CEO of Exxon with strong ties to Vladimir Putin. It's hard to believe the same republicans who cheered Romney calling Russia our greatest geopolitical threat are on board with trump
Wow. Nothing to like about this pick. No experience, the aforementioned ties to Russia. I'm trying my hardest to put a positive spin on this but I don't like the effects of free trade much either so... Conservatives, thoughts?
I'm tired of putting people in power who've had limited (or in this case, none) experience and expecting them to just make magic happen. It's ridiculous and it doesn't turn out well. We have W. Bush failed foreign policy, we've had Obama's failed foreign policy, and now we're going to throw more crap against the wall to see what sticks - now in important positions of Commander in Chief and Secretary of State. Hillary had her problems as SOS sure, but if she was elected it wouldn't be her, would it? She has firsthand knowledge of the perils of this position and would at least put in someone who won't have to learn on the job. Tillerson was surprised himself he was being considered for the head diplomat of the nation. I feel like Trump's team has just had a sorting error with a couple of these picks. Maybe I can help him out: Ben Carson: not HUD sec. but Surgeon General Rex Tillerson: not SOS but Energy Sec. There you go guys. I hope this all gets resolved before the hearings.
Hmmm.. Putin dream is coming true. Say goodbye to any future sanctions on Russia for their bad past, current and future behaviors.
Well I disagree, he actually has plenty of experience dealing with foreign governments and advocating for his company. IMO that's pretty good. It's not like he's Obama running for president with 0 executive experience. That said, I'm not saying he'll for sure be great at the job or that the Trump administration as a whole won't end up as a train wreck....it absolutely could, I'm just saying that the narrative that the CEO of a giant multinational does have relevant experience.
Exxon negotiates with foreign governments all the time. He has far more experience than Hillary Clinton. His entire career has been sitting down with governments, trying to cut deals, and not offend them. He has ties to every government. its Exxon.....
Sure, and the deeper that experience is the more concerning it could be. The man has spent his lifetime working to secure business interests for Exxon/Mobil to great success. Ignoring other speculative claims of what might happen, the last time we had someone with big oil business ties he took his eyes of the ultimate objective in Iraq and we have what you see today. And that guy was very experienced in government. But, you're correct in the fact that his opinions on many foreign matters are unknown. Objectively, it's not the best choice considering the intricate global problems the U.S. faces.
As Trump said in the debates, "It's bad experience." The experience I was referring to that he lacks is representing a country with a million different interests rather than one company he has spent his entire career at. In my reply to Bobby, I was referring to Cheney. Who knows what diplomatic challenges we'll have to face in the upcoming years? Cheney by many accounts, left and right, was a skilled negotiator, a person who understood both the domestic and military aspects of how our foreign policy affects global stability, and a primary architect of one of the biggest foreign policy blunders this nation has undergone. Tillerson is undoubtedly a skilled negotiator and has a deep understanding of only domestic issues at this point. So let's hope he's humbled and intelligent enough to not make Cheney's mistake. And he's been vetted by a policy lightweight. I don't pretend to know what the man is like. I'm sure he takes this very seriously and will do his best. But my biggest problem with this appointment is this "we'll see" attitude. We've done that before. I hope it works this time.
Do some people here WANT us to be at odds with Russia? Personally, I would like to see our differences mitigated to the greatest extdnt possible.
I for one welcome our new Russian overlords. Who knew all it took to get us to finally move towards becoming a Russian client state was having a candidate that promised to give white people the country back. If only fdr, Truman, Ike, Kennedy, Nixon, Reagan and the bushes had realized that the bigger threat to America wasn't Russian aggression it was "political correctness!"
"Drill Baby Drill!" --a famous Republican philosopher Gee, uh, there wouldn't be any potential conflicts of interest with Exxon and uh, our entire Middle East foreign policy or anything, would there? Who we gonna invade to take their oil this time? Pumped!