Forget about the supposed “honeymoon period” a new president is traditionally afforded. That never happened for Donald Trump and it was obvious from the sore-loser mentality of the far left it never would. But no “honeymoon period” between Trump and his new Secretary of State Rex Tillerson?
The two have been working together for just a few days since the former Exxon CEO was confirmed by the Senate and they have already had their first dust-up. The president has rejected Tillerson’s selection of his number two man at State, former deputy national security adviser Elliott Abrams.
One possible reason being that during Trump’s 2016 campaign, Abrams who served in foreign policy positions for Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, often criticized Trump and questioned his fitness for office. For a man of Trump’s enormous ego, that is a death sentence.
However, “Tillerson fought the president and went back to try to salvage it,” a source told The New York Post, claiming that Trump’s chief strategist Steve Bannon “did not want Abrams.” That may be another scenario for what happened, but there is more, which could explain Bannon’s reason.
Nevertheless, after Tillerson and Abrams met with the president in the Oval Office on Tuesday, the fur began to fly. Sometime after that, apparently Trump changed his mind on Abrams.
Abrams has all the right credentials for the job including being a senior fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and a regular contributor to The Weekly Standard. But, and this is a big but, he had stated earlier he could not vote for either Hillary or Trump, according to Politico.
Absolute loyalty is one of Trump’s biggest demands of those who work for him. To have made such a statement is equivalent to treason with Trump.
The Post cited a source that claimed Abrams had written some rather scandalous statements about his political preferences. They wrote, “After the meeting the White House let people know the meeting went well, and it was a done deal. Then, with no warning, the White House pulls the plug. Tillerson must be furious.”
The Big Problem With Elliott Abrams
The big problem with Abrams is that he is a neocon interventionist. Left or right, the American people have had enough of interventions. This is one Trump rejection that should meet with approval from patriotic anti-globalist democrats and republicans alike. Abrams would have been perfect for a Clinton administration.
Abrams actually ruled himself out of the job back in October 2016, when he spoke about how to fill the next level jobs, in an interview with Bill Kristol. Abrams said, “Take political appointees who will be loyal to the president,” effectively ruling himself out, because he did not support Donald Trump.
This is not the first time Trump has interfered with a cabinet member’s choice of staff. He also rejected personnel backed by Secretary of Defense James Mattis. It appears that the past election is an issue with Trump.
If you didn’t support him, by God you are the enemy. Tillerson’s choice was reportedly backed by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. That made no difference to Trump. Not surprisingly, neither the White House nor the State Department commented to The Post.
