December 7, 2019: Gen. Kelly Out at White House, Rex Tillerson Declared "Dumb as a Rock" by the President

 

12/7/18: Trump’s terrible, no good weekend/week/month/presidency continues to spiral downward. 

First, the president announces that White House chief of staff General John Kelly is leaving; but everything at 1600 Pennsylvania is ducky. Then we learn Nick Ayers will be taking the job. 

Then we learn Ayers won’t be taking the job. 

 

Why not pick a Russian? 

I would like to offer this helpful suggestion: Why not pick a Russian for the job and cut out the middlemen? 

On the international front we have new reports that North Korea is expanding missile-launching bases located along the Chinese border, where it would be beyond dangerous for the U.S. to strike. The North Koreans also appear to be ramping up production of nuclear weapons and missiles. 

Total number of nuclear weapons Kim Jong-un has relinquished since June, when Trump declared North Korea was no longer a nuclear threat: 

0.

While we’re on the subject of rogue leaders, CNN acquires a transcript of the tape of the last minutes journalist Jamal Khashoggi spent on earth. According to the translation, Khashoggi can be heard gasping three times, “I can’t breathe,” as a Saudi hit team finishes him off. 

Soon a bone saw is heard. A doctor wielding it tells other members of the team to use ear plugs or listen to music, as he is, if the sound of dismemberment troubles them. The head of the hit squad can be heard talking on the phone. Turkish authorities, who have passed the transcript on to reporters, claim intercepts prove the calls are going to a number at the Saudi royal palace. The other end of the conversation can’t be heard. The assassin tells his listener the “job is done.” 

None of this bothers our president, or Jared, his son-in-law. Trump continues to insist there’s no direct link between the murder and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. Jared does a fluff interview with Sean Hannity. Hannity chooses not to ask about the Crown Prince and Jared never brings him up. According to Jared, U.S. intelligence agencies are still trying to figure out who murdered the journalist. It doesn’t much matter in the end. He and “Dad” are focused on other matters.

 

“We’re focused now on the broader region, which is figuring out how to hopefully bring a deal together between the Israelis and the Palestinians,” Jared says. Apparently, neither Jared, nor the president realize: Hey, we’re the United States! We could work on more than one foreign policy issue at a time. 

Regardless, the foreign policy hits keep coming. Trump needs a new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and pickings are slim. He looks at his nearly empty bench and sends in Heather Nauert to guard the goal. Because nothing says, “We intend to bolster America’s preeminent role on the world stage,” like elevating a former Fox News host to this crucial post.  

In an interview with CBS, former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reveals the secrets of Trump’s foreign policy “success.” On numerous occasions, he tells an interviewer, he had to tell Trump that what he wanted done on the international stage was: 

A)    Illegal. 

B)     A violation of some existing treaty. 

C)    Both.

 

Tillerson proves less than complimentary in describing the president’s deal-making processes. It was difficult, he says, 

to go to work for a man who is pretty undisciplined, doesn’t like to read, doesn’t read briefing reports, doesn’t like to get into the details of a lot of things. But rather just kind of says, “Look, this is what I believe and you can try to convince me otherwise,” but most of the time you’re not going to do that.

 

Trump responds with his usual maturity in a tweet rant: “Rex Tillerson didn’t have the mental capacity needed. He was dumb as a rock and I couldn’t get rid of him fast enough. He was lazy as hell.”