Citing the negotiations with North Korea, Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen lays out the reasons why President Trump had to replace Secretary of State Rex Tillerson with like-thinking Mike Pompeo in his March 16 op-ed, “Rex Tillerson’s insubordination meant that he had to go.” But what a way to go!

President Trump fired Secretary of State Tillerson in a tweet in which he announced his nomination of CIA Director Pompeo for secretary of state and thanked Tillerson for his service. This is the first time a U.S. secretary of state learned about his firing the same way you and I did – in a public communication.

But this is not the first time President Trump has fired a high-level public official in a public communication. Former FBI Director James Comey learned about his firing in a news item that appeared on television while he was away from Washington giving a speech to FBI agents.

Close Tillerson aide Steve Goldstein was also fired – for contradicting the official account of why Tillerson was fired. Goldstein had said in a statement that “the secretary had every intention of remaining because of the tangible progress made on critical national security issues.” Tillerson had made it clear that the president would have to fire him to his face.

Although President Trump had plenty of experience firing people to their face on “The Apprentice,” he failed to do so with these high-level men in his administration. Why?

Paula N. Singer

Lyman

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