The long-simmering tensions between President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson came to a head Tuesday, when the commander-in-chief announced the ouster of the country’s top diplomat with a tweet.
One political analyst told Cheddar the move was telling.
“It speaks a lot to the character of the two men,” commentator Rick Wilson said. “When Donald Trump was selling steaks, vodka, and a fake university, Rex Tillerson was building Exxon into the largest energy company in the world.
“The anxiety that Trump has about Tillerson being more competent than him has finally played itself out.”
Tillerson reportedly found out about his firing after Trump took to Twitter to announce that CIA Director Mike Pompeo would take over at the State Department.
The president later said he and the former ExxonMobil CEO “were not really thinking the same,” but that Pompeo had a “similar thought process.”
Still, the decision to remove Tillerson came hours after he voiced his support of UK Prime Minister Theresa May and the British government, who on Monday said Russia was likely behind the poisoning of an ex-Moscow spy.
The Trump administration did not officially second those findings.
But Wilson said Tillerson was right to consider Russia “an imminent national security threat.”
“Donald Trump doesn’t see it that way,” he told Cheddar. “There’s something wrong about Donald Trump’s relationship and viewpoint about Vladimir Putin that makes him behave this way, even when serious and consequential people around him are warning him.”
The White House denied Tillerson’s dismissal had anything to do with Russia, instead saying it wanted to have new leadership in place before Trump’s meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, expected this spring.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/no-collusion-and-tillerson-is-out).
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has thrown out California’s ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines.
Lee County, deep in the Appalachian Mountains, is one of many rural school districts around the country where the decision over whether to bring students back into classrooms is particularly fraught.
President Trump and economic adviser Larry Kudlow have been touting a capital gains tax cut as part of a Phase 4 stimulus package, but experts contend any gains from such a cut would be minimal and largely concentrated among the most wealthy citizens.
Facebook has launched the 'Voting Information Center' as a hub to provide users with accurate information regarding everything voting related. Emily Dalton, director of social impact product at Facebook, talks the company's new initiative and goals of the program.
Dodger Stadium will serve as a vote center for the presidential election in November, making the Dodgers the first Major League Baseball team to make their venue available for voting.
Joe Biden is calling for a nationwide mask mandate, citing health experts’ predictions that it could save 40,000 lives over the next three months.
Today, President Trump admitted to undermining the USPS in attempt to stall the mail-in voting process. California representative, Ami Bera, talks the November election and the stalled stimulus deal.
Cheddar's J.D. Durkin goes into why he believes leaving former candidate and businessman Andrew Yang isn't a good look for the DNC.
Young people across the world are uniting, calling on policymakers to adress the climate crisis. 15-year-old Alexandria Villasenor, founder of Earth Uprising, talks launching the movement and an upcoming partnership with GAP Kids on a virtual rally, encouraging the youth to make their voices heard about issues they want fixed.
Israel and the United Arab Emirates say they are establishing full diplomatic relations in a U.S.-brokered deal that required Israel to halt its contentious plan to annex occupied West Bank land sought by the Palestinians.
