In the biggest cabinet shakeup ever since he assumed office in 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday ousted Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and announced he would be replaced by Mike Pompeo, director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
The departure of Tillerson, the second Trump cabinet member to leave, may indicate a more aggressive and unilateral U.S. foreign policy.
NEVER "TRUMP'S GUY"
The U.S. media said that the biggest reason for Tillerson's leaving was that he has never been a "Trump's guy," referring to his divergences with Trump on personality and policies.
Although his nomination as state secretary had won the recommendations from former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and defense chief Robert Gates, Tillerson clashed with Trump over both domestic and international issues.
After Trump made the highly controversial remarks over Charlottesville's racial violence that many said have racist implications, Tillerson stood up against him by saying that "the president speaks for himself" and "we represent the American people."
Sources were also quoted as saying that Trump was irritated by Tillerson's body language during meetings, as the latter was said to "roll his eyes or slouch" when he disagreed with the decisions of his boss.
Widening differences on foreign policies and international issues further escalated the tensions between the two.
Trump told the media that he and Pompeo are "always on the same wavelength," yet with Tillerson, they "disagreed on things."
"With Mike Pompeo, we have a similar thought process," Trump said. "I actually got on well with Rex but it was a different mindset."
Tillerson's support of Washington staying in multilateral treaties and organizations such as the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate accord, and his promotion of unconditional dialogue with Pyongyang, have all made him unpopular with the Trump administration and unable to get into the ultimate decision-making circle.
Even in his just-concluded trip to Africa, Tillerson was still making efforts to "clean up" Trump's derogatory comments on African nations.
LOSSES OVERSHADOW GAINS
In the eyes of some U.S. media outlets, Tillerson had some "successes" in his less than 14-month term, including the growing pressure against Pyongyang to force it to abandon the nuclear project, and the improved ties between Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
"But he is likely to go down as among the least successful secretaries of state in history, and one big reason was his poor management of his relationship with Mr. Trump," said a New York Times report.
Tillerson's sour ties with Trump have undercut the authority as secretary of state.
Representative Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, tweeted on Tuesday that "Whenever Secretary Tillerson's successor goes into meetings with foreign leaders, his credibility will be diminished as someone who could be here today and gone tomorrow."
Besides the cut of budget and personnel recruitment in the State Department, veteran diplomats also accused Tillerson of communicating insufficiently with them. Rather, he was said to rely on his top aides, "neither of whom had much experience or knowledge about many of the countries they discussed."
Trump was reportedly planning to sack Tillerson also in a bid to ensure his diplomatic team is in place before the U.S. talks with Pyongyang and negotiations on key trade deals.
