Secretary of State Rex Tillerson: The President Speaks for himself

[Darrell KSR]

Nobody questions Americans' values.

What about President Trump's values?

He speaks for himself.

There is a problem when the Secretary of State responds like this.

https://twitter.com/WardDPatrick/status/901807386163367936/video/1

[UKHistory]

Good for tillerson. I worried about an oil man with Russian ties as sec of state

Looks like he sees history will not be kind to the 45th president

[kingcat]

kudos to him.

[CitizenBBN]

IS it good that Cabinet level officials have to avoid defending the President's comments? No.

But the level of problem is relative.

First, it's just good politics here for every Trump official other than the press secretary to use that answer b/c it keeps the media from pushing the agenda off of issues and onto Trump's gaffs either real or imagined. It lets Tillerson et al get on with delivering the message they want to deliver. So that's just good Politics/PR management.

Second, as to the level of problem. It's not great, but since we're talking to the Sec. of State is it as big of a problem as say, promulgating a known lie to the American people about the nature of a terror attack that killed 4 Americans?

is it a bigger problem that a White House official has to sidestep a political quagmire, legit or media created, over words and comments, or is it worse when a white House official goes out with marching orders to lie about American deaths?

Is it a bigger problem when the Sec of State has to find a way to not defend a president's comments or is it bigger when he lies outright about sending a billion dollars in cash to one of the world's largest state sponsors of terrorism?

As problems go in Washington and the State Department, I can live with this one. Compared to past problems go I can live with this on really easy in fact.

[CitizenBBN]

And I know that will be seen as changing the subject but it's not. Most every Trump supporter knows and admits he says things that are not helpful to downright offensive. We just find we can live with that when the alternative is near constant lies, deception, corruption and, for lack of a better phrase, more politics as usual.

Trump supporters knew he would be a hot mess at times. It beats the far more polished but far more dangerous behavior of someone like the Clintons, so we live with it and go on.

A problem yes, but not as big as the ones we put behind us and avoided with Trump winning the election.

But mostly this is just smart politics. All of the Cabinet officials trying to get a message out need to stay on their message and just punt on trying to defend TRump. Trump will do that himself, just stay out of his way.