On Friday evening, former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson received a call from Trump’s Chief of Staff, John Kelly. The news? That Trump would be firing Tillerson at some unspecified point in the future (perhaps by tweet).
Some wondered if Tillerson would be fired the moment he publicly called the President a “moron” after a July 20 meeting at the Pentagon. However, despite that comment, Tillerson remained in his position for more than eight months.
That is, until today, hours after Tillerson stated Russia “clearly” was behind the poisoning of an ex-spy in the U.K. and also said this:
In a statement released by the State Department on Monday evening, Tillerson called Russia "an irresponsible force of instability in the world, acting with open disregard for the sovereignty of other states and the life of their citizens."
Hours after statements blaming Russia for poisoning an ex-spy and interfering (ahem) in the sovereignty of nation states (ahem), Tillerson was fired.
Coincidence?
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David Harris-Gershon is author of the memoir What Do You Buy the Children of the Terrorist Who Tried to Kill Your Wife?, published by Oneworld Publications (London).
Follow him on Twitter @David_ehg