June 30, 2017

It appears that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had himself a snot-nosed, wall-eyed hissy fit at the White House in front of a crowd that included Reince Priebus, Jared Kushner, and Tillerson’s Chief of Staff Margaret Peterlin.

Tillerson exploded over issues that had been building for months. The straw that broke the camel’s back was Johnny DeStefano, a political operative for Trump, telling Tillerson who he could and could not hire at the State Department.

Tillerson also complained that the White House was leaking damaging information about him to the news media, according to a person familiar with the meeting. Above all, he made clear that he did not want DeStefano’s office to “have any role in staffing” and “expressed frustration that anybody would know better” than he about who should work in his department — particularly after the president had promised him autonomy to make his own decisions and hires, according to a senior White House aide familiar with the conversation.

Yeah, well, we all know that the president’s promises are biodegradable.

Tillerson, who I imagine is pretty much used to getting his way, decided that maybe the president’s young and inexperienced crew might respond to hollering and promises to get a switch off the willow tree in the backyard.

They didn’t.

Kushner, who has cornered the market on gall, reportedly told Tillerson’s chief of staff that his “outburst was completely unprofessional.”

Oh, I imagine that Tillerson is going to have something to say about that, don’t you?

Screw Mika and Trump – this is the fight I want to watch.

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