Trump says Tillerson ‘wasting time’ with recent NKorea talks

President Donald Trump, not for the first time, publicly contradicted his chief diplomat on a major foreign policy issue Sunday, saying via Twitter that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was "wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man."

Using his nickname for North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, and apparently warning again of a U.S. military response to its escalating nuclear threat, Trump advised, "Save your energy, Rex, we'll do what has to be done."

The tweets came the day after Tillerson, on a visit to Beijing, told reporters the administration had direct lines of communication with North Korea and was probing for a response. "We ask, 'Would you like to talk?' " he said. "We can talk to them, we do talk to them."

The latest display of dissension follows earlier presidential put-downs and efforts by Tillerson and other national security officials to smooth Trump's rough edges on issues as diverse as U.S. policy toward NATO, Mexico and the Persian Gulf.

All have sparked questions about Tillerson's longevity in office, with repeated speculation that he is fed up, or that Trump wants him gone.

"Humiliating for Tillerson, but worse, renders him useless. He'll resign, today or after a brief face-saving interval," predicted former Obama administration ambassador and National Security Council official Dan Shapiro, one of many foreign policy experts who tweeted about Trump's Sunday comments, sent from his New Jersey golf club.

"President Trump spectacularly shot down SecState Tillerson after important Beijing talks. How long can this last?" asked Carl Bildt, former conservative prime minister of Sweden and current co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Neither the State Department nor the White House responded to queries on Trump's comments.