Ronan Farrow on Rex Tillerson: He Told Me He Didn't Know What He Was Doing As Secretary of State

[DonViejo]

by Ken Meyer | 7:51 am, May 16th, 2018

Ronan Farrow spoke to Seth Meyers last night on Late Night, and he offered some interesting insight into what he learned about Rex Tillerson while writing his foreign policy book: War On Peace.

After Meyers finished his mock White House press briefing, he spoke to Farrow about the former secretary of state’s very frank comments in the book.

“Tillerson, if he had any logic, knew that he was going to be fired on some level,” Farrow said. “Maybe that’s why he’s so frank in this book. He basically says ‘I didn’t know what I was doing, I wasn’t experienced enough for it.'”

Farrow continued to say that Tillerson blames the White House for his unceremonious dismissal earlier this year, but Farrow wasn’t “surprised” since “it is apparent to anyone looking at the State Department…that it’s become something of a dumpster fire.” Farrow called it a sad state of affairs, considering how often the people working there have to do a lot of unglamorous, unappreciated work to advance American international interests.

Watch above, via NBC.

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https://www.mediaite.com/tv/ronan-farrow-on-rex-tillerson-he-told-me-he-didnt-know-what-he-was-doing-as-secretary-of-state/

[cyclonefence]

1. Stop the presses n/t

[lunasun]

2. He basically says 'I didn't know what I was doing, I wasn't experienced enough for it.'"

never heard Clinton or Kerry say that

[MyOwnPeace]

4. THAT could be a quote

from just about every member of the "Cabinet!"

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

17. I'm sure both Clinton and Kerry felt that way at times.

It has to be an overwhelming job, dealing with foreign cultures, some very foreign indeed.

But, Clinton and Kerry didn't fire their experienced diplomats in droves, so they had more help.

[vlyons]

3. Did it never occur to Tillerson to hire some pros?

He failed to hire, retain, and recruit state dept professionals. He let a lot of important open positions go unfilled. Isn't that what normal people do? Hire a pro to do a job that we don't know how to do? Most incompetent bunch of clowns EVER!

[treestar]

5. It would have most likely

Maybe the Dotard made that impossible.

[Kaleva]

15. It's my understanding that people Tillerson wanted were rejected by the Trump WH.

Issues about loyalty towards Trump.

[Hekate]

16. If you listen toRachel, she's been saying all along that State Dept is being "hollowed out" by Trump

Many departments are being hollowed out -- on purpose. It's Trump/Bannon policy. But State has been especially hard-hit, and as far as anyone can tell, it was not Rex Tillerson's idea.

[LisaL]

7. Isn't that a requirement in order to be selected by Trump?

[mercuryblues]

8. I I became secretary of State

I wouldn't know what I was doing either. The big difference being, I would know that I was out of my depth and make sure to maintain the support staff in the dept.

His experience as CEO of a global company like Exxon gave him a head start about world affairs. He and his ego blew it spectacularly. Under a different president, the best he could have he would have been was a barely mediocre SoS. Under trump, WTF did he expect? He used his position to push Exxon policy. Not to promote US relations. He can fuck off on his woe is me, I was duped bullshit.

[GusBob]

9. It is interesting he used the word "experienced"

Because what they did was fire all the experienced state dept people because they worked for previous administrations and put in a bunch of jits from the heritage foundation.

The resulting gaps in our diplomacy are going to ruin foreign relations in our country for o long time

[gratuitous]

10. Nothing any impartial observer didn't know all along

The question is, if anyone in the popular media knew it, they went to great lengths to avoid reporting about it. Useless asswipes.

[ananda]

11. And yet .. he took the job.

This could be said about all of 45's staff.

[Paladin]

12. So the guy who climbed to the top at ExxonMobil lacked the ability to say "No, thanks"?

Sorry, Rex, I'm not buying it.

[0rganism]

13. they weren't appointed to do the job

they were supposed to burn it all down. Rex got his ass fired for two reasons: not burning fast enough and grabbing too much news coverage away from Agent Orange.

[Dalida]

14. Ridiculous that he would write a book after such a short tenure

Would he have even one chapter with anything but filler? It's not a requirement to write a book after public office... And if I was him I'd be ashamed to do it after his miserable performance.