{"id":135510,"date":"2017-12-04T07:40:28","date_gmt":"2017-12-04T14:40:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=135510"},"modified":"2017-12-04T23:23:19","modified_gmt":"2017-12-05T06:23:19","slug":"rexxing-state-department","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/04\/rexxing-state-department.html","title":{"rendered":"Rexxing the State Department"},"content":{"rendered":"

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?<\/p>\n

Because Trump is going to make things so gosh-darn spiffy around the world that, well, who will need all those diplomats?<\/p>\n

The eyebrow-raisers came during the Q&A session, when he was asked to explain the sharp reductions in the State Department\u2019s budget and the hollowing-out of its diplomatic corps. Tillerson replied that the cuts are \u201creflective of an expectation that we\u2019re going to have success \u2026 in getting these conflicts [around the world] resolved\u201d and, therefore, won\u2019t need to have so many officials dealing with them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

(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.”)<\/p>\n


\n
\n<\/a>
\nRex Tillerson Is Making a Great Case for Himself as the Worst Secretary of State in Modern History<\/a><\/span>
\nThis may rank as the silliest comment ever made by a Cabinet secretary.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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, … Continue reading “Rexxing the State Department”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,10,358,1071],"tags":[1340],"class_list":["post-135510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts","category-geopolitical-brouhaha","category-poor-citizenship","category-trump","tag-tillerson"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Rex-Tillerson.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":132288,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/13\/trump-picks-tillerson-for-secretary-of-state.html","url_meta":{"origin":135510,"position":0},"title":"Trump picks Tillerson for Secretary of State","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 13-Dec-16 4:27pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Rex Tillerson sounds like a CEO name, and he is in fact the Chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil. But he's also Donald Trump's Secretary of State nominee. Some thoughts:The Good- Tillerson knows the globe (i.e., anywhere ExxonMobil does business), and he knows major players around it.- Tillerson is, by all\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133745,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/28\/will-rex-tillerson-be-the-first-trump-secretary-to-bail.html","url_meta":{"origin":135510,"position":1},"title":"Will Rex Tillerson be the first Trump secretary to bail?","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 28-Jun-17 10:49pm","format":false,"excerpt":"We often read about how frustrating DC has been for Donald Trump, a free-wheeling CEO who is used to giving orders and having them executed, to suddenly find himself mired in politics and institutional restraints and checks and balances and all that folderol.But consider poor Rex Tillerson, a CEO of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":135051,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/10\/10\/trump-sure-hed-win-iq-test-tillerson.html","url_meta":{"origin":135510,"position":2},"title":"Trump is sure he’d win an IQ test against Tillerson","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 10-Oct-17 8:45am","format":false,"excerpt":"Oh, I'd pay money to watch that one. On the other and, how smart can Tillerson actually be? He agreed to be (and has remained) Secretary of State for someone who has nothing but contempt for the State Dept. Trump suggests he'd top Tillerson in an IQ test after 'moron'\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Trump-smug.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":134465,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/27\/adults-room-try-reassure-us-everything-will-fine.html","url_meta":{"origin":135510,"position":3},"title":"As the adults in the room try to reassure us that everything will be fine","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 27-Aug-17 5:08pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Two very odd (well, in terms of \"normal\" US politics) notes from two of the more \"mature\" senior cabinet members, Tillerson and Mattis. First, Rex Tillerson, the Secretary of State, appearing on\u00a0Fox News Sunday, where he was asked by Chris Wallace about the UN\u00a0Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Geopolitical Brouhaha"","block_context":{"text":"Geopolitical Brouhaha","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/geopolitical-brouhaha"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/landscape-1489587931-tillersonmattis1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/landscape-1489587931-tillersonmattis1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/landscape-1489587931-tillersonmattis1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/landscape-1489587931-tillersonmattis1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":135807,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/01\/11\/cant-stand-heat-stay-hidden-kitchen.html","url_meta":{"origin":135510,"position":4},"title":"If you can’t stand the heat, stay hidden in the kitchen","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 11-Jan-18 9:27pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Precious snowflake Donald Trump (or, more likely, his handling team) has decided that visiting London would expose the Leader of the Free World to a lot of mean protesters that would give him a sad. Instead, Rex Tillerson will go to open the new US embassy there. Which is fine,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/trump-and-may.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":132912,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/the-multi-cabinet-president.html","url_meta":{"origin":135510,"position":5},"title":"The Multi-Cabinet President","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 23-Feb-17 12:10pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Tillerson's woes are not unique. Every indication is that Trump has both a formal cabinet -- you know, the traditional set of department secretaries, all of them at least somewhat publicly vetted -- and his own internal cabinet of folk that he's pulled in as loyalists and comrades and allies\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135510"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135521,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135510\/revisions\/135521"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}