Trump's Undermining of Rex Tillerson
President Trump’s latest tweets on U.S. diplomacy with North Korea appear not only to undermine Rex Tillerson, his secretary of state, but also the nascent dialogue with Pyongyang over its nuclear and missile programs.
“I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man,” Trump said Sunday, referring to Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea. “Save your energy Rex, we’ll do what has to be done!”
One could say the president’s remarks Sunday are an unprecedented undermining of his own secretary of state. Except: This summer, as Qatar was by its Arab neighbors of, among other things, supporting terrorism, Tillerson urged “Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt to ease the blockade against Qatar” and urged Doha to be “responsive to the concerns of its neighbors.” Moments later, Trump, with Tillerson sitting in the front row, called Qatar “a funder of terrorism at a very high level,” stunning diplomats.
