Heckuva job you're doing, Rex Tillerson

[Eugene]

Source: Washington Post

Heckuva job you’re doing, Rex Tillerson

The secretary of state has survived. But he has not learned all that much

By Daniel W. Drezner February 5 at 8:15 AM
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a regular contributor to PostEverything.

Let’s give Secretary of State Rex Tillerson his due: he is still the secretary of state.

This was not obvious just a few months ago. There seemed to be a whisper campaign emanating from the White House to force him out. Tillerson hadn’t helped himself with a painfully awkward first year in office. Still, like Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Tillerson has soldiered on despite loud grumblings and social media dissatisfaction from the White House.

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So, to review, the Secretary of Stste’s recent successes consist of his ability to appoint an assistant secretary of state, a compromise that cuts funding for Palestinian refugees by 50 percent, and not bombing North Korea for the moment. This is an underwhelming list of accomplishments.

Meanwhile, Tillerson’s own miscues keep on coming. There was his trip to Europe, which the AP’s Matthew Lee suggests could have gone better:

As President Donald Trump declared that “America First does not mean America alone” at a global economic forum in Switzerland, his top diplomat was on a European trip of his own, trying to convince skeptical allies that the oft-repeated phrase is more than just lip service.

Yet a year into Trump’s presidency, his administration has demonstrated that “America First” may, indeed, mean “America alone,” though it remains unclear if that has helped Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s bargaining position on crucial national security and foreign policy matters.

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/02/05/heckuva-job-youre-doing-rex-tillerson/

[BigmanPigman]

1. When Nunes was on Fux Ruse on Fri

he said, "The memo was Stage 1, next we will go after the State Dept". Huh, there is not State Dept left. Tumble weeds roll around the halls and the cobwebbed empty offices. I thought he liked his dept...why would the Moron go after it?