Donald Trump’s Boy Scouts speech meltdown said to be hastening Rex Tillerson’s resignation
Yesterday came the news that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is considering resigning, partly in protest of how Donald Trump won’t allow him to staff the State Department, and partly in protest of how Trump has begun treating Attorney General Jeff Sessions (link). Now comes word that after Trump’s abhorrent behavior in front of the Boy Scouts, Tillerson’s resignation may be even more of a sure thing.
Just how bad have things gotten between Tillerson and Trump? According to New York Times international correspondent Edward Wong, “Everyone covering the State Dept. is on ‘Tillerson quits’ countdown watch. Tillerson has a long history with the Boy Scouts.” (link). This was after Bloomberg News foreign policy reporter stated that “Rex spoke to Scouts Fri w/o public fanfare. Trump comments more likely to push him out than policy contradictions.” (link). This is a striking sign that even some of Trump’s core allies have had enough of his increasingly deranged antics.
Donald Trump used his speech to an audience of Boy Scouts yesterday to ramble about a cocktail party and a friend’s exploits on a yacht, while delivering a divisively partisan political speech. Trump then managed to cajole the kids in the audience to boo President Obama and Hillary Clinton, in a development that’s instantly created the largest scandal in Boy Scouts history. And with Rex Tillerson now having one foot out the door in protest, it appears Trump may have also chased away his longtime pal Rudy Giuliani.
After the Trump administration floated Giuliani’s name as a possible replacement for Jeff Sessions once he’s forced out, Giuliani told CNN that he doesn’t want the job. He then went on to side with Sessions on his recusal, openly standing against Trump in the process (link). So now it appears Trump has lost at least three key allies, Sessions, Tillerson and Giuliani, within a matter of days. And it’s still only Tuesday.
