Incoming presidential Chief of Staff Reince Priebus flails around to defend the cozy relationship between purported Secretary of Staff nominee Rex Tillerson and Russia.
December 11, 2016

I officially dub Donald Trump's incoming Chief of Staff the "Sherpa of Bullsh*t Mountain." Because I can't imagine anyone better suited to miring the country in utter crap than the outgoing RNC chairman Reince Priebus.

As the news seemed to zero in on Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson being the most likely nominee for Secretary of State (sorry, Mitt, you groveled for Trump's ego, nothing more), the cozy relationship between yet another facet of the Trump administration and Vladimir Putin came into stark contrast.

Enter the Sherpa of Bullsh*t Mountain.

Diving deep into the muck, Priebus gish gallops the ineffectual Chuck Todd by insisting that Rex Tillerson's history of dealing with hostile foreign actors and ignoring the federal government's requests not to cozy up to Vladimir Putin. Because nothing better qualifies you to be one of the most important Cabinet Secretaries than to put your own interests over the country, amirite?

REINCE PRIEBUS: Sure, I think he's qualified to be Secretary of State, absolutely.

CHUCK TODD: Just having business deals, that qualifies him?

REINCE PRIEBUS: It's not just business deals, it's an extensive knowledge of our relationships across the globe, and extensive knowledge of international law, and extensive knowledge of how deals are put together in places of the world that are very sensitive, and intergovernmental relationships that are very unique to Rex Tillerson. And so yeah, I think he's not just qualified, I think he's someone that's preeminent, not just in business, but in the entire world.

CHUCK TODD: But should it be troubling if somebody-- for instance, the United States government lobbied Rex Tillerson not to attend an event in Russia earlier this year, sort of a global expo event that Vladimir Putin was hosting. And United States government was hoping Rex Tillerson wouldn't go. He could, and they didn't prevent him from going.

But he essentially put Exxon's interest over and above the interest of the United States government in that position. Do you understand why that would unnerve some people about the idea of him as America's chief diplomat?

REINCE PRIEBUS: Well, it might unnerve people who think that the best route for our country to go is to ignore people and to have an enemies list and adhere to that list. But look, I just don't believe, and neither does the president-elect, that solving the world's biggest problems are best done by ignoring people and having, you know, crummy relationships across the globe. And so we just don't believe that talking to people having relationships is a bad thing.

Make sense of that, I dare you. Rex Tillerson wasn't acting on the country's behalf when he ignored the federal government's request not to go to an economic forum. It was actively helping a foreign state, who had already established hostile relations with the US and had economic sanctions placed on them. Like Trump's ignoring of embargoes on Cuba, Tillerson worked against US State Department strictures for his own profit.

But yeah, "talking" to people is what has people unnerved.

Find another path, oh Sherpa. This one is doesn't work.

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