Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Trump to Tillerson: Let’s compare IQs
Adviser calls president’s comment a joke, but Tillerson may not find tension funny
Some say president’s remark was joke, but strain over “moron” comment increases.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson tried Tuesday to smooth over tensions in their relationship during a White House lunch after the president proposed an “IQ tests” face-off with his top diplomat, who earlier had privately called Trump a “moron” and disparaged his grasp of foreign policy.
In an interview with Forbes magazine published Tuesday, Trump fired a shot at Tillerson over the “moron” revelation, first reported by NBC News and confirmed by several other news organizations.
“I think it’s fake news,” Trump said, “but if he did that, I guess we’ll have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win.”
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders later insisted that Trump’s comment was “a joke and nothing more than that.”
“The president certainly never implied that the secretary of state was not incredibly intelligent,” Sanders said in Tuesday’s news briefing. She admonished reporters for taking the president’s comment so seriously. “Maybe you guys should get a sense of humor and try it sometime.”
Regardless of whether Trump was trying to make a joke, his “IQ tests” challenge is the latest evidence of what White House officials have described as a breach of trust between the president and the secretary of state.
On Twitter, the president covered a range of topics Tuesday.
He said reaching out to congressional Democrats for help in getting immigration legislation passed is difficult because “the Democrats don’t want secure borders.” In his tweet, Trump charged that Democrats “don’t care about safety for U.S.A.”
His Twitter post came two days after Trump sent an immigration overhaul wish list of legislative proposals to congressional leaders, including a requirement that Congress agree to a host of border security improvements and make significant changes to the green card program.
Trump said Sunday that there needs to be security enhancements — and the border wall that he’s demanded — before he’ll sign onto a bill restoring a program that shields from deportation young people brought to the United States as children and now here illegally.
Trump also said he would be acting on health care soon, saying: “I will be using the power of the pen to give great HealthCare to many people - FAST.” The White House has been finalizing an executive order that would expand health plans offered by associations to allow individuals to pool together and buy insurance outside their states.
Although Trump has said publicly that he has confidence in Tillerson, as he did Tuesday, behind the scenes he has long been brooding about his job performance, according to administration officials. Trump has been frustrated by what he sees as the secretary’s traditionalist world view — on a host of issues, from Iran to North Korea — in contrast to the president’s desire to redefine America’s role around the globe.
Helping soothe tensions between the two men have been White House chief of staff John Kelly and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who both have privately stressed the imperative of stability atop the State Department at a critical moment for the nation. Trump is trying to manage the North Korea nuclear crisis and planning a diplomatic trip to Asia in early November.
Trump met for lunch Tuesday with Tillerson and Mattis in the president’s private dining room at the White House. Sanders characterized the lunch as “a great visit.”
Shortly before the lunch, a reporter asked Trump whether he had undercut Tillerson with his comments to Forbes.
“No, I didn’t undercut anybody. I don’t believe in undercutting people,” Trump said during a brief media appearance in the Oval Office, as he sat beside former secretary of state Henry Kissinger during a meeting to discuss foreign affairs.
Over the weekend, reporters asked Trump about his relationship with Tillerson.
“We have a very good relationship,” Trump said Saturday. “We disagree on a couple of things. Sometimes I’d like him to be a little bit tougher. But other than that, we have a very good relationship.”