Trump gets a snub from Tillerson but not a "thank you."
Trump's abrupt firing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson didn't take long to blow up in his face. Tillerson used his press conference to snub and humiliate Trump.
Shortly after announcing the firing via Twitter, Trump ordered the firing of State Department undersecretary Steve Goldstein, who had issued a statement saying Tillerson was caught unawares by the social media announcement of the firing.
But in the opening seconds of his press conference, Tillerson confirmed that undersecretary's statement, telling assembled reporters, "I received a call today from the president of the United States at a little after noontime today" to inform him of the firing.
While he didn't exactly reprise his "moron" remarks, he did notably refuse to thank Trump during his remarks. And aside from his embarrassing revelation at the top of the press conference, he didn't reference Trump at all.
Tillerson oversaw a disastrous tenure at the State Department. And he was also a frequent embarrassment to Trump. He famously called Trump a "moron" (and ostentatiously refusing to deny he had done so). And he conspicuously distanced himself from Trump's "values" after Trump praised Nazis as "very fine people."
Even on his last full day as secretary, he showed Trump up by criticizing Russia when his boss would not.
Now he joins a long list of ousted Trump officials, none of whom are likely to miss this chaotic and dysfunctional White House.
