Trump To Force Out Rex Tillerson, Replace Him With Pompeo

Remember those “rumors” about how Rex Tillerson wasn’t going to be leaving his post as Secretary of State after months of speculation?

And remember how furious Trump was when NBC reported that America’s top diplomat once called the President a “fucking moron” after the leader of the free world suggested that the country should increase its nuclear arsenal “tenfold” just because he didn’t like the look of a downward sloping chart?

Yeah, well as it turns out, Rex is on his way out to be replaced by Mike Pompeo:

  • WHITE HOUSE IS SAID TO PLAN FOR POMPEO REPLACING TILLERSON: NYT

There have long been rumors that Trump and Tillerson don’t see eye-to-eye and a steady stream of leaks and innuendo suggesting that the State Department is in turmoil have been a staple of the news cycle during Trump’s young presidency.

The President didn’t help matters when he undermined the nation’s top diplomat in October, famously tweeting the following after Tillerson indicated that there was an open communication channel between Washington and Pyongyang:

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/914497877543735296

“The White House has developed a plan to force out Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, whose relationship with President Trump has been strained, and replace him with Mike Pompeo, the C.I.A. director, within the next several weeks,” the Times reports on Thursday morning, citing senior administration officials.

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Apparently, John Kelly has been working on the transition plan and is set to implement it by the end of the year or at the very latest, in early 2018.

As far as Pompeo goes, you’re reminded that he met with a conspiracy theorist last month at Trump’s request and as the Times notes, he’s been variously criticized by the intelligence community for being too political. So I guess heading up State is a better fit for him. 

Although as the Times goes on to detail, “Pompeo would be replaced at the C.I.A. by Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas who has been a key ally of the president on national security matters.” So it’s not clear that the C.I.A. is going to benefit here in terms of being depoliticized.

Cotton has indicated he would be up to accepting the job if called upon, the officials who spoke to the Times said.

Now it’s time to roll out the tweets:

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/915907150333009920

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/915596990674849792

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/808638507161882624

Sorry Nikki Haley, I guess you were just “de facto”, “interim”, “acting” Secretary of State while Trump decided which man to replace Tillerson with.

Finally, don’t forget that “the President speaks for himself”…

 

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3 thoughts on “Trump To Force Out Rex Tillerson, Replace Him With Pompeo

  1. After leaking this, Tillerson has zero authority inside Foggy Bottom and abroad. They better pull the trigger on this plan very quickly. Perhaps they are waiting for Cotton to pass the tax cuts and spending bills.

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