(1) The appearance of amateurism. What qualifications or experience does Tillerson have for this particular job? Making international business deals is nothing like managing the Foreign Service and conducting American diplomacy around the world.
(2) The appearance of Russian influence. Tillerman’s main international experience is with Vladimir Putin’s Russia. He negotiated big deals with Russia’s government-owned oil company Rosneft. Tillerman has been a leading opponent of U.S. sanctions against Russia for invading the Ukraine, since those actions have interfered with Exxon’s arrangements with Rosneft. Vladimir Putin bestowed upon Tillerman “the Order of Friendship,” an honor reserved for foreigners who are special friends of Russia.
Those ties themselves are problematic. How can we have a Secretary of State with such known biases on behalf of a particular country, let alone one that has been our adversary? But this looks especially bad since his nomination came just days after the CIA charges that Russia influenced our election in order to help Trump get elected. True or not, Tillerman’s nomination contributes to the narrative that the Russians are taking over our government.
(3) The appearance of plutocracy. There are people on both the left and the right who say that our democracy is a sham because our country is really run by the big corporations. Trump’s packing his cabinet with billionaires, Wall Street tycoons, and corporation CEOs plays right into that.
Trump hammered Hillary Clinton for giving speeches to Goldman-Sachs. But he has appointed three Goldman-Sachs executives to his administration. He owes his election to blue-collar workers the Democrats have ignored, but where is an advocate for that demographic in his administration?
Maybe the Trump phenomenon is just the return of the old pre-Reagan country club Republicans. After all, Trump builds country clubs. The Rockefeller Republicans were the party of big business, throwing in some socially liberal noblesse oblige.
I had greater hopes than this. Somebody, please, convince me that I’m wrong to worry.
President-elect Donald Trump officially nominated ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson for secretary of State on Tuesday, setting up a possible confirmation battle over the nominee’s business ties to Russia.
While Democrats and even some Republicans raised questions about Tillerson’s ties to Russia — which is accused of interference in the recent presidential election — Trump praised his fellow businessman as “a world class player” who has led one of the world’s largest corporations.
“His tenacity, broad experience and deep understanding of geopolitics make him an excellent choice for Secretary of State,” Trump said in his statement.
In his new role at the State Department, Trump said Tillerson would “promote regional stability and focus on the core national security interests of the United States. Rex knows how to manage a global enterprise, which is crucial to running a successful State Department, and his relationships with leaders all over the world are second to none.”. . .
The Senate must still confirm Tillerson, and some members of the Republican majority have raised the Russia question.
Tillerson’s ExxonMobil duties involved working on major oil projects with Russia, including a partnership with the Russian oil giant Rosneft.
In 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded Tillerson the Order of Friendship, one of the highest honors the nation bestows on foreign citizens.
Photo of Rex Tillerman and Vladimir Putin, from the archives of the Russian government: http://archive.premier.gov.ru/eng/events/news/18700/ (the site includes an interesting transcript of their remarks). Licensed by Creative Commons, 3.0. No changes were made.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In