UKC

Rex Tillerson sacked after strong statement about incident in UK. At the very least it is appalling timing as regards messages of support for UK.

Trump is even more lunatic than BoJo....

yes and pretty poor timing for Trump, given the Mueller investigation

I think he was going anyway but it will make anyone else in the administration, who might have supported the UK, wary of doing so, at least until Trump issues his strongly worded statement of support. Should be due anytime now, I'm sure he's been quicker off the mark with other terror attacks in the UK.......

Very unpolitical as regards standing shoulder to shoulder with us. He's a very unstatesman- like character- and that is putting it very mildly!! Perceptions in the UK are important to us. Looks odd.

Box of frogs!

I don't understand. Why do you think Tillerson's sacking is some kind of affront to the UK?

Because it is not looking at the seriousness of what has happened in the UK. Tillerson has just given a robust statement on the issue. To sack him, over  internal issues, is to be so caught up with a self centredness other than  issues on the world stage at this absolutely critical point in time. The timing is abysmal as it undermines a statement made hours ago on a very serious issue. Very un statesman-like . If Trump thinks he can cuddle his bust of Winston Churchill like an Oscar for his performance, I think he is deluded. He falls far short.

https://www.itv.com/news/2018-03-13/rex-tillerson-russia-nerve-agent/

I rest my case.

Sorry but the report amounts to not very much at all. Trump has made some supportive noises for the UK today and he and Tillerson parted company over their differing views of the Iran nuclear agreement. He does have other things to think about.

https://www.itv.com/news/2018-03-13/donald-trump-rex-tillerson-sacking-twit...

Trump is Putin's poodle. He can't let any of his staff bite the hand that feeds the Donald.

I think at the time of the sacking Tillerson was the highest in US govt to have expressed support for UK.

Note the word "after" in that headline "Donald Trump backs Britain on Russia ex-spy poisoning after sacking Rex Tillerson as secretary of state" .

i think in this context that criticising Russia is more relevant than supporting the UK

Iran and North Korea were probably the biggest areas of disagreement.

About 20 posts in and no one thinks it might have to do with Tillerson calling Trump "a f*cking moron" in a meeting with military and intelligence brass? His fate was sealed from that moment and I would be surprised if Rex isn't mighty relieved.

It's  parochial thinking it is in any way related to the poisoning, I agree.  I also find it rather frightening - Tillerson was one of the more moderate (I use the word loosely) voices around Trump.

Well he called Trump a f*cking moron last July so Trump's taken a while to get around to it. Its no secret they didn't get on, so he was on his way out sooner or later. But the timing is more than a little bit curious.  

they haven't seen eye to eye since Tillerson was appointed. The question isn't why was he sacked, its why was he sacked now. Agree it is parochial to think it is related to supporting the UK; but my guess is that it had everything to do with pointing the finger at Russia. 

That's plausible but, in the light of the ongoing Mueller investigation, political dynamite to risk appearing to defend Russia's interests. Not that Trump follows the norms of course.

Maybe I'm looking at it the wrong way round. Perhaps this denouement is a trap set by Tillerson for Trump. Rex has been a dead man walking for some time and this news story has given him a lever to press Trump's buttons.

The sacking has gone down like a lead balloon in the financial/business world.

I'd have thought that the talks with N. Korea that are coming up in a few weeks time will require the President and his Secretary of State to work closely together. Perhaps this seemed to Trump to be the appropriate time to let Tillerson go.

I can't imagine Russia is on the minds of US politicians as much as Iran and N. Korea.

More than Iran

Calling Trump a Moron didnt help..

They disagreed on Korea, Russia, Iran, The Paris Climate Change Accord.. basically everything.

But Tillerson was pretty stable and balanced, I quite liked him TBH.

Sacking him via twitter was very poor and unprofessional.

You might certainly get that impression, considering that the sacking comes only hours after Tillerson's clear condemnation of Russia's apparent hand in the Skripal nerve agent poisoning.

From the White house,

"President Donald J. Trump spoke today with Prime Minister Theresa May of the United Kingdom.  They discussed the United Kingdom’s investigation into the chemical weapon attack on a private citizen and his daughter on British soil.  President Trump stated the United States stands in solidarity with its closest ally and is ready to provide any assistance the United Kingdom requests for its investigation.  President Trump agreed with Prime Minister May that the Government of the Russian Federation must provide unambiguous answers regarding how this chemical weapon, developed in Russia, came to be used in the United Kingdom. The two leaders agreed on the need for consequences for those who use these heinous weapons in flagrant violation of international norms."

That's only meaningful if you give anything Trump ever says a moment's credence, which I don't imagine anyone with intellect superior to bacteria ever does. 

All things being relative, yes... he seemed out of place, a sober concierge at a chimpanzee stag night.

and consistent with everything else he has done, before and since becoming president.

That's all well and good, but we all know that it will never be universally agreed who is responsible, even if most of the world sees it as obvious, so those virtuous-sounding consequences surely will never happen.

The fact that he couldn't look the man in the eye and tell him he was sacked gives the lie to his boast about tackling a gunman bare handed. Like all bullies he is a total coward. (I'm minded of managers I've known who leave a written warning in your pigeon hole as their last act before going on vacation.)

He's been indecently quick to condemn attacks in the past and been incandescent and totally reckless eg crticising Sadiq Khan for telling Londoners not to be alarmed if they see an increased armed police presence and re-posting the Britain First stuff. When are we going to have a consensus that there is a monster in the White House; it's terrifying.

Sounds like the grown ups at the WH are trying to get a handle on the story while Trump moves things on to the next news cycle with his Space Force. 

There may be no logic to it at all.

The First WH statement was much more ambiguous and they were forced into the  stronger statement by Rex Tillerson’s much stronger response.

yes, that’s probably true

Completely agree. Sacking anybody via Twitter is unbelievably unprofessional. When the person is such a senior figure, (who should be) a key player, to me it seems bordering on madness. I guess Trump feels that people are like used Kleenex, to be discarded without a moment's genuine reflection. If he were simply a sociopath politician, that would be bad enough.

But the most powerful person in the world seems like a dangerously unstable sociopath.

Mick

I am getting a bit concerned that Trump has recently lost some of the people in the White House he absolutely depended on, like Hope Hicks, Rob Porter and now Mcentee who was his long time personal assistant.  Hope Hicks has been his work wife forever.  Mcentee was escorted out of the place so fast he couldn't get his coat after his financial crimes were discovered.  Jared has lost his security clearance as well.  

Trump must be all by himself, or surrounded by the C team of idiots and may be making decisions on his own. In the past, all the things he's done on his own have been stupid even by his standards, like the transgender ban in the military.  Apparently he came up with that after everyone else had gone to bed and tweeted it at the last moment to the horror of his advisors. 

I look at the crazy stuff happening now, like the tariffs and the personal meeting with KJU and think we are in  serious danger. 

Come on Mueller, now might be the time to release the indictments.

And for anybody that doesn't think it's crazy for Trump to meet the North Koreans, don't forget that even during the China visit there was  a scuffle over the nuclear football :

This quote is from the Guardian 

Citing five separate sources, Axios reported that Chinese officials had blocked the entry of the US military aide carrying the “nuclear football”, a black leather satchel containing the codes that allow the president to launch a nuclear strike.

A US official reportedly then rushed into an adjoining room to inform US chief of staff John Kelly of what was happening. “Kelly rushed over and told the US officials to keep walking – ‘We’re moving in,’ he said – and the Americans all started moving.

The ‘nuclear football’ - the deadly briefcase that never leaves the president’s side

“Then there was a commotion,” Axios reported. “A Chinese security official grabbed Kelly, and Kelly shoved the man’s hand off of his body. Then a US secret service agent grabbed the Chinese security official and tackled him to the ground.”