Why has Rex Tillerson, Trump’s Secretary of State, “hollowed out” so much of the diplomatic corps, leaving position unfilled, eliminating others, forcing folk out with no replacement?
Because Trump is going to make things so gosh-darn spiffy around the world that, well, who will need all those diplomats?
The eyebrow-raisers came during the Q&A session, when he was asked to explain the sharp reductions in the State Department’s budget and the hollowing-out of its diplomatic corps. Tillerson replied that the cuts are “reflective of an expectation that we’re going to have success … in getting these conflicts [around the world] resolved” and, therefore, won’t need to have so many officials dealing with them.
Right! All those problems around the world that the US State Dept. has been trying to solve? They’re all going to magically vanish as Trump Makes America Great Again! Also, the hungry people in those countries will feast on plentiful unicorn meat, and sleep on downy mattresses of lions lying down with lambs.
Tillerson was supposed to be one of the adults in the room, a serious businessman, former CEO of ExxonMobil with global experience. Instead, he is increasingly revealed to be, just like Trump’s picks in so many other departments, simply bent on destroying the federal organization he’s been put in charge of.
(The rest of the article goes on to detail and debunk Tillerson’s pivot to saying that, well, no, he hasn’t actually been hollowing out State, that the 31% reduction in budget this year isn’t really a deduction, and that “This. Is. Fine.”)
Rex Tillerson Is Making a Great Case for Himself as the Worst Secretary of State in Modern History
This may rank as the silliest comment ever made by a Cabinet secretary.
Every plebeian thinks they can run government better than the professionals. If you have any sense you temper such thoughts with the recognition that it's obviously much harder than it seems and that you probably couldn't do better.
One day you notice that those in charge are making gross mistakes that you certainly wouldn't make.
Then you become frightened.
For me, that recognition came during the Prime Ministerships of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard. Perhaps for you it began with George Walker Bush. Things seem to be generally going against 'the West' this century.