12/7/2018

REX TILLERSON/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump hurled insults Friday [12-7-18] at former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, calling him ‘dumb as a rock’ and ‘lazy as hell’ after the former ExxonMobil chief executive publicly described his own frustration while serving in the administration…The tweet came after Tillerson told CBS News’s Bob Schieffer Thursday [12-6-18] that he found Trump ‘pretty undisciplined’ and said they did not share a ‘common value system.’ ‘When the president would say, ‘Here’s what I want to do, and here’s how I want to do it,’ and I’d have to say to him, ‘Well, Mr. President, I understand what you want to do but you can’t do it that way. It violates the law, it violates the treaty, you know,’” Tillerson said during comments at a fundraiser in Houston…Tillerson and Trump had a rocky relationship from the beginning — the secretary was reported to have called Trump a “moron” behind his back at one point — culminating in the president abruptly firing the secretary of state via tweet. Trump replaced Tillerson with then-CIA Director Pompeo, with whom he has had a smoother connection.”

Matthew Choi, “Trump calls Tillerson ‘dumb as a rock’ and ‘lazy as hell’,” Politico, December 7, 2018 3:41 pm