from a bug he caught during a trip to Africa.
Now, Tillerson is feeling unleashed and during an interview with CBS’s Bob Schieffer, Tillerson dropped some doozies about his former boss. The first revelation? Donald Trump refuses to read the briefings from the Secretary of State.
A couple of things jump out from this clip. First and foremost is the fact that Donald Trump hired Rex Tillerson without ever meeting him in person. Folks, this should be a red flag right there. Secretary of state is one of the most important roles of any administration and you don’t even take the time to meet the person? Secondly, it is a threat to the national security of this country and the world that Donald Trump refuses to read the briefings provided to him by the secretary of state. He is the commander-in-chief. It is his duty to read these briefings. Refusing is dereliction of duty. You may recall the last time a commander-in-chief was dismissive of such intelligence briefings.
via GIPHY
Equally as troubling as the refusal to be fully informed about matters of international diplomacy and national security, Rex Tillerson also noted that Donald Trump asked him to break the law. From the Houston Chronicle:
"So often, the president would say here's what I want to do and here's how I want to do it and I would have to say to him, Mr. President I understand what you want to do but you can't do it that way. It violates the law," Tillerson said.
Trump would get very frustrated when they would have those conversations, he said.
"I'd say here's what we can do," Tillerson said. "We can go back to Congress and get this law changed. And if that's what you want to do, there's nothing wrong with that. I told him I'm ready to go up there and fight the fight, if that's what you want to do."
Let that sink in. Donald Trump asked him *repeatedly* to break the law. Tillerson’s initial instincts were dead on: Donald Trump is a fucking moron.
Friday, Dec 7, 2018 · 4:09:33 PM +00:00 · Jen Hayden
Here’s the fuller quote from Tillerson talking about the lack of common ground he had with Trump, primarily because they lacked common moral ground (Trump has no morals) and how Trump was incapable or didn’t care about breaking the law.