Revealed: Why Tillerson Called Trump a ‘F—Ing Moron’
In the summer of 2017 Trump agreed to a meeting at the Pentagon with his top military leaders – his generals, as he liked to call them – along with then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, his top economic advisor Gary Cohn, and his chief White House strategist, Steve Bannon. Among the generals was Jim Mattis. Apart from Bannon, who was there to watch, Trump’s top aides had come together to educate the president about the world. Literally.
It did not go well.
In an article excerpted from their upcoming book, Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker expose the depths of President Trump’s ignorance and warped world view.
“We should charge them rent,” Trump said, speaking about South Korea, upon learning the U.S. has a military base there with a $10 billion missile defense system. “We should make them pay for our soldiers. We should make money off of everything.”
Calling NATO worthless and “in arrears,” Trump blasted his generals.
“We are owed money you haven’t been collecting!” Trump said. “You would totally go bankrupt if you had to run your own business.”
Trump unleashed his anger at his general and the Iran nuclear deal, forged by President Barack Obama.
“They’re cheating. They’re building. We’re getting out of it. I keep telling you, I keep giving you time, and you keep delaying me. I want out of it.”
He moved on to Afghanistan, calling it a “loser war.”
That phrase hung in the air and disgusted not only the military leaders at the table but also the men and women in uniform sitting along the back wall behind their principals. They all were sworn to obey their commander in chief’s commands, and here he was calling the war they had been fighting a loser war.
“You’re all losers,” Trump said. “You don’t know how to win anymore.”
Trump continued his attacks on his generals.
“I wouldn’t go to war with you people,” he said. “You’re a bunch of dopes and babies.”
At one point during Trump’s berating of his commanders Secretary Tillerson had had enough.
Others at the table noticed Trump’s stream of venom had taken an emotional toll. So many people in that room had gone to war and risked their lives for their country, and now they were being dressed down by a president who had not. They felt sick to their stomachs. Tillerson told others he thought he saw a woman in the room silently crying. He was furious and decided he couldn’t stand it another minute. His voice broke into Trump’s tirade, this one about trying to make money off U.S. troops.
“No, that’s just wrong,” the secretary of state said. “Mr. President, you’re totally wrong. None of that is true.”
He wasn’t finished.
“The men and women who put on a uniform don’t do it to become soldiers of fortune,” Tillerson said. “That’s not why they put on a uniform and go out and die . . . They do it to protect our freedom.”
Later that day, “in the hall with a small cluster of people he trusted, Tillerson finally let down his guard,” the Post reports, leading to Tillerson’s now-famous words.
“He’s a f—ing moron.”
Image: DOD photo by U.S. Army Sgt. Amber I. Smith via Flickr and a CC license