Trump is a fucking moron–Tillerson
But the US secretary of state won’t quit, reaffirms belief in US president
WASHINGTON— US State Secretary Rex Tillerson stuck with US President Donald Trump amid reports that he had called his boss a “fucking moron.” The two had clashed in policies, particularly on North Korea. Just as Tillerson worked on dialogue with the North, Trump turned to Twitter saying talking with Kim Jong-un was a “waste of time.”
WASHINGTON— US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson denied he ever considered resigning after he was reported to have called President Donald Trump a “moron.”
Tillerson refused to personally deny he used that word to describe Trump but an NBC news source said Tillerson had, in fact, used the words “fucking moron” on Trump.
A spokesperson for Tillerson did the denying for the state secretary.
Thrust into the spotlight under uncomfortable circumstances, the normally camerashy Tillerson sought to rebut a widely disseminated NBC News story that claimed Vice President Mike Pence had to talk Tillerson out of resigning over the summer, and that Tillerson had questioned Trump’s intelligence.
The explosive claims followed several instances in which Trump and Tillerson’s policy pronouncements clashed.
Not quitting
“There has never been a consideration in my mind to leave,” Tillerson told reporters in an unusually personal address from the state department’s staid seventh-floor Treaty Room outside of his office.
From Las Vegas, where he traveled to meet with medical personnel and others affected by the mass shooting there, Trump told reporters he had “total confidence” in Tillerson.
Earlier, Trump denounced the report that Tillerson had called him a moron as “fake news” on Twitter.
Trump’s administration already had seen an unprecedented wave of departures, including a chief of staff, a national security adviser and a Cabinet secretary.
However, his core national security team—Tillerson, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and his second national security adviser, H.R. McMaster—had been viewed by Republicans and even many Democrats as a pillar of stability in an otherwise chaotic government.
No support
Even so, Trump had at times appeared to undercut Tillerson’s message on some of America’s most sensitive national security challenges, including Iran and North Korea.
Tillerson had publicly complained about the White House blocking him from making key appointments.
Sen. Bob Corker, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair, said Tillerson had not been sufficiently supported and “is in an incredibly frustrating place.”
The Republican senator, who has criticized Trump’s leadership, offered a stark assessment: Tillerson, Mattis and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly are “those people that help separate our country from chaos.”—