Donald Trump. (photo: Alex Brandon/AP)
06 October 17
arol
E. Lee at NBC reported Wednesday that last summer Rex Tillerson, the
secretary of state, called Trump a “f*cking moron.” The remark came
after a number of incidents in which Trump had contradicted Tillerson on
policy, and directly after Trump made salacious remarks to a crowd of
boy scouts. Tillerson at one point had led the Boy Scouts.
The justice of Tillerson’s remark is obvious. Here are some examples:
1. Trump joined with Saudi Arabia in beating up on
little Qatar, calling the small Gulf monarchy “terrorists.” Qatar hosts
the US Air Force base al-Udeid and helped capture Khaled Sheikh
Muhammad, proving itself a key ally in fighting extremism. For Saudi
Arabia to accuse Qatar of fostering extremism is a bit rich, but Trump
joined in.
2. The Iran nuclear deal is one of the more
successful such negotiations in modern history and a model for how the
UN Security Council could curb nuclear proliferation. Trump is
determined to undermine the deal, which would reinforce the suspicions
and militancy of countries such as North Korea, making it even more
difficult to handle.
3. Trump pulled out of the Paris climate accords on
the grounds that they are too constricting and detract from US
sovereignty. But the accords allow each nation to set its own
priorities! Even Tillerson, who when it comes to climate change, is
Satan incarnate, wanted to stay in Paris (I presume because it could be
used as a fig leaf for inaction on carbon dioxide emissions).
4. Trump went to Puerto Rico
on Tuesday and made the presidency a laughingstock. He maintained that
Katrina had been a much more devastating storm than Irma and that
because they weren’t actually dead the Puerto Ricans weren’t suffering
as much. We don’t know the death toll in Puerto Rico because 95 percent
of the island doesn’t have electricity and not all the dead have been
found by institutions of the commonwealth. Moreover, catastrophic
hurricanes are not a race where one state wins and another loses. Then
Trump gave out supplies at a church, including flashlights, but he
remarked to recipients that they didn’t need flashlights any more. They
do. He made hurricane relief all about himself instead of about the
victims. It was so bizarre a performance that “moron” doesn’t begin to
cover it.
5. Trump gave away US foreign policy to Exxon Mobil,
the big oil company, which had been led by Mr. Tillerson up until his
move to the State Department. The US should be making a frantic and
concerted effort to get off fossil fuels, not coddling Big Oil
interests. Appointing Tillerson to run the State Department, and
letting him gut it in favor of lucrative oil deals for his former
corporation is just about the most moronic thing you could imagine.
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