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Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

This blog will pay for itself.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

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Hot air and ill-informed banter

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

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Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

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The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

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Shallow State

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Maybe Trump never wanted Tillerson as Secretary of State; perhaps Putin got that cabinet pick. Or maybe Trump hates the office because it was once held by the woman who kicked his ass in the popular vote total by 3M.

Or maybe Trump grew to resent Tillerson after installing him in the role after it dawned on him, Trump, that unlike Trump, Tillerson was a real CEO of a company that, whatever its faults, is a real global organization with assets instead of a shady licensing scheme. Or maybe it’s hair envy.

Trump is petty enough to make all these scenarios plausible. But whatever the reason, he’s hollowing out the State Department and undermining Tillerson. Via Vox:

Mexico’s foreign minister, Luis Videgaray, was in Washington. The Los Angeles Times’s Tracy Wilkinson asked State spokesperson Mark Toner what the plans were for his visit. Toner, a highly regarded career foreign service officer, apparently had no idea that a key foreign dignitary was even in the city…

Tillerson doesn’t seem to be much of a player on key foreign policy decisions, even though the job of the secretary of state is to help make them. The former Exxon Mobil CEO has also been slapped down by the White House on personnel choices and given virtually no opportunities to make public appearances with President Trump.

Now this is the latest black eye for the embattled department, already reeling from a proposed 37 percent budget cut.

Maybe Trump thinks billion-dollar battleships make diplomacy superfluous. At any rate, rest easy, fellow citizens — Mr. Ivanka is handling foreign policy, so it’s all good.

Reader Interactions

150Comments

  3. 3.

    WereBear

    I am surprised that people are still surprised that Trump is a total incompetent. He would nominate Mr. Potato Head without blinking.

  5. 5.

    germy

    Sid Bowdidge, 60, joined the Department of Energy after the inauguration, but Friday was his last day, according to a BuzzFeed report.

    According to an internal department database, Bowdidge was classified as an “assistant to the secretary,” but two employees confirmed to BuzzFeed that he isn’t any longer. They explained that the title is often given to political appointees that have multiple responsibilities that are outside the scope of specific government jobs. Bowdige served on the Trump campaign in New Hampshire as a ground campaign manager, but he is a massage therapist by trade.

  7. 7.

    Suzanne

    Tillerson probably loves this: all the reward, none of the responsibility or risk of governance.

  9. 9.

    Villago Delenda Est

    NOTHING about the Donald Assmalistration makes sense as anyone in DC has ever seen within living memory. None of it. Gutting State is just one example. Defense so far is the only one that hasn’t been targeted, since it has too large and entrenched a multiheaded bureaucracy to fuck with, and Donald has zero credibility with its most important members, the guys and gals in uniform, and has already managed to piss them off nearly as much as he has the IC folks.

  12. 12.

    rikyrah

    You are right with this topic. I hope that you go back and edit this post with videos from Maddow from this week. She has really been on this story.

  14. 14.

    Roger Moore

    I have another explanation: Trump is incompetent and so is his administration. He and his people have no fucking clue how foreign policy works, so they didn’t bother to think about informing the State Department when an important foreign dignitary was in town. Or maybe it’s because he resents the expertise of the professional diplomats and knows that if he told them Kushner was talking to Mexico’s Foreign Minister, they’d want to be involved and tell him what he should and shouldn’t say.

  15. 15.

    geg6

    I can’t believe that skinny, slimy non-entity is running US foreign policy. All because he’s married to Lolita. How is there any sort of oversight on that little shithead? And why is Tillerson, who no matter what you think of his career is vastly more accomplished in life than Dolt 45, allowing himself to be pantsed by these clowns? I just can’t wrap my head around this.

  17. 17.

    jl

    @rikyrah:

    ” He is the Secretary of Exxon.
    The rest of this doesn’t matter to him. ”

    That option fits with Trump funneling Exxon marketing press releases through the WH and doing infomercials for them thinly disguised as government announcements. Maybe Rex thinks oil deals is what State should focus on and doesn’t care if his department knows or not whether this or that foreign leader is in DC. That is not high priority. Who knows?

  22. 22.

    J R in WV

    The big international news is the impeachment of the South Korean President, now packing her stuff to leave the official state residence.

    The crime: assigning official duties to a person not officially part of the government staff!

    Someone like Mr. Ivanka! AKA Jarod Kushner… a person not part of the government but with responsibility assigned by the President. Hmmm. Could we learn about democracy from South Korea??? Seems so.

  23. 23.

    Gin & Tonic

    Bad timing on all this, yet a moment of parental pride. Before I reach for the good hooch, let me explain. For some time my son’s been interested in a career in the Foreign Service or something similar, but wasn’t actively pursuing it. So when he got laid off in the fall he decided to make a full-court press at applying to master’s programs. The results of the election certainly changed the direction of some of his essays, but he went for it anyway, and today found out he’s been accepted at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs and Tufts’ Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Still waiting on word from Georgetown, but those two are fine options. Too bad the US Foreign Service is not looking like a growth industry for now, but there are lots of other avenues he could pursue.

  24. 24.

    Waldo

    @germy:

    Sid Bowdidge, 60, joined the Department of Energy after the inauguration, but Friday was his last day, according to a BuzzFeed report.

    Bowdige … is a massage therapist by trade.

    Sounds like the DoE got the happy ending.

  27. 27.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Smiling Mortician: About 8 minutes in, Rachel gets to the real thing going on here: The US has much more soft power than Russia can ever hope to do, and gutting State damages our soft power, which Donald does not understand, so he’s doing Vlad’s bidding, basically.

  30. 30.

    trollhattan

    Speaking of energy (Sexxretary of State) there’s news bad and good.
    The good:

    Last weekend, for the first time on record, wind power provided over half the energy for a North American power grid, the Southwest Power Pool (which actually covers the Great Plains).
    –High Country News

    And the bad, very very bad:

    Earth’s oceans are warming 13% faster than thought, and accelerating

    New research has convincingly quantified how much the Earth has warmed over the past 56 years. Human activities utilize fossil fuels for many beneficial purposes but have an undesirable side effect of adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere at ever-increasing rates. That increase – of over 40%, with most since 1980 – traps heat in the Earth’s system, warming the entire planet.

    …We were able to extend our techniques back to the late1950s and show that the rate of global warming has changed significantly in the past 60 years. One main outcome of the study is that it shows we are warming about 13% faster than we previously thought. Not only that but the warming has accelerated. The warming rate from 1992 is almost twice as great as the warming rate from 1960. Moreover, it is only since about 1990 that the warming has penetrated to depths below about 700 meters.

    Trump will hasten, not help with this.

  32. 32.

    Origuy

    State Dept asked NYC Medical Examiner not to disclose cause of death of Russian UN ambassador who died last month

    Link
    Move along, nothing to see here.

  34. 34.

    Yarrow

    It’s not incompetence.

    @Suzanne:

    Tillerson probably loves this: all the reward, none of the responsibility or risk of governance.

    But the risk of what happens when Trump throws everyone else under the bus in an attempt to save his own skin is high.

  35. 35.

    Brachiator

    @Roger Moore:

    I have another explanation: Trump is incompetent and so is his administration. He and his people have no fucking clue how foreign policy works, so they didn’t bother to think about informing the State Department when an important foreign dignitary was in town.

    Perhaps. But there is a method to this madness, to degrade some cabinet offices and make the executive branch of the federal government little more than the PR department of a Trump business entity.

  37. 37.

    Major Major Major Major

    @J R in WV:

    The big international news is the impeachment of the South Korean President, now packing her stuff to leave the official state residence.

    The crime: assigning official duties to a person not officially part of the government staff!

    I mean, that’s the official charge, but really it’s because she’d been brainwashed by a cult.

  38. 38.

    TenguPhule

    @Villago Delenda Est: Donald believes only in Emperor Donald, Ruler of the West by divine right.

    The sooner Trump gets his head cut off by an official execution, the safer all of humanity will be.

  39. 39.

    patroclus

    This has the feel of a Nixon/William P. Rogers relationship. Rogers was Deputy Attorney General and then AG under Ike and had far more substance to him than Nixon did (MLK even complimented him on some of his civil rights stances) – he was also a senior name partner in his law firm whereas Nixon was more of a political name partner in Mudge Rose. When Nixon became POTUS, he appointed Rogers as SoS, but I dare you to name a single foreign policy accomplishment of Rogers (his “Rogers Plan” for the Mid-east was vastly overshadowed by Kissinger’s shuttle diplomacy). Basically, he was there for show and supposed legitimacy.

    Tillerson is similar – he’s there to show the flag and try to explain away some of Trump’s stupid policy and statements to gullible foreigners. The difference is that Nixon and Kissinger were actually familiar with foreign affairs even though they handled them abysmally. Trump doesn’t know much and he’ll, at the least, match Nixon for abysmal policies. Going places without a press corps is going to ensure a dearth of media coverage and not being able to appoint deputies and assistants is going to ensure inadequate policy-making at State. Other governments will soon learn not to pay much attention to Tillerson because neither Trump nor the U.S. media will. He’ll mostly be a non-entity and will fade away without people remembering him, just like Rogers did.

  41. 41.

    Mnemosyne

    Mr. Ivanka is handling foreign policy, so it’s all good.

    I’m betting this is what the reason is — Tillerson is supposed to be the figurehead while Trump runs everything via his son-in-law. Which is exactly how a banana republic works, of course.

  42. 42.

    hovercraft

    @Gin & Tonic:
    Congrats, you obviously did something right, he seems to be developing quite nicely into an overeducated elitist. While Foggy bottom is in the hands of these heretics perhaps he can spend some time in academia, just to make sure all the bases are covered?

  43. 43.

    Mnemosyne

    @Roger Moore:

    Both/and. An incompetent paranoid who doesn’t trust anyone outside of his family is in charge of our nation.

    I feel safer already.

  45. 45.

    TenguPhule

    Now this is the latest black eye for the embattled department, already reeling from a proposed 37 percent budget cut.

    State Dept in DC is already dead. Only the consulates are still running and even then who knows for how much longer. Americans outside of America are going to find help from home a distant memory at this point.

    FFS, its not even TWO MONTHS since we had a functioning government.

    Its the start of a new Dark Age.

  47. 47.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @TenguPhule: I’ll settle for the Purple Wedding at this point. Although I don’t know who’s playing Tywin Lannister in this scenario…

  48. 48.

    ? Martin

    Trump only trusts family enough to delegate to. Key feature of any successful criminal enterprise.

  49. 49.

    SandraNoy

    In Bannon’s world, the State Dept. is completely unnecessary, and a hindrance to his goals. Who needs beta-like diplomacy and ridiculous concepts like namby pamby “coalition building”? The Alpha Males are in charge. Bannon’s going to spend billions and billions to increase the size of the largest military on earth — those bombs and tanks and planes are not for show (although eventually there will be awe-inspiring parades), they’re going to be used in the existential fight against Islam. Once the rest of the world feels the tremendous might and power of the Amerikan Military Trump Warriors (TM), they’ll get in line and do whatever Bannon wants them to do with no need for negotiating. Then Bannon, his 6 side pieces and all his manly buddies will ride off into the sunset to live happily ever after. Aaand scene!

  50. 50.

    Starfish

    @satby: One of our local Indivisible people set up a meeting at our local Republican Senator’s office. He said they are getting calls on BOTH SIDES for and against health care so people should call and yell more about health care.

  51. 51.

    randy khan

    @hovercraft:

    Leaving things in the hands of the career staff in those offices for a while (because, you know, they probably don’t have anyone in the pipelines) actually will not help the Administration.

  53. 53.

    debbie

    Ah, but Trump’s managed to win more than 30 trademarks from China! Winning! More important than governing!

  56. 56.

    dr. bloor

    Trump is petty enough to make all these scenarios plausible. But whatever the reason, he’s hollowing out the State Department and undermining Tillerson

    See also Justice and every other cabinet position. The point here is to have Bannon, Miller, and Trump–in that order–running everything in the Federal government. If they don’t have their Own Guy taking care of something, then they don’t care if it’s tended to at all.

  57. 57.

    Mnemosyne

    @debbie:

    China figured out they can manipulate Trump at a very low dollar cost. They’re probably pretty happy right now despite the occasional saber-rattling.

  59. 59.

    catclub

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Too bad the US Foreign Service is not looking like a growth industry for now,

    The Federal government hiring freeze is a step in hollowing out government.
    Also helps the goal of converting all to contract workers

  60. 60.

    Gin & Tonic

    @hovercraft: Thanks. I’m not sure he understands any of his options yet, but I don’t think I’d be that surprised if he stays in academia. Even if he doesn’t, by the time he’s finished we will be nearing the end of the Trump administration anyway. The money aspect is kind of daunting, but Fletcher actually offered him a partial scholarship, which was a real surprise.

  61. 61.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Roger Moore:

    Trump is incompetent and so is his administration. He and his people have no fucking clue how foreign policy works,

    One of the (vast number of) things that worries me is that neither he nor his appointees seem to have the least idea of how diplomacy, defence, international trade, and economic development are interconnected. Does he convene regular Cabinet meetings during which the various Secretaries can exchange candid views and, you know, learn stuff from each other, and work out ways in which they can cooperate to the benefit of all concerned? I’m guessing no.

    ETA: He may hold Cabinet meetings, but my sense is that they’re more about Trump/Bannon/Kushner and what they expect of Department heads, and very little about a robust exchange of views. IMO.

  63. 63.

    Yarrow

    @TenguPhule:

    State Dept in DC is already dead. Only the consulates are still running and even then who knows for how much longer.

    Yep. This Atlantic article on the State Dept was enlightening.

    The flags in the lobby of the State Department stood bathed in sunlight and silence on a recent afternoon. “It’s normally so busy here,” marveled a State Department staffer as we stood watching the emptiness. “People are usually coming in for meetings, there’s lots of people, and now it’s so quiet.” The action at Foggy Bottom has instead moved to the State Department cafeteria where, in the absence of work, people linger over countless coffees with colleagues. (“The cafeteria is so crowded all day,” a mid-level State Department officer said, adding that it was a very unusual sight. “No one’s doing anything.”) As the staffer and I walked among the tables and chairs, people with badges chatted over coffee; one was reading his Kindle.

    “It just feels empty,” a recently departed senior State official told me.

    And:

    “This is probably what it felt like to be a British foreign service officer after World War II, when you realize, no, the sun actually does set on your empire,” said the mid-level officer. “America is over. And being part of that, when it’s happening for no reason, is traumatic.”

  64. 64.

    Hal

    Tillerson took the gig to facilitate an agreement to free up those 60 million acres in Russia. Once that happens I’m guessing he’s going to quickly retire. Does Trump have exxon stock?

    Exxon Mobil has various projects afoot in Russia that are allowed under American sanctions. But others have been ground to a halt by the sanctions, including a deal with the Russian state oil company to explore and pump in Siberia that could be worth tens of billions of dollars.

    Russian officials have optimistically called the agreement a $500 billion deal.

    As for Mr. Tillerson personally, he was scheduled to retire next year from Exxon Mobil. According to company filings this year, Mr. Tillerson owned $218 million in company stock, and his pension plan was worth nearly $70 million.

  65. 65.

    debbie

    @Brachiator:

    It’s not incompetence; it’s not caring. Trump’s focusing only on what he cares about, which is making money. And he’s also chosen to listen to people who know nothing about governing (see Peter Navarro, for one). It’s not just Tillerson, either: Trump’s ignoring advice from McMaster.

  66. 66.

    Aleta

    Or Tillerson has refused to do and say things that Trump requested. A prez whose needs to punish, dominate and undermine people inside his administration as well as outside.

    And destroy whatever he can:

    The Justice Department announced Friday that Attorney General Jeff Sessions has asked all 46 remaining Obama administration U.S. attorneys across the country to submit their resignations immediately.

    -WaPo

  69. 69.

    Millard Filmore

    @SandraNoy:

    whatever Bannon wants them to do with no need for negotiating

    Not true at all. From the Saddam Hussein school of diplomacy:
    Negotiation: I make demands, you agree to them.

  72. 72.

    Baud

    I’ll never understand why people here think both that Trump is incompetent and that he will be successful in his endeavours.

  75. 75.

    Mnemosyne

    @Baud:

    I don’t think he’ll be successful in doing what he wants to do, but I think he’s going to royally screw the pooch in ways that neither he nor Bannon planned. Because they’re fucking morons who don’t understand how our fucking government works, much less how any other country’s government works.

  77. 77.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Hal:

    Does Trump have exxon stock?

    I never thought of it before, but I’m actually kind of surprised that there isn’t a TRUMP™ brand of oil/gasoline/service stations by now. You’d think putting up his name in giant gold capital letters at every Interstate exit in the country as well as all major urban intersections would be irresistible to him.

  79. 79.

    debbie

    @Baud:

    I agree with you. It’s not that he’s incompetent; it’s that he doesn’t care about anything else.

    @Mnemosyne:

    Horrible to say, but that would serve this country right. One day, America is going to wake up and find no one respects her anymore or wants to work with her anymore or wants to be with her anymore.

  80. 80.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Good for him, and congratulations to you. There will be many a Master’s thesis and Doctoral dissertation written about the “Trump * Presidency” in years to come, and your son will be well-positioned to get in on the academic action and to snag a good position in the State Department of the future.

  82. 82.

    randy khan

    @Brachiator:

    A lot of the method here is that the way Trump ran his business likely mirrors the way he’ll run his Administration – almost nobody will be empowered to act without his specific say-so.

  83. 83.

    Feebog

    Chris Hayes posted a graph on Twitter showing just how far behind this administration is compared to Obama’s at the same time. Like about 30% of the positions Obama had nominated by now. This isn’t going to get any better any time soon. Nobody in their right mind wants a position in this dead fish of an administration.

  84. 84.

    ? Martin

    Wife and I are planning a trip to Austria next year. We’re getting our passports now while there might still be someone in the government who knows how to issue them.

  85. 85.

    Yarrow

    In my ongoing series “Trump will throw everyone else under the bus, with the possible exception of Ivanka, in an attempt to save his skin,” here is one thing he’ll use in an attempt to blame Pence for things going wrong. “Mike Pence didn’t tell me about Gen. Flynn. How was I supposed to know?”

    In an interview with Fox News on Thursday night, Vice President Mike Pence said he was not aware either and that he only first heard about it as reports surfaced Thursday that Flynn had registered as a foreign agent with the Justice Department earlier this week.
    …
    But Rep. Elijah Cummings, the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent Pence a letter on November 18 requesting more information about the potential conflicts of interest posed by Flynn’s lobbying work.

    Cummings sent the letter four days after both The Daily Caller and Politico reported that Flynn’s consulting firm, Flynn Intel Group Inc., had been hired to lobby for Turkish interests.

    “Recent news reports have revealed that Lt. Gen. Flynn was receiving classified briefings during the presidential campaign while his consulting firm, Flynn Intel Group, Inc., was being paid to lobby the U.S. Government on behalf of a foreign government’s interests,” Cummings wrote.
    …
    Pence’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

    Rep. Cummings told Business Insider through his office that he believes “the problems that have occurred with Lt. General Flynn” could have been avoided had Pence heeded his warnings.

    “In addition to being in the press, I warned the Vice President directly three months ago about the conflicts created by Lt. General Flynn’s company lobbying on behalf of Turkish interests,” Cummings said.

    It’s Mike Pence’s fault that Trump didn’t know things! He’ll blame and fire Pence along with the rest of his administration in an attempt to save himself.

  86. 86.

    Kathleen

    @Baud: That’s Trump’s goal. All Bannon and Rethugs and their masters want is total suffering, misery and chaos. That’s what feeds them. That’s where they get their power. They do not want to govern. They want to obliterate. This is pure evil.

  87. 87.

    hovercraft

    @Gin & Tonic:
    Great news on the scholarship, hopefully out Twitler nightmare will be over in four years if not sooner. I dread to think of the world my younguns will be entering 4 years from now, but at least mine will only be 14 and 18. God I’m getting old /-(

  88. 88.

    trollhattan

    @Feebog:
    Republicans to any such facts: “See how the Democrats are trying to undermine the administration!”

  89. 89.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: I know! We have become the RWNJ’s who thought Obama was the stoopidist person from Kenyuh and at the same time an evil jujitsu master of international intrigue. Trump is not competent. But he has tremendous power and is supported by Republicans. So, sadly, as he fails, there will be no correction or intervention. Just a whole lot of fail.

  90. 90.

    Starfish

    @Baud: If Republicans are marching lock step as they have done for the last eight years, Trump can be incompetent *and* successful in his endeavors. What would it have taken for any of his Secretaries to be rejected? What would it take for Republicans to push through investigations?

  91. 91.

    Suffragete City elftx

    He seems to only meet with certain people..wonder why that is.

    Today, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with Iraq’s Minister of Oil Jabbar Al-Luaibi in Washington, D.C.

  93. 93.

    GregB

    Tillerson will be happy to have a semi retirement job, poring over maps of world resources plotting which governments are in the way of the hitting pay dirt.

  95. 95.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Yarrow: He might throw Pence under the bus, but there’s no way for him to fire him. Pence has to want to leave…he’s been elected to the vice-presidency. Also, Pence was the “insurance” that the Partei establishment wanted on the ticket.

  96. 96.

    jl

    @Yarrow: I guess Pence and Trump have some things in common. Pence thinks reading the mail Congress sends him is a waste of time. And Pence is ‘the smart one’ who will put in a day’s work once in a while?

  97. 97.

    bemused

    @WereBear:

    He’s a total fuckup. I can’t imagine having someone like him being a neighbor, co-worker or boss and that was one of my first thoughts in the early days of the campaign. Why his voters didn’t see that or don’t see it even now is mindboggling.

  100. 100.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @trollhattan: The RW Wurlitzer is already claiming Obama is staying in DC specifically to act as “shadow President” to undermine Donald. Never mind that Obama announced well before the election that he was staying in DC until Sasha completes HS.

  104. 104.

    hovercraft

    @Baud:
    See, Bush, W, both incompetent and successful at achieving many of his goals. The problem is their goals are destruction, you don’t have to be very competent to tear shit down, so he can fuck up a whole bunch of shit just through your incompetence. W got his Iraq misadventure to his tax cuts, and reelected, but he also fucked everything up. Incompetent and successful.

  106. 106.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Immanentize: Agnew’s problems were totally separate from Watergate. He was taking payoffs that had been arranged when he was Governor of Maryland in his VP office. He wasn’t connected in any significant way with CREEP and was out of the loop there.

  107. 107.

    dww44

    @satby: Serious question. Are serious people, and not so serious people, blaming Trump and not Tillerson for the hollowing out? I’m not personally convinced that Tillerson isn’t in on the hollowing out? He never answers questions from the press?

    Note: I’ve not read the whole thread to see if this issue has already been addressed.

  108. 108.

    hovercraft

    @Villago Delenda Est:
    I know, saw the story yesterday, massage parlors and escorts on International Womens Day no less, talk about the greatest supporter of women. I was making the point about how cheap he is.

  109. 109.

    Yarrow

    @Villago Delenda Est: Agnew resigned. I’m quite certain that there’s enough dirt on Pence that Trump knows/will be given that he can find resignation a much more attractive option than staying.

    Manafort was the one pushing for Trump to pick Pence. I wonder why that was.

  110. 110.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    The RW Wurlitzer is already claiming Obama is staying in DC specifically to act as “shadow President” to undermine Donald.

    Yeah, but let them think that… I can imagine Trump calling Spicer at 3 in the morning and demanding he come over to the WH to look in all the closets and under the beds…

    He’s here SOMEWHERE, Sean… I can feel it in my bones…

    I feel no need to point out I DESPISE these people… but I feel better when I do…

  112. 112.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @dr. bloor:

    If they don’t have their Own Guy taking care of something, then they don’t care if it’s tended to at all.

    There is one potential hidden upside to this… w/ no one else working in the Admin, it’s gonna slow their agenda up something wicked…

  113. 113.

    Peale

    @Villago Delenda Est: I believe the goal is to lock him up. That special investigator Sessions is looking for to look into the justice department under Obama probably is aimed at finding whatever’s needed to lock him and Holder up.

  116. 116.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    The RW Wurlitzer is already claiming Obama is staying in DC specifically to act as “shadow President” to undermine Donald. Never mind that Obama announced well before the election that he was staying in DC until Sasha completes HS.

    Well, yeah, but you have to admit it’s kind of suspicious that he and Michelle just happen to have a daughter who just happens to need another year or two in high school that just happens to require them to stay in Washington, DC a while longer. It’s almost like they planned it that way. Not unlike the way Ann Dunham planned that whole thing about placing phony birth announcements in Honolulu newspapers back in 1961….

  117. 117.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Not unlike the way Ann Dunham planned that whole thing about placing phony birth announcements in Honolulu newspapers back in 1961….

    Connect the dots, people… connect the dots…

  119. 119.

    Anonymous At Work

    Great Man Theory supporters. They openly disdain the idea of the State Department: Great Men negotiate with other Great Men and the problem is solved.

  120. 120.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Yarrow: Yeah, but I don’t know of any reason why the Nixon WH wanted to dump Agnew, other than the fact he was caught taking bribes. It wasn’t like Agnew was set up to get him out of the way. Agnew had always been a good feeder of red meat to the crazies, and was valued for that role he played.

  121. 121.

    qwerty42

    I’m surprised Tillerson stays. His is the most senior cabinet post. It has been an important position since the founding of the Republic. He is being humiliated by an incompetent and his eminence grise who seems to be animated by an airport bookstore “philosophy”. Tillerson should resign. No telling who we’d get, but Tillerson is a cypher, and there is no sign that will change.

  122. 122.

    ET

    @jeannedalbret: on some level I agree but the dude ran one of the biggest companies in the world and you don’t get there without a big ego and Trump’s treatment of State which is also treatment of Tillerson, still has to rankle.

    I just can’t figure Trump’s treatment of State. It isn’t that he is ignoring it but treating it as an enemy which is weird because it wasn’t a particular a target like the EPA was. I wonder if this situation is really all Bannon’s doing.

  124. 124.

    Yarrow

    @Villago Delenda Est: When Trump really starts to panic he’s going to blame everyone but himself. Everyone with the possible exception of Ivanka. So it doesn’t really matter at this point if we think Trump would want to keep Pence or not. Because when things get rough for Trump he’ll deflect attention from himself by airing all the wrongdoings of others in an attempt to blame them and get the blame off him.

  125. 125.

    Aleta

    @SiubhanDuinne: They didn’t even have the decency to move to a different neighborhood after Ivanka rented a house there from a Chilean billionaire whose mining company is suing the U.S. government.

  126. 126.

    frosty

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    He was taking payoffs that had been arranged when he was Governor of Maryland in his VP office.

    Actually they started during his stint as Baltimore County Executive, were apparently brown envelopes were the only way engineers got County design contracts.. He continued the payments as Governor then VP.

  127. 127.

    mainmata

    This is the field I have worked in my whole career. This isolation of Tillerson is Bannon’s influence on Dump to keep foreign policy decisions in the WH/NSC. USAID has seen nothing happen from the Administration (other than messaging “guidelines” on, of course, climate change). As for the budget cut, the WH forgets that State and USAID offer Congress the only opportunity it has to put its foreign policy views into action in an otherwise President-dominated field. Lindsay Graham, who is very influential on foreign policy and aid has already said this proposal is DOA. At best, State/USAID will have the usual recent continuing resolution, which has meant a 10% decline. Meanwhile DOD has been exploring options for funding foreign assistance activities because they have too much money. The US Government has been badly damaged by the GOP and will continue to be sabotaged unless and until GOP voters wake up and realize they’re being screwed. Because they have all the power nowadays.

    As for Tillerson, I expect that, if this bullshit continues, he will be the first Cabinet secretary to resign.

  129. 129.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @mainmata:

    until GOP voters wake up and realize they’re being screwed.

    Too many of them are too fucking stupid to ever realize this.

  130. 130.

    frosty

    @Villago Delenda Est: Maryland, My Maryland!

    Around that time we had two governors and to BaCo Execs convicted and jailed. Agnew/Mandel and Agnew/Anderson. A few other County Execs too. I thought we could give New Jersey a challenge.

  132. 132.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Aleta:

    They didn’t even have the decency to move to a different neighborhood after Ivanka rented a house there from a Chilean billionaire whose mining company is suing the U.S. government.

    They’re blah, what do you expect?

  133. 133.

    Lapassionara

    @Villago Delenda Est: seriously, Agnew was Nixon’s impeachment insurance. We all knew Nixon was safe from impeachment, until Agnew resigned. That is when I began to think that someone was in charge of the US, other than the president. I no longer believe that today.

  134. 134.

    mainmata

    @Gin & Tonic: Those are all good schools. I went to Johns Hopkins School of International Studies myself. I would recommend Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service because they get so many (paid) internships in DC, which is a great way to get into the field. BTW, jobs are not going away in either State or USAID since a lot of boomers are retiring (and because they can’t stand the idea of a Trump Administration). But many of those people are/were in positions of management that new entries don’t have. Embassies still need to be staffed, USAID positions need filling and then there are the USAID contractors and cooperators (grantees).

  135. 135.

    efgoldman

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Defense so far is the only one that hasn’t been targeted, since it has too large and entrenched a multiheaded bureaucracy to fuck with

    He hasn’t “gutted” it yet, true. But the secretariats of the Army and Navy are both vacant, with no new appointees waiting for confirmation.

  136. 136.

    efgoldman

    @Gin & Tonic:

    there are lots of other avenues he could pursue.

    I imagine lots of international companies and other orgs would like somebody like that on staff.
    Congrats to him, and good luck.
    Tufts is close enough, he can still bring his laundry home.

  137. 137.

    efgoldman

    @Yarrow:

    State Dept in DC is already dead.

    Nice building, nice location. The obvious plan is to make it into another hotel.

  138. 138.

    Chris T.

    Attention, all passengers! This is your captain, Rex Tillerson, speaking.

    The engines are not on fire. I repeat, there are no fires in the engines. The wings are not breaking off.

    Thank you for your attention. We’ll be landing shortly; please return to your seats and fasten your seat belts.

    (clicks and scratching noises)

    Bob, where do we keep the parachutes? … Uh… hey, is this the intercom switch? No? Oh, this one is the—

  139. 139.

    Emrys

    @efgoldman: Even if State isn’t hiring for now, he should take the Foreign Service Exam a time or two for the experience. Repetition does not count against you. Real world experience is also helpful. There are a couple of yahoo groups for those interested.

  140. 140.

    efgoldman

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    You’d think putting up his name in giant gold capital letters at every Interstate exit in the country….

    Those are mostly leased by bids. Stiffing a construction contractor is one thing. Stiffing a state or Turnpike authority is something different.

  141. 141.

    Emrys

    @Gin & Tonic: New at this so am retrying. Even if State isn’t hiring for now, he should take the FS exam a time or two for the experience. Repetition does nor count against you. Real world experience is also helpful. There are a couple yahoo groups for those interested.

  142. 142.

    mainmata

    @hovercraft: This. Starting with Reagan, the GOP, “Party of Ideas” has had just two ideas: destroy the federal government and cut taxes for the ultra-rich. Pretty sick agenda but it has worked for nearly 40 years.

  143. 143.

    efgoldman

    @dww44:

    Are serious people, and not so serious people, blaming Trump and not Tillerson for the hollowing out?

    One of Tangerine Tumor’s Nazis – Miller, I think – said they were croaking state on purpose. Don’t know what the “reasoning” is, though.
    Everything they touch is going to turn to shit, and not in ways they intended.

  144. 144.

    efgoldman

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    I don’t know of any reason why the Nixon WH wanted to dump Agnew, other than the fact he was caught taking bribes.

    Even for Tricksie, that was a pretty good reason.
    Hard to imagine, now, that if it happened whoever it was would be working from jail but still in office.

  145. 145.

    J R in WV

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Very interesting! The cult hit her when she was most vulnerable, after her Mom was killed in an assassination attempt. We can help you connect to you Mother, dear!! She isn’t gone, she’s waiting to help you, and only we can connect you two!!

    And now, decades later, she folds after connecting the cult to the government.

    How can we connect our Trump cult to the wrongness of cultdom in general??? The South Koreans managed it, surely we can too!!

  146. 146.

    pseudonymous in nc

    Actual President Bannon wants the State Department to wither and die. He’s busily setting up its replacement, but for now, it’s Jared. That’s your explanation.

  147. 147.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Or maybe Trump grew to resent Tillerson after installing him in the role after it dawned on him, Trump, that unlike Trump, Tillerson was a real CEO of a company that, whatever its faults, is a real global organization with assets instead of a shady licensing scheme. Or maybe it’s hair envy.

    Gods, and Tillerson being an ex CEO isn’t going to back down to Trump’s bullying so Trump is pulling this crap as punishment like the naracassist he is.

  148. 148.

    Elie

    @Roger Moore:

    I agree with # 10 upthread. What is happening at the State Department is intentional for the reasons that Maddow explains — to neutralize US leadership in the world for which the State Department is the source and symbol of our leadership. Dismantling it is central to the new “world order” with the US diminished and Russia a big role player. By clearing out the personnel, there will be no easy way to re-establish that lost leadership and knowledge. It is very very intentional. The Trump administration is populated by treasonous and malevolent purposely selected personnel who have every intent to destroy the United States. Stopping them I believe will be difficult and will require a great deal of disruption and sacrifice. Get ready unless this is what we want to see… its only going to get more entrenched and as you already see, its moving very rapidly…

  149. 149.

    Elie

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    I think Tillerson is completely on board with what is happening. In the video clips up at # 10, the man is completely relaxed and at ease as the media is escorted out. He IS the wrecking ball that Bannon has promised. Wish I were wrong, but pretending this is something else just takes us into denial-land and a clear assessment of what is happening and what options we have — if any, to stop it.

  150. 150.

    jonas

    I think Trump and Bannon pretty much told Tillerson to treat Foggy Bottom a bit like a small, ailing, near-bankrupt company Exxon has just taken over as way to acquire up some old patents or gas leases or something and has no intention of actually running. Just let it ride and whatever if it goes broke. That seems to fit Tillerson’s who-gives-a-shit approach to diplomacy so far.

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