When I heard this morning that Trump had fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson by tweet, I assumed it was a preemptive measure, hoping to distract attention away from the neck and neck Congressional special election race in Pennsylvania’s 18th district, which, historically speaking, should have been an easy win for the GOP, even before Trump started holding rallies for Republican Rick Saccone, and hastily pushing through steel tariffs in hopes of appealing to the blue collar voters of Southwest Pennsylvania. As it turns out, though, the firing had nothing to do with the race between Conor Lamb and Rick Saccone, and Trump’s attempt to obscure the fact that a district he’d won by nearly 20 points just a year ago, had done the impossible and turned blue. It also apparently didn’t have anything to do with with the ever-expanding Stormy Daniels scandal, or the fact that, just as Trump was firing Tillerson, his presidential aide, John McEntee, was about to be escorted from the White House grounds for “serious financial crimes”.
No, Rex Tillerson, at least according to popular Russian news anchor Olga Skabeeva, lost his job because, the evening before his abrupt firing, he had sided with British Prime Minister Theresa May, stating that the poisoning of ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the U.K. was “a really egregious act” that appears to have “clearly” come from Russia. [The military-grade chemical weapon used against Skripal and his daughter nine days ago Salisbury is from a family of Soviet-developed nerve agents known as Novichok.] Noting that Tump immediately fired Tillerson, Skabeeva told Russian State TV viewers, “Trump is ours!”
While I suppose it’s possible that Tillerson was fired for other, unrelated reasons, it does seem odd that, within hours of promising a response against Russia, should it be determined that they’d perpetrated this chemical warfare attack on British soil, he’d be fired. Again, it may be a coincidence, but it does seem odd, doesn’t it, that Trump has yet to speak out on the first chemical warfare attack on British soil since WWII, or, for that matter, the fact that, a few weeks back, Putin announced a new missile system capable of delivering a nuclear weapon to Florida.
Here, if you’ve yet to see it, is video of British Prime Minister Theresa May, talking about the chemical attack, which took place in a city of 40,000 people, and may have poisoned hundreds. “The government has concluded that it is highly likely that Russia was responsible,” May said.
BREAKING: British PM May: "The government has concluded that it is highly likely that Russia was responsible" for nerve agent attack on Russian ex-spy. pic.twitter.com/gKjNEvam2u
— NBC News (@NBCNews) March 12, 2018
So, yeah, Tillerson wasn’t fired last October when it came out that he’d referred to Trump as “a fucking moron”, but something that happened yesterday that made Trump, without any warning, fire him. If you have an alternate explanation, I’d love to hear it. In the meantime, here are two tweets that I’d like you to check out… They were posted just a few hours apart.
As we flew back home from Nigeria tonight, Tillerson came to the back of a plane for a brief chat – and unloaded on #Russia. https://t.co/d2dHNKjpE1
— Josh Lederman (@joshledermanAP) March 13, 2018
Mike Pompeo, Director of the CIA, will become our new Secretary of State. He will do a fantastic job! Thank you to Rex Tillerson for his service! Gina Haspel will become the new Director of the CIA, and the first woman so chosen. Congratulations to all!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 13, 2018
34 Comments
Quoting May further….. May says she will give Russia until end of tomorrow to respond to nerve agent attack against ex-Russian spy. “Should there be no credible response, we will conclude that this action amounts to an unlawful use of force by the Russia state against the United Kingdom.”
Abruptly? Not quite. We’ve been reading about Tillerson’s expected exit since December. He fought against Trump on nearly every issue. It was reported that John Kelley called Tillerson on Friday and asked him to resign. He called him again on Saturday to give him another opportunity to resign. Tuesday’s tweet was not unexpected nor undeserved.
And the race in Pennsylvania is close because the Democrat ran as a moderate conservative. Sounds like a good strategy for everyone if all the Democrats run and govern as conservatives in 2018. Win-Win.
The appointment of Pompeo is bad news. Hate’s Muslims, hates Iran, hates the truth. Probably signals the demise of any attempt by Trump to get along with the Russians. Pompeo is owned lock stock and barrel by the Kocks.
It’s good to see you back, EOS. We’ve missed your “family values” perspective. Let’s talk about Stormy Daniels. First, though, I’m curious to know what you make of the fact that Trump has yet to acknowledge a chemical warfare attack, very likely perpetrated by Putin, inside the United Kingdom.
Pompeo took more money from the Koch brothers than any other member of Congress.
The Nation: “The Koch Brothers Get Their Very Own Secretary of State”
https://www.thenation.com/article/the-koch-brothers-get-their-very-own-secretary-of-state/
“Sounds like a good strategy for everyone if all the Democrats run and govern as conservatives in 2018”
No, I think the result shows a better strategy for Republicans would be to stop running obviously unfit, unprincipled, demagogues. Finally some conservatives are starting to recognize Trump is full of shit and his coattail riders are coated in it.
Tillerson’s aide, Steven Goldstein was also fired directly after him for replying to reporters that Tillerson had no idea why he was fired, contradicting the Trump/FOX narrative which EOS so reliably parrots.
And another ex-Russian spy showed up dead in London.
Fun times all around.
Nothing of concern here.
What could our president possibly have to say about Russia lately?
Wobblie, this idea you have that Putin’s Russia will play nice if we do has been disproven 100x now. Let that go.
Last thought— I don’t know how John Kelly can live with himself, repeating Trump lies. I don’t agree with him on much but thought he was directed by a sense of honor and duty to country. I’m wondering if he thinks the need to stay in his position, to manage Trump’s volatility and impulsiveness against their worst possible outcomes, is so compelling that he’s willing to lie repeatedly to the public in ways that protect the president. That’s the scarier scenario.
Correction: Another Russian exile and Putin enemy was found dead, not spy. Apologies. There are so many that it’s hard to track. Denial that Putin is anything but an old school criminal dictator and murderer is total absurdity. I acknowledge that we’re no angels abroad, but this is on a different level. It’s unfettered. It’s shameless. No wonder Trump admires Putin so. Either that, or he fears him. Guess we’ll find out.
https://amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/mar/13/russian-exile-nikolai-glushkov-found-dead-at-his-london-home
UK to expel 23 Russian diplomats, PM Theresa May says, after nerve agent attack on former double agent in Salisbury.
http://bbc.in/2pdUBIj
How many Democrat’s will join Rank Paul in opposing Pompeo and the torturer.
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/378353-rand-paul-to-oppose-pompeo-haspel
“Denial that Putin is anything but an old school criminal dictator and murderer is total absurdity.”
I remember when American liberals were fawning over Putin over his op-ed in the New York Times. Fairly unbelievable, actually.
Or maybe believable. Not sure which.
It looks like Nikki Haley is trying to get out of her job the same way… either that or she’s trying to help Trump out by demonstrating that not everyone who mentions Russia in a negative context gets fired.
For those who want to engage in critical thinking
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/03/the-novichok-story-is-indeed-another-iraqi-wmd-scam/
Even this re-assessment of Putin’s Times Op-ed a year after the fact seems naive now. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/03/02/remember-vladimir-putins-new-york-times-op-ed-lets-revisit-it/
JH actually 5 years after the fact. The article is from 2014 a year after the 2013 op-ed that Putin wrote.
FWIW, I have always had a lot of respect for Nikki Haley even though I disagree with her on a lot of things. That has been damaged somewhat by her acceptance of her post in his administration as UN ambassador. Still, I can’t think of a single other appointee of whom I have such a positive opinion. Part of me hopes she does get fired because I think she’ll have more future success if she distances herself from him but part of me hopes she doesn’t get fired because I know her replacement will be much much worse.
Lynne– I meant a year after the fact of the op-ed. Soon thereafter Putin invaded Ukraine.
Some people have this odd idea that, in the absence of the United States, the world is a peaceful place where everyone works cooperatively for the betterment of humanity.
Having lived all around the world, I can tell you that this idea is complete bullshit.
When people see a single powerful entity with engaged in upheaval or oppression, they become legitimately outraged. It’s natural then to imagine that disrupting the power of that one entity will cause an end to the upheaval and oppression. It’s also untrue. Not entirely, but mostly. Solutions are more complex than bad guys and good guys, especially after so much damage has been done. And disruption has its own consequences, usually disproportionately weighing on the marginalized and oppressed, as always.
People like to have easy answers to complex problems particularly if those answers relieve them of having to learn anything.
I personally believe that the strongest motivation of any protectionist stance, including anti-foreign involvement, is not wanting to be held responsible— wanting clean hands. Unfortunately, not wanting to be held responsible is also a means of avoiding responsibility. We don’t have clean hands when involved in foreign affairs, and we won’t have clean hands if we ignore them. Diplomatic solutions can’t work without thevfoundation of trade and alliances. So it’s just intellectually inconsistent to claim to be protectionist because one is anti-war. Who isn’t anti-war really? Pacifism isn’t an anti-war position. I grew up around pacifists. Pacifism is a stand aside. disengagement. They got beat up a lot. Their barns were burned. People threw stones at them. I admired their commitment to it. But it didn’t solve the problem of violence. Pacifism doesn’t lead to peace. I wish it were that easy.
“I personally believe that the strongest motivation of any protectionist stance, including anti-foreign involvement, is not wanting to be held responsible— wanting clean hands. Unfortunately, not wanting to be held responsible is also a means of avoiding responsibility. We don’t have clean hands when involved in foreign affairs, and we won’t have clean hands if we ignore them.”
Yes. This is true. Iraq was a stupid mistake, dumber than most, but if the US sidelines itself like Trump and American leftists want, the world is going to become a very, very scary place very quickly, particularly in East Asia.
This is the opposition
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/03/14/despite-torture-loving-pasts-schumer-not-pushing-democrats-oppose-pompeo-or-haspel?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=socialnetwork
IL, “Iraq was a stupid mistake” absolute rubbish. It was a carefully thought out and implemented decision to use 911 to engage in a war of aggression against Iraq. I guess you do not know much if anything. Apologist for war criminals.
Both things can be true, Wobblie. No one here is an apologist for war criminals. I personally actively opposed both Gulf Wars and the invasion of Afghanistan, for what it was worth (not much). That doesn’t mean I believe we can walk away now. You know why? Because I’m not an apologist. And I’m not willing to see us walk away from an entire region we destabilized and destroyed. Obama’s tried to disengage in Syria and the result was an escalation of he war, the rise of ISIL and the greatest humanitarian/refugee crisis of our time. Why is it you abhor any conversation that accepts complexity in favor of simplistic condemnation? Read more Juan Cole.
Wobblie— Accusation against Haspel re laughing at torture etc have been discounted with Pro publics issuing a retraction. The Author of the book used as source material for that accusation said he was not referring to Haspel and said she is the most qualified candidate for that position. Given what the CIA has been engaged in since the W years (and before), finding someone from inside to run the place who is not similarly compromised is unlikely. And yet we need the CIA now. (Snake eating it’s tale scenario for sure) Im reserving judgement on Haspel until I know more. Spreading misinformation is not helpful to that end.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/04/the-nancy-pelosi-problem/554048/
Americans generally believe “that leaders must necessarily possess attributes such as competitiveness, self-confidence, objectiveness, aggressiveness, and ambitiousness.” But “these leader attributes, though welcomed in a male, are inconsistent with prescriptive female stereotypes of warmth and communality.” In fact, “the mere indication that a female leader is successful in her position leads to increased ratings of her selfishness, deceitfulness, and coldness.”
JH, I guess it is alright that Haspel destroyed the video evidence of the tortures? And you people think you are the “opposition” to Trump? MM clearly is on board for a shooting war with Russia, how about every body else? We bombed them once in Syria (allegedly killed a couple hundred) and have had our allies shoot down some of their planes.
Now that the Satan Saddam is gone, we can deal with that Devil Putin.
Love me Love me I’m a Liberal
NYT: McMaster to Resign as National Security Adviser, and Will Be Replaced by John Bolton
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/22/us/politics/hr-mcmaster-trump-bolton.html
As Trump accelerates his purge of “rational” individuals from his administration, while surrounding himself with rabid true- believers and die-hard loyalists (including would-be war criminals from the Bush II administration, like John Bolton), am I paranoid in worrying that he is merely setting the stage for some truly next-level authoritarian bullsh*t?
I suspect he is going to prove he is a mans man and go to Tehran. One more war to rally the masses. All the xenophobic Russia hysteria has to go some where, and the Russian’s have nuclear weapons so we can’t go there. (Will also distract from all the investigations–and put the Democrats in a box).
According to a source close to poisoned Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal, he was investigating collusion between Internet Research Agency, AIQ, Cambridge Analytica and its parent company, SCL, in Brexit Referendum Campaign and Trump’s Campaign 2016.
https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/opinion/why-the-cambridge-analytica-scandal-could-be-much-more-serious-than-you-think/27/03/
one more for the memory hole.
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2018/05/24/skripal-case-being-pushed-down-memory-hole-with-libya-aleppo.html
Aloha, and yet another false flag begins to unravel.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51680.htm
I know I am just a dolt, but it really amazes me that people actually believe the professional liars that make up our “intelligence” agencies. They are in the business of misinforming people.