Grieder: Trump, Tillerson never had harmonious relationship

logic. And I would guess that from Tillerson’s perspective, whether he was treated fairly by the president — or the peanut gallery known as the American public — is hardly among the serious questions currently facing the country.

The question is nonetheless worth considering, though. Tillerson himself will presumably be fine. But his sojourn in Washington tells us something about the Trump administration, and the degree of criticism he received along the way has been unsettling.

Tillerson was not, in my assessment, the greatest secretary of state in modern U.S. history. But I didn’t expect him to be, and no one should have, because he was nominated to serve as the country’s chief diplomat under a president who has no respect for the art of diplomacy and who often appears to be contemptuous of the very concept.

“When did we beat Japan at anything? They send their cars over by the millions, and what do we do?” Trump asked in June 2015, in a speech announcing his bid to be president of a nation that has considered Japan one of its closest allies for most of my lifetime.

That line didn’t get as much attention as his jabs at Mexico and China, but I found it telling. And as president, Trump has continued to opine freely about other countries, even in cases where doing so risks needlessly antagonizing our allies or provoking rivals like North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, who has access to intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Not a natural fit

“Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!” Trump tweeted in January.

I’m not above chuckling at jabs like that. But I think they would be funnier, and less dangerous, if directed at Russia. The president, needless to say, does not share my perspective on that subject — or the secretary of state’s, as it happens.

Tillerson’s refusal to defend Russian President Vladimir Putin may have been the catalyst for his ouster, actually. He and Trump have never had a particularly harmonious relationship; in October, Tillerson declined to deny reports that he had referred to the president as a “moron.” And they have had substantive disagreements about a number of subjects.

But the most recent one came on Monday, after the White House refused to say whether it agreed with our allies in Britain that Russia had been behind the recent poisoning deaths there of a former Russian spy and his daughter.

“It came from Russia,” Tillerson said to the reporters traveling with him on a flight from Nigeria.

In fairness, TIllerson was not a natural fit for the job he continues to hold. But I’m not sure whether someone like James Baker, who served as secretary of state under George H.W. Bush, would have been able to avoid getting crossways with Trump either.

And Trump had no interest in nominating someone like Baker or Mitt Romney for this position. None of the candidates he considered seriously, in the wake of the 2016 presidential election, had the traditional qualifications.

Avoiding the limelight

Tillerson had, at that point, a record of public service; a former Eagle Scout, he spent several years as the national president of the Boy Scouts of America. And having served as the chairman and chief executive of ExxonMobil since 2006, he had plenty of international business experience.

But Tillerson had never sought the limelight, and he seemed reluctant to wade into the political fray. He donated a lot of money to various Republican candidates and causes over the years. But he has a lot of money and, unlike many donors, he never seemed too inclined to use his money or his power to advance his pet priorities.

“All of us, we know, want to leave this place as a better place for the next generation,” Tillerson said on Tuesday.

“I’ll now return to private life as a private citizen, as a proud American, proud of the opportunity I’ve had to serve my country,” he continued.

There’s no evidence that Tillerson wanted the opportunity or that he benefited from having accepted it, but I’m glad he did, too. It was bound to be a thankless job, but it’s an important one; and that’s especially true when the president doesn’t think so.