Donald Trump | The Right Slant

An Unlikely Choice for Secretary of State

I agree with very little that President-Elect Donald Trump says or does. I have to admit though, I am very intrigued by and almost agree with his proposed choice for Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil Corporation.

Before anyone can get too excited either way, Tillerson will have to face Senate confirmation, and he will be a tough sell. Already, Democrat as well as Republican Senators are expressing their strong disapproval of the multi-millionaire and “friend” of Vladimir Putin. For many of them, his association with Putin is the first strike against him, followed by his lack of formal foreign policy experience. Of course, Donald Trump is considerably deficient in this area and he managed to win America’s top job, so anything is possible.

With Trump’s consideration of experienced candidates like Mitt Romney, John Bolton and General David Petraeus to fill this top cabinet position, Rex Tillerson is an unlikely choice. It seems more prudent to select someone who has a background in foreign policy to fill the void in Trump. Additionally, rumors of Trump’s affinity for Vladimir Putin have been problematic for him throughout the campaign, so why choose someone who has such close ties to Russia? Almost anyone else he selected would be less controversial and more likely to win Senate confirmation. What is Trump thinking?

During his lifetime career with Exxon, Tillerson has worked very closely with Russia. In fact, before becoming CEO, his position was managing the company’s Russia account. In 2011, as chairman and CEO he negotiated a partnership with Russian Oil Company, Rosneft. Vladimir Putin attended the signing ceremony. In 2013, Putin awarded Tillerson the Order of Friendship, one of the highest honors Russia grants to foreign citizens. tillerson-and-putin

What Tillerson lacks in formal experience, he more than makes up for in “on-the-job” training, and because of his long-standing business associations, he has a definite feel for the geopolitics of the region. He is well acquainted with foreign leaders in dozens of countries and no stranger to brokering successful negotiations with them. Having this real-time knowledge and understanding of the area is most likely his appeal to Trump. Russia poses the biggest threat to our national security, and their influence in the Middle East is without question. Our relationship with Russia will be pivotal in most of our foreign relations, especially in defeating ISIS. Having a Secretary of State with an inside track to Vladimir Putin is right in line with, “keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”

Tillerson has a firm grasp of the importance of the oil industry to Russia, China and throughout the Middle East. This makes him uniquely qualified to understand their perspective and their economy, and to use that to our advantage at the bargaining table.

Donald Trump is first and foremost a businessman, so he would naturally be comfortable working closely with Tillerson. They would speak the same language and have similar negotiating styles. It is a given that Trump will find bureaucratic Washington a nightmare, and he will be looking for people who are accustomed to cutting through red tape and moving things along. Rex Tillerson is a man that gets things done.

I am encouraged by Tillerson’s support for free trade and minimal government regulation. In view of Trump’s repeated threats of tariffs and other protectionist measures, I think Tillerson will provide a good balance.

Whether or not Rex Tillerson can sway the Senate on his behalf remains to be seen. I wish him luck. One thing is certain; the bar is low when it comes to Secretary of State. After Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, there is nowhere to go but up.

Well, the media has not been left wanting for new material this past week. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have been featured in a steady stream of controversial emails and tapes which reinforce the fact that both candidates have serious character deficits and are wholly unfit for the presidency. Of course, most of us already knew that, but MSM (mainstream media) and FNC (Fox News Channel) manage to stay busy jockeying to prove which candidate is most unfit. It’s a full-time job.

The humor in this, if there is any, is that so many seem surprised by it, especially Republicans. I’ve lost count of how many Trump surrogates I’ve seen interviewed who rail against the media for releasing all this information so close to the election. I’m pretty sure that’s Politics 101. The term “October surprise” comes to mind, and there’s no shortage of dirt on either side. The big question is: who will emerge as the least bad candidate? That’s a pretty sad state of affairs in a presidential election, in my humble opinion.

Anyone who has been on the planet within the last 30 years knows that Hillary Clinton is an abysmal human being. The scandals behind Hillary are legendary. Enumerating them would be time consuming; especially if you include those associated with husband Bill, her partner in crime. Notably, she lied about the situation in Benghazi that led to the death of four Americans, and she was just investigated by the FBI for failing to protect classified information when she served as Secretary of State. Wow! That’s kind of relevant when contemplating giving her the most powerful position in the free world. Wedding

Donald Trump is the other side of the same coin. Of course, he’s never held public office so we can’t fault him on his record, but he has a plethora of personal and business issues that haunt him. Again, it’s a long list. The highlights (or lowlights) are that he’s an admitted sexual predator (see Howard Stern tape) who is currently facing a civil suit for rape, numerous allegations of sexual assault, and will stand trial for fraud and racketeering charges associated with Trump University. Again, wow! Not a great resume for a presidential candidate.

I can still remember a time when Divorce was the nail in the coffin for someone with political aspirations. As a country, we would be absolutely giddy if that’s the worst thing our presidential candidate had in his closet. Think: Ronald Reagan. Those were the days.

As I’ve stated before, I voted for Marco Rubio in the primary. Of course, he sinned by working alongside the Democrats to try and improve the immigration process in our country. Like Reagan before him, he was under the misguided notion that we send people to Washington to actually try and get things done. That cost him the nomination. Apparently, some voters are more comfortable with their representatives refusing to give an inch to the Democrats, so they can later accuse them of accomplishing absolutely nothing while they’re in Washington. Or, they like the Ted Cruz types, who pontificate on the purity of their conservatism and perform fake filibusters on national television while they read their children’s favorite bedtime story, Green Eggs and Ham. It’s a slippery slope.

Let’s be honest. MSM is in the tank for Hillary Clinton and FNC supports Donald Trump. MSM played it smarter; they knew Trump was the weakest candidate against Hillary, so they propped him up throughout the primaries. They wanted him to win, so they did everything they could to help. Now that they’ve accomplished their goal of giving us the weakest GOP candidate, they’re busy dragging up anything and everything to convince voters what a horrible person he is. It’s not a hard sell.

FNC, on the other hand, legitimized Trump’s candidacy with unprecedented free media coverage. They presented him as a credible candidate when anyone with a modicum of common sense could see he was in over his head. Did you watch the debates? He didn’t understand most of the discussion, so he opted for juvenile stunts and insults. Roger Ailes helped lay the groundwork for a Trump campaign. He actually told his news hosts, “We’re finished with Rubio”. Now, after Ailes contentious departure from FNC, he’s a full-fledged Trump adviser. I guess dirty minds think alike.

I’m almost amused by Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter and their ilk who are pre-blaming those of us not enamored of Trump for a Hillary Clinton victory. Well, the loss is on them. They ignored every poll which clearly stated Trump would lose to Hillary in favor of their vendetta against “establishment” Republicans. They wanted to stick it to the GOP, so they made Trump their man. Lesson: Don’t make important decisions from a place of anger. The best decisions are made in a calm manner, armed with knowledge and facts.

Well, he can be their man, but he’ll never be mine. I like the conservatism of the late great Bill Buckley, and I resent Trump for making a mockery of it. He is definitely his own worst enemy in this race. His best chance of success is to keep his mouth shut, and his fingers off the Twitter feed.

My prediction is that Hillary Clinton will win. The Electoral map already favors her, and though Donald Trump did manage to tighten the gap for a while, she’s now back on top. This close to the election, with the numbers being what they are, it will take something close to a miracle to clinch this for the GOP. This is especially upsetting in a year when we had the gift of running against the likes of Hillary.

Since I don’t like either candidate, my conscience tells me to vote down ballot, and that is what I plan to do.I believe Jonah Goldberg said it best in a recent interview: “When given a choice between two crap sandwiches on different kinds of bread, I’ll skip lunch”.