by 'bad experience', Trump meant Hillary did a terrible job not that it was experience in something irrelevant. Are you claiming Tillerman did a bad job as Exxon CEO? You go into a negotiation knowing what you want and what you are willing to give up for it. Tillerman has negotiated with governments plenty of times. He will be fine in that regard. Im not saying hes a good pick as I have no idea what his positions are regarding national security, but I am positive he has the experience for the job. I would like this Russian government to have far less power in the world. It is evil. I would hope Trump does too. This would put me/Trump at odds with the Russian government.
It's sadly hilarious to see the siren song of the Never Trump brigade come out every single time he is criticized about anything. You could practically set your watch to the Pavlovian regurgitation of "but Hillary...liberals...Democrats...etc".
When people are inaccurately criticized I say that they are inaccurately criticized. When it's someone that is a Democrat being inaccurately criticized one group whines about it, when it's someone that is a Republican being inaccurately criticized a different group whines about it. Oh well, I guess that's just how it goes.
Is this not a microcosm of American Business policies? I mean I cannot tell the number of times I've gotten bosses/managers who had no clear idea what I did. They never done what I done . . . and had little experience I have heard enough people relate the same in their jobs to think that it is just the business mentality . I think that . . . . they figure if you know the job . . you might have sympathy on the people doing it and that you would understand the realistic expectations of the job so . . .they put someone in there with no experience to ask the impossible and then blame the workers for the failure becuase some obscure service model that worked in a totally unrelated field didn't work . . . . . Why should our government not work the same .. . . . since we want to run our government like a business Rocket River
in a vacuum, Tillerson has a legal obligation to act in the fiduciary interest of his company, so I don't fault him for interacting with sketchy people (if it's within the law) but given the real and/or perceived concerns about Russian meddling, probably not the best choice
Lesson learned. Never quote Donald Trump when trying to make a point. Seriously, I know what he meant, but equating Tillerson's business expertise to relevant experience is problematic. I've stated in a previous post that he's had success. In a perfect world, he'll put good people around him and catch on quick to the aspects of the job he's unprepared for. He's not inheriting a perfect world though. I'm ignoring the conflicts of interests at this point because we don't have definitive proof. Doesn't look great though. I don't want Russia's power to grow either. For anyone who's studied the issue, Putin is a shrewd opportunist. Based on early signs, he seems to have an opportunity to branch out w/ this administration, economically at least.
It it a microcosm to some extent. My programmer buddy told me his "supervisor" couldn't program his way out of a paper bag (well, he used another metaphor but it was too clever & complicated for me to understand. Nerds.) Executive experience is important in leading governmental departments, and I realize people are weary of corruption in government as they should be, but Trump said it himself: "How am I supposed to "Drain the Swamp" when the people who know what they're doing work in D.C." Now, it seems like he wants it both ways and has made some risky picks in the name of "shaking things up." He's taken risks before in business and he's not batting 1.000, to say the least. Closer to your point, it's dispiriting that people think government should be run like a business. The way this might translate to government is anybody's guess at this point but I imagine the machinations of this administration will play out exactly like you described. Similar to his campaign, scapegoats will will fall on the blade, responsible dept. heads will smile for the cameras, and Trump will take credit for any victories. I do doubt that some of these picks will have realistic expectations so their subordinates will need to work that much harder. Hopefully, that doesn't last long and the various dept.'s will "adapt to market conditions" like any good business. What happens when businesses can't achieve unrealistic goals and they're experiencing pressure from the top? They lie, they cook the books, etc. The country saw it the past year at Wells Fargo, during the banking crisis, and years ago at Enron in a city named Houston. And the people at the bottom had to eat it. Somewhere in that tower I hope they are setting attainable goals because if they just want to put on a show, this country is likely in a lot of trouble.
Good, it would be best if Russia and USA (historical powers) were friends not enemies. I never understood why this wasn't a goal.
Well... what do you think Russia's goals are? I hear a lot of conservatives say this but do you know what's going on over there? With Russia being a major exporter of oil and natural and their economy depending on that, how do you think that will go over with our own industry? America essentially caused a global supply glut.
None of his kids are going into politics and may never get another condo development or golf course financed, this is as good a way as any to get them proven mineral rights. We got a UN ambassador from Ft. Sumter too, right?
It's a great goal to be friends with Russia. It isn't a great goal to be friends with Russia while they are being lead by a leader who has had his political opponents and journalists imprisoned and murdered, conducted military strikes against groups trained by United States military, invaded, and attempted to lie about invading other democratic nations, supports a brutal dictator in the middle east that uses chemical weapons against international law on his own citizens. What isn't really understandable is why people think we should cave into that leader's wishes? Should we cave into him because he doesn't like and is afraid of Hillary Clinton? Does his dislike of her rule out all of those things of which Putin is guilty?
I love to be friend with my neighbor. But when he is beating up my other neighbors, it's quite hard. Will try my best, including working with my other friendly nations to isolate the bully a bit to see if that changes his behavior. Or maybe the better approach is, when he bully, welcome him in with open hands and said, let's be friend. We might lose some of our childhood friends, but we are gaining a powerful one with new shared interest.
To me this pick almost is an open admission that Trump worked with Russia to get elected and is now going to give Putin a heavy say in how America conducts its foreign policy. Putin: "I will get you elected President, but you must then hand over American foreign policy to me" Putin is POTUS.
Absolutely, it's time we hand over leadership of the world to Putin. The U.S need not worry about Russia taking over the middle east and Eastern Europe right?
If they hacked the RNC in fact then they choose which side to support when they only released one side's internal communications. Russia didn't get Trump elected, they helped.
LOL, are you seriously trying to suggest that Trump has no executive experience? There's a LOT of things you can say about him, that's simply not one of them unless you don't know what you are talking about.
I will be happy with this choice if it helps replace coal with natural gas. I truly believe that natural gas is crucial to providing a cleaner, abundant energy source for a rapidly growing planet. Furthermore, the US can be a major exporter of natural gas.
I don't have any particular problem with Rex. I'm sure he's highly capable or he wouldn't have made the corner office at Exxon. He doesn't have diplomatic experience, granted, and that can be problematic. Same could be said for other people considered. His priorities and values might not be in the right place -- but neither are those of his boss. I'm not expecting Trump to undo his trumpiness with his appointments. We've got 4 years of this; I'd rather not have my panties in a bunch the entire time. Same kind of argument as one could make for Iran or Cuba. Why should we continue a hardline on Cuba, for example, which now has an opportunity to reform but be friendly with Russia that is being more authoritarian and more internationally ambitious than they have ever been since the fall of the USSR?
