Changes of personnel in the State Department are not unusual in the history of modern-day America. Former President Ronald Reagan's first secretary of state, Alexander Hague, resigned or was fired just a year and a half after being appointed. William Rogers, who was so active in Middle East affairs, resigned as secretary of state in the first year of President Richard Nixon's second term.
But this time, the writing was on the wall from the day Rex Tillerson took office. From the beginning, he projected weariness, frustration, and a notable lack of enthusiasm for his demanding position, in part due to the cuts to his office's funding. One could have guessed that his desire to return to a routine of golf and his comfortable retirement would not vanish after he answered the call to the colors and joined the Trump administration.
Given his senior position and his extensive business ties with the Kremlin when he was president and CEO of the Exxon-Mobile oil corporation, the White House saw Tillerson as an efficient line of communication with Moscow, one that could give legitimacy to the suspicion-dogged ties with Russia that were maintained ahead of the 2016 election and at the same time help improve contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin without the appearance of cronyism. But it quickly became apparent that these expectations would not be fulfilled and that there was an unbridgeable gap between President Donald Trump's jumpy, blunt, and atypical style and that of the secretary of state, who always kept his cool and stayed cautious and buttoned-up, never expressing any desire to help shape U.S. foreign policy.
Which is why Tillerson was made almost completely ineffective, not only by Trump but by other members of the Washington elite, like Defense Secretary James Mattis and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster.
But beyond the very different ways that Trump – the bona fide heretic – and Tillerson, who exemplified respectability but also a "square" – conducted themselves, deep-seated differences between the secretary of state and the White House came to light on major policy issues. Among other things, Tillerson opposed the strong line the president took on Iran and had reservations about the possibility of the U.S. withdrawing from the nuclear agreement. He also disagreed with the decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change, as well as supporting a much more moderate approach to Qatar than did Trump, who defined Qatar as a state funder of terrorism.
The watershed moment that brought about his dismissal was Tillerson's objection to Trump holding a summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un without thorough preparation and coordination. This is how a very short, unimpressive career came to an end. Moreover, it appears that Tillerson's services as a fair, protected diplomat on the Russian front are no longer required, mostly because of recent findings by the House Intelligence Committee, which has yet to find any smoking gun in the Putingate affair.
Given the close ties between Trump and Tillerson's prospective successor, former CIA director Mike Pompeo, we can expect that the latest appointment will help the White House function more harmoniously. Firing Tillerson will allow the 45th president to make history by appointing Gina Haspel the first female director of the CIA.
