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You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Incompetence or Disloyalty?

Incompetence or Disloyalty?

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That always seems to be the choice with these bozos.

Mr. Tillerson has voiced skepticism that the United States is even capable of doing anything to counter the Russian threat.

“If it’s their intention to interfere, they’re going to find ways to do that,” Mr. Tillerson said in an interview last month with Fox News. “And we can take steps we can take, but this is something that once they decide they are going to do it, it’s very difficult to pre-empt it.”

This is a man who was the CEO of Exxon. If he knew that Shell was stealing his top geological talent, would he have said something like that? Presumably he can talk to the NSA about what they would suggest? WTF is wrong with this guy?

Amazingly, there is actually a person in the relevant job of under secretary for public diplomacy, who seems to have a different view from his boss.

“This funding is critical to ensuring that we continue an aggressive response to malign influence and disinformation,” Mr. Goldstein said.

I really hate the conclusion that so many folks at the top of our government are disloyal. But they keep pushing me toward it.

It might be worthwhile to frontpage a list of all the Russia-friendly things that they’ve done. There’s this, and, only this week, Trump’s total disinterest in, and active distraction from, Vladimir Putin’s threatening speech.

If you’ll supply them, I’ll write a post in a day or so. My excuse for crowdsourcing is that it’s allergy season, and I’ve got a very busy Monday and Tuesday.

Reader Interactions

69Comments

  2. 2.

    Corner Stone

    Tillerson is lazy, inept and incompetent. He came into office with nothing but profit motive on his mind and once that was stymied, he does not give a shit about doing anything else.

  4. 4.

    Corner Stone

    So Over This
    ‏ @Johngcole
    18m18 minutes ago

    I’m craving creamed salmon and peas over toast.

    Am I pregnant?

    Based on your love of overalls I am going to say No. Unless they used the MRI to artificially inseminate you.

  6. 6.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?

    @Corner Stone:
    Then why doesn’t he just resign? What’s the point of continuing in this shitty job? Prestige? The security detail? He already had those things, more than likely. Perhaps Drillerson is really a traitor like his boss.

    Wasn’t on that leaked list of communications that Mueller was requesting?

  7. 7.

    Jeffro

    I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the guy who personally received a Russian medal of friendship from Putin himself might, just might, not have the best interests of the United States at heart.

    “No matter what we do, they’re still going to interfere”….give. me. a. fucking. break. If that’s the case, Rex, why don’t you leave the front door to your house open…heck, leave your safe unlocked and let the bad guys know which bedrooms your wife and kids are in, too…unbelievable

  8. 8.

    Procopius

    I have a suggestion. Try counting all the Russia-hostile things our government has done since January, 2017. You’ll feel a little better, I assure you. Then try counting all the Ukraine-friendly things. You’ll feel even better. Now try counting all the Syrian/Russian-hostile things our armed forces in Syria have done. Presto! Discomfort gone, unless you also look at the ISIS-friendly things our armed forces have done (mostly air strikes against Syrian-allied forces). I grant you, Tillerson’s lack of action is pretty puzzling, but we never see any news of what he’s doing anyway, so how can you tell? Is he still trying to get MbS to lift the blockade of Qatar?

  9. 9.

    Redshift

    “If it’s their intention to interfere, they’re going to find ways to do that,” Mr. Tillerson said in an interview last month with Fox News.

    It struck me that this is basically the NRA’s (and ammosexuals’) argument against gun laws. Which just reiterates how dishonest it is.

  10. 10.

    clay

    Am I crazy, or was there another post here just now? Was it pulled due to anti-bigfooting?

  11. 11.

    Elizabelle

    I’m up for discussing another set of overpaid critters in fancy clothes.

    We can haz Oscars thread?

    I am fucking the fucking Trumps-ed out.

  15. 15.

    Yarrow

    This is a man who was the CEO of Exxon. If he knew that Shell was stealing his top geological talent, would he have said something like that? Presumably he can talk to the NSA about what they would suggest? WTF is wrong with this guy?

    He’s a traitor. Putin didn’t give him that Order of Friendship medal for nothing.

  20. 20.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @Procopius: It is true that some things have been done that could be called Russia-hostile or Ukraine-friendly. But those have originated at lower levels of the government.

    People in positions like President and Secretary of State send a message to other countries in ways that actions at lower levels do not counter. Trump has said nothing about Russian election hacking. Now Tillerson says, oh they’re going to try anyway, so we might as well let them. There has been some monitoring of intrusion into state election systems, but apparently nothing is going to be done about that. Tillerson’s money is also for information operations. It might be a good idea (although Mitch McConnell would probably disagree) to get the word out to people to be careful of their information sources.

    Then there was that little yukk-it-up session with Trump and his Russian friends in the Oval Office, where he shared some sensitive Israeli intelligence. Or all the times he has said nothing.

    The message is what Jeffro said: The door is open.

  22. 22.

    hellslittlestangel

    Tillerson in a nutshell: What’s the use? They’ve already captured the White House.

  23. 23.

    Mnemosyne

    @Elizabelle:

    There was another thread that disappeared, but Kimmel really has NFLTG when it comes to bashing Republicans and he let loose.

  25. 25.

    Bonnie

    No one in this administration demonstrates that “American can do” spirit that has existed in previous administrations.

  27. 27.

    raven

    @Cheryl Rofer: With most front pagers I’d just go on and talk about the Oscars but your posts are so well thought out I’m not going to do that.

  28. 28.

    Mnemosyne

    I loved Gal Godot’s dress — very early 1930s.

    And Eva Marie Saint is still sharp as a tack despite being older than the Academy. ?

  34. 34.

    Mike in NC

    Hopefully Jimmy Kimmel or somebody else gives a shout out to America’s #1 sexual predator tonight. The angry tweets would be epic.

  37. 37.

    Mary G

    I am upping the deplorables to despicables. Another horrible story from Axios:(This is the whole story, again not something I usually do, but they called this “tasteless” and that is not enough. Now on to the Oscars thread.

    On Friday night, President Trump entertained around 250 Republican donors in his Mar-a-Lago ballroom. Spotted in the audience: Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen, who recently admitted to paying $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels.

    The most shocking moment of the evening came when Trump brought his old pal Rudy Giuliani onto the stage.

    Giuliani told the crowd he had been down there for Trump’s wedding.

    “Hillary was also here,” he said, according to two sources in the room, “and she actually fit through the door.”

    The crowd gasped. I’m told Giuliani’s wife gave him a “most foul look.” Trump later told the audience: “I’m just glad I didn’t say it.”

  38. 38.

    cain

    @Bonnie:

    This is a man who was the CEO of Exxon. If he knew that Shell was stealing his top geological talent, would he have said something like that? Presumably he can talk to the NSA about what they would suggest? WTF is wrong with this guy?

    True story, my dad was grad students with Lee Raymond (CEO of Exxon). I will say that they had a bit of a falling out due to a prank gone wrong. But I would say that whatever is reported about him could be true. It didn’t seem like he was a generous person. In any case, I will say that Exxon doesn’t seem to promote nice people to the top.

  39. 39.

    SFAW

    @Mary G:

    “Hillary was also here,” he said, according to two sources in the room, “and she actually fit through the door.”

    Fuck you, Rudy, you evil, grifting, traitorous, moronic fuck. Hillary shits more class than you’ll ever have, you fuck.

  40. 40.

    debbie

    Why is Tillerson getting all the blame? If Trump didn’t want the money spent, Tillerson wouldn’t spend it.

  43. 43.

    rk

    “Hillary was also here,” he said, according to two sources in the room, “and she actually fit through the door.”

    Am I missing something? What is this supposed to mean? It’s not like Hillary was ever fat and she slimmed down so he’s fat shaming her. It doesn’t make any sense in any context.
    They’re all low and vulgar and incapable telling jokes. Old withered disgusting men who could never get a decent woman to even look at them. I’m not impressed that his wife gave him a “foul look”. She’s married to him so she’s equally worthless.

  45. 45.

    ThresherK

    “Shucks, we’re too dumb to try” sez Tillerson, is right up there with GWB’s “Shucks, we’re too dumb to try taxing anyone with real money.”

    Them guys got a lotta quit in ’em.

  46. 46.

    El Caganer

    @rk: Isn’t Rudy the guy whose kids hate him? I seem to recall that at least one or two of them (don’t know how many he has) want nothing to do with him.

  47. 47.

    Zinsky

    These reptiles like Tillerson and Trump are so confused. They fancy themselves to be great patriots but in reality they are craven cowards and traitors who don’t really understand or respect small “d” democratic principles and want all the wonderful things the United States has to offer, but not pay a dime in taxes to cover them.

  49. 49.

    bluefoot

    I hate the term “meddling” in this context. It seems so mild compared to the seriousness of the reality. Maybe interference? Or sabotage? Subversion?

  52. 52.

    efgoldman

    @cain:

    Exxon doesn’t seem to promote nice people to the top.

    More properly, nice people don’t claw their way to the top of organizations like Exxon.

  53. 53.

    rk

    @eemom:
    I’ve never watched the Oscars in my life. Never found them interesting. Maybe seen snippets here and there.

  55. 55.

    eemom

    @rk:

    Never found them interesting.

    The funny thing is, even people who watch them devoutly every year usually end up admitting that they’re boring as shit. Or at least that they drag on at least 8 hours longer than they should.

  56. 56.

    Mike G

    I really hate the conclusion that so many folks at the top of our government are disloyal. But they keep pushing me toward it.

    Tillerson and the generals aren’t guys Trump knew from his mobbed-up casino days, and I suspect he was too disinterested to research and recruit them personally. The question is how were they selected and recommended for these high posts and by whom? Was a Russian stooge like Manafort getting direction from Moscow on picking guys for the cabinet who were compromised and/or slanted pro-Russian because of their business connections?

  57. 57.

    StringOnAStick

    @Mike G: Excellent questions regarding the cabinet members who aren’t from dump’s mob real estate days. I wonder if Adam of Cheryl have any insight on this?

  58. 58.

    joel hanes

    hilzoy FTW, as always.

    when blogging was a thing, hilzoy was the best blogger, better than digby even.

    hilzoy is the answer to Kevin Drum’s question “who do I want to see on the NYT opinion page?”

    how could I have forgotten hilzoy …

  60. 60.

    SgrAstar

    @rikyrah: Agree completely! That they’re doing it with the full complicity of the republican party is absolutely gobsmacking.

  64. 64.

    AnonPhenom

    …yeah, I think I’ll include this;

    House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell both resisted pleas to speak out in a bipartisan manner on Russia’s hacking when President Barack Obama pressed them to do so, according to The Washington Post.

    because…

    Donald Trump and the political action committees for Mitch McConnell, Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, Lindsey Graham, John Kasich and John McCain accepted $7.35 million in contributions from a Ukrainian-born oligarch who is the business partner of two of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s favorite oligarchs and a Russian government bank.

  68. 68.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Big New Yorker story out today, with a part that is relevant to this thread.

    One subject that Steele is believed to have discussed with Mueller’s investigators is a memo that he wrote in late November, 2016, after his contract with Fusion had ended. This memo, which did not surface publicly with the others, is shorter than the rest, and is based on one source, described as “a senior Russian official.” The official said that he was merely relaying talk circulating in the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but what he’d heard was astonishing: people were saying that the Kremlin had intervened to block Trump’s initial choice for Secretary of State, Mitt Romney. (During Romney’s run for the White House in 2012, he was notably hawkish on Russia, calling it the single greatest threat to the U.S.) The memo said that the Kremlin, through unspecified channels, had asked Trump to appoint someone who would be prepared to lift Ukraine-related sanctions, and who would coöperate on security issues of interest to Russia, such as the conflict in Syria. If what the source heard was true, then a foreign power was exercising pivotal influence over U.S. foreign policy—and an incoming President.

    As fantastical as the memo sounds, subsequent events could be said to support it. In a humiliating public spectacle, Trump dangled the post before Romney until early December, then rejected him. There are plenty of domestic political reasons that Trump may have turned against Romney. Trump loyalists, for instance, noted Romney’s public opposition to Trump during the campaign. Roger Stone, the longtime Trump aide, has suggested that Trump was vengefully tormenting Romney, and had never seriously considered him. (Romney declined to comment. The White House said that he was never a first choice for the role and declined to comment about any communications that the Trump team may have had with Russia on the subject.) In any case, on December 13, 2016, Trump gave Rex Tillerson, the C.E.O. of ExxonMobil, the job. The choice was a surprise to most, and a happy one in Moscow, because Tillerson’s business ties with the Kremlin were long-standing and warm. (In 2011, he brokered a historic partnership between ExxonMobil and Rosneft.) After the election, Congress imposed additional sanctions on Russia, in retaliation for its interference, but Trump and Tillerson have resisted enacting them.

  69. 69.

    cleek

    Trump is declining to punish the people who helped him get elected, and who will probably help the GOP this year (and in 2020)?

    shocking.

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