Trump fires back at 'dumb as a rock' Tillerson on Putin

MSN News ^ | 5/23/2019 | Brett Samuels

[grania]

I pretty much agree with you. I still like AG Sessions, and don't think President Trump would've succeeded without his support. AG Sessions recusing himself from the Russia probe freed him to do other things, instead of being held up 24/7 by "Russia, Russia, Russia".

AG Sessions had to deal with coup members inside the Trump administration and inside the FBI. I wonder if things would've turned out better if, as you submit, President Trump had brought along with him more of the folks who got him there.

[FreeReign]

Doesn’t Trump understand that when he criticizes those whom he has hired he is confessing to having poor judgment in having taking them on in the first place.

You say that as if Trump initiated the criticisms.

Tillerson initiated the criticisms, he criticized Trump. At that point, if Trump wants to defend himself, he has no other option than to criticize his hire, Tillerson.

[bagman]

Well, if Tillerson was dumb as a rock, then why did Trump hire him?

And calling Tillerson dumb as a rock is a petty insult, not a defense.

Sometimes (most times?) the best response is to ignore the criticism.

[FreeReign]

AG Sessions recusing himself from the Russia probe freed him to do other things, instead of being held up 24/7 by "Russia, Russia, Russia". AG Sessions had to deal with coup members inside the Trump administration and inside the FBI.

Still defending Sessions, two years later, after his clear statements of recusal, and after he accomplished absolutely nothing on the matter of prosecuting the Deep State conspirators??

The evidence is overwhelming that Sessions wasn't free to go after the coup members, because he recused himself on anything connected to what amounted to all the coup stuff.

[chris37]

Get out of here, and don’t come back.

[Liz]

Trump fired him now it turns out Secy of State Tillerson was pursuing Obama-era policies at the State Dept,
deliberately sabotaging President Trump on Iran policy, relations with Israel, the Paris Accords and other issues.
.......several prominent Obama officials who have knowledge of the Iran deal are still at the State Dept.
<><> Sahar Nowrouzzadeh, in charge of Iran and the Persian Gulf region on the policy planning staff,
<><> a former John Kerry apprentice, Michael Ratney, occupies the Israeli-Palestinian portfolio,
<><> trusted Obama aide, Yael Lempert, served under Tillerson on the same platform.

REFERENCE--- Obama's $1.3B giveaway to Iran was paid in cash Jan 22 and Feb 5 from a little-known fund administered by the US Treasury.The so-called Judgment Fund is made up of tax dollars Congress has permanently approved in the event it's needed....

SOURCE: fiscaltreasury.gov. -----The Judgment Fund was established to pay court judgments and Justice Department compromise settlements of actual or imminent lawsuits against the government. It is administered by the Judgment Fund Section, which is a part of the United States Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service. The Judgment Fund Internet Claims System (JFICS) is the application used to process all Judgment Fund claims.

The Judgment Fund is a permanent, indefinite appropriation available to pay judicially and administratively ordered monetary awards against the United States. The Judgment Fund is also available to pay amounts owed under compromise agreements negotiated by the U.S. Department of Justice in settlement of claims arising under actual or imminent litigation, if a judgment on the merits would be payable from the Judgment Fund. The statutory authority for the Judgment Fund is 31 U.S.C. 1304.

If funds for paying an award are otherwise provided for in the appropriations of the defendant agency, the Judgment Fund may not pay an award. A federal agency may request that payment of an award be made on its behalf from the Judgment Fund only in those instances where funds are not legally available to pay the award from the agency's own appropriations.

Amounts paid vary significantly from year-to-year. Federal agencies are not required to reimburse the Judgment Fund except when cases are filed under the Contract Disputes Act (CDA) or the No FEAR Act (Notification and Federal Employee Antidiscrimination and Retaliation Act).

We can be contacted at judgment.fund@fiscal.treasury.gov or 202-874-6664.

===============================================

Then-President Barack Obama is briefed by Sahar Nowrouzzadeh, Director for Iran, NSC, before taping a message to the Iranian people in the Blue Room of the White House, March 18, 2016. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

[FreeReign]

Well, if Tillerson was dumb as a rock, then why did Trump hire him?

As documented by some on this thread, Trump had bad advice and limited confirmable choices.

And calling Tillerson dumb as a rock is a petty insult, not a defense.

Yet you make no criticism of Tillerson for initiating the "petty insults", by calling Trump a "moron".

Sometimes (most times?) the best response is to ignore the criticism.

I don't agree. At least not in this circumstance.

And wouldn't you agree that it was dumb of Tillerson to support the Paris Climate Accords, the Iran Nuclear Deal and TPP?

[coon2000]

I agree with you, dumb as a rock is wrong. He is definitely dumber.

[grania]

We’re getting more talk but no action. AG Sessions was methodical and maybe should’ve had someone more aggressive and loyal at his side. But I STILL don’t see any coup members getting hauled away in chains. It’s embarrassing to our side and it emboldens Coup Members to keep going after President Trump.

[bagman]

I don’t carry a brief for Tillerson, but Trump does himself no favors by calling him dumb as a rock. It calls into question his ability to evaluate his subordinates.

[enumerated]

“I think Mr. Trump was very unwise in his selection of cabinet and staff...”

It’s not that he was unwise in who he picked. It is that his America First agenda threatens the very existence of the globalist swamp that is DC.

They unleash holy Hell on anyone he picks who dares to support his agenda. They monopolize the deep state bureaucracy, the media, academia. They possess immeasurable wealth and power, with which they have purchased the government, lock, stock and barrel. They literally will stop at nothing to destroy the MAGA movement - if they can’t find skeletons in a closet, they physically threaten family members.

Who can stand up to that kind of guerrilla warfare for long? Even if one possesses inhuman strength and courage - it is nearly impossible to resist when one’s family is targeted.

I watch President Trump, Ben Carson, Sarah Huckabee and some of the other bravest of the brave, and I wonder how they stay so strong. Some have buckled and I can’t judge them without walking a mile in their shoes - without knowing what hard choices they were facing.

True, the President has appointed some actual swamp creatures - and Rex Tillerson was one of them - but I don’t believe it was lack of wisdom. President Trump knew Tillerson didn’t share his agenda. But sometimes you appoint a dissenting commander in the hopes he will follow orders and get things done.

I hope President Trump lives long enough beyond 2024 to write his memoirs, and that I live long enough to read them. It will be a fascinating read. I guarantee there is very little in the way of bumbling, naiveté, lack of wisdom or undue influence from those around him.

When a leader is as strong, focused and resolute as President Trump is, not everyone on his staff needs to share his agenda.

[detective]

“Sometimes (most times?) the best response is to ignore the criticism.”

Sometimes it is.

Are you aware of the literally thousands of times President Trump has simply ignored criticism? The president does it every day.

In this case it is definitely NOT the best response.

Tillerson was recommended to President Trump for SOS by leading members of the Republican establishment including Condoleezza Rice, Robert Gates, Stephen Hadley and James Baker. It did not take President Trump long to figure out that Tillerson was an absolute disaster as SoS.

President Trump allowed Tillerson to resign. High level officials at the State Department said Tillerson was incompetent and worse. Tillerson was dishonest and untrustworthy as Secretary of State.

https://www.cnn.com/2017/12/11/politics/diplomat-resigns-letter-shackelford-tillerson/index.html

Recently Tillerson met “secretly” with House Democrats to attack President Trump. In these secret meetings Tillerson made up lies about the President. The so called secret meetings were then immediately leaked to the media.

No one would have set the record straight if the President did not tell the truth.

“All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing.”

President Trump was correct to tell the truth and not let obvious lies go unchallenged and unrefuted.

[SamAdams76]

Correct. I should have used the present tense. Even today, the establishment wants him to fail including sadly most of the Republicans.

Trump has done more for the Republican party since Ronald Reagan but many Republicans would rather have Hillary Clinton as president than to have an outsider like Trump in the White House because it upsets the apple cart and destroys the narrative that only "experienced career politicians" are capable of running our government.

It's really despicable and illustrates just how screwed we are as a Republic with this entrenched Deep State - as one man is not going to fix it. Even if Trump is re-elected another four years, and I think he will be, we are likely to be right back at square one if Trump's successor is another establishment hack.

[FreeReign]

Trump does himself no favors by calling him dumb as a rock. It calls into question his ability to evaluate his subordinates.

It was Tillerson who did Trump no favors. Tillerson's position on Paris Climate Accords, the Iran Nuclear Deal and TPP, plus Tillerson's calling Trump a moron, all call into question by some, Trump's ability to evaluate his suborndiates.

Trump calling Tillerson "dumb as a rock" help mitigates that damage.

[sarge83]

Tillerson isn’t dumb as a rock, he just wasn’t in for the changes in US policy that Trump wanted and he had to go. Tillerson is a member of the globalist, screw America as long as I can make a dollar club. He was a bad hire, but then again Trump had a ton of GOPE trash coming at him hands out after the election and he made some bad choices in the cabinet.

I think things have settled down more especially after the 2018 election and Trump has mostly who he wants in place. Tillerson, the Marine generals, and Sessions were utter failures in implementing Trump’s American first policy. I understand Tillerson, but the Marine generals doing the bidding of the globalist is quite alarming.

[YogicCowboy]

Thank you both for reasonable assertions.