CABINET/FOREIGN POLICY/MILITARY/NORTH KOREA/STATE/TRUMP PEOPLE/REX TILLERSON: “North Korea has fired a ballistic missile into the sea off the Korean Peninsula, the latest in a series of test firings and one that comes just days before President Donald Trump is set to huddle with Chinese President Xi Jinping for a two-day summit in Florida.
Here’s what Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, aka the nation’s top diplomat, had to say about the latest provocation from North Korea: ‘North Korea launched yet another intermediate range ballistic missile. The United States has spoken enough about North Korea. We have no further comment.’
That’s a total of 23 words, if you’re counting. Twenty-three words that leave you more confused when you get to the end of them than when you started. Is Tillerson trying to talk tough? Or is he refusing to give North Korea the attention he thinks they’re trying to grab in advance of the US-China meeting? Somewhere in between? Neither? Both?”
-Chris Cillizza, “Rex Tillerson’s incredibly odd and confusing statement on North Korea,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, April 5, 2017