Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, has been described by Mr. Trump’s advisers as still in the running. But Mr. Trump has privately said conflicting things on his views of Mr. Romney, advisers said, and has indicated to several people that he is unlikely to be named. Mr. Romney harshly criticized Mr. Trump during the presidential campaign....
One initial contender for the secretary-of-state post, Rudolph W. Giuliani, a loyal Trump ally, is no longer in the running after removing his name from contention on Nov. 29, according to a statement Friday from the transition team.
December 10, 2016
"Rex W. Tillerson, the president and chief executive of Exxon Mobil, has emerged as President-elect Donald J. Trump’s top choice to become secretary of state..."
The NYT reports:
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Tillerson is not a cold warrior who wants his never ending war with Russia back. He wants to make a deal. So DJT will pick him. But Senators McCain and Graham are not going to be happy.
I'm still hoping for John Bolton. Or Newt!
Tillerson has all of the necessary tickets to do the job and do it well.
This possibility made me think of the Calvin Coolidge quote, "the business of America is business" so I looked it up to make sure it was Coolidge and not someone else and found that this is a misquote. He gave a speech to a group of Newspaper Editors, a speech titled "The Press Under a Free Government" and what he really said was:
“After all, the chief business of the American people is business. They are profoundly concerned with producing, buying, selling, investing and prospering in the world.”
Maybe Donald Trump believes that, too. He certainly seems to admire successful business people, which I think has more to do with his supposed consideration of Romney than anything about politics per se.
" Senators McCain and Graham are not going to be happy. "
OK, I'm sold.
If Rex Tillerson is nominated, that will resurrect all those "Exxon Mobil knew about Global Warming in the 1960s and ignored it/covered it up" memes on my facebook feed.
sick - really, really sick...unconscionably so
Running Exxon is one of the most demanding jobs in the world. In some important ways, Exxon acts like a nation state, and the company interacts with people at all levels of society all over the world. It's a very interesting choice. I wonder how he will do at government bureaucratic infighting? He has a lot more authority at Exxon, and is used to subordinates whose primary mission is actually to advance the interests of the organization and carry out the boss's plans. The State Department not so much.
I only hope he doesn't add an extra "S" to the USA as a branding thing.
He certainly seems to admire successful business people, which I think has more to do with his supposed consideration of Romney than anything about politics per se.
I am starting to wonder if we are going to see a Coolidge type administration. Reagan brought his portrait back. Trump may bring the man back. We would all be the better for it but it will cause hell raising by the left.
It is nice that they have discredited themselves so thoroughly.
I did a series at Chicagoboyz a few years ago on Coolidge, if anyone is interested.
I want Mitt
I initially saw Tillerson as a bizarre pick. But the argument is that the man has carried out successful negotiations in 50 countries. Sure would be a change from Hillary and Kerry.
"I am starting to wonder if we are going to see a Coolidge type administration. "
Heh Trump being compared to "Silent Cal" might be a first. And I'd love it if Trump had policies like Coolidge AND zipped his yap once in a while. I am so tired of hearing everyday what our president is doing /saying. Lets return to the old days when we only heard from the president when it was big news.
John Bolton. Duh.
"I am starting to wonder if we are going to see a Coolidge type administration."
It makes complete historical sense. Coolidge was the last 19th Century America First President, an interregnum in the 20th Century US slide into becoming the global successor to the British Imperium. The collapse of the USSR in 1989 should have triggered this, but for the momentum of the Military-Industrial Complex.
Although horribly imprecise as written, the Trump strategy makes sense to me...
Mr. Tillerson assumed the role of chairman and chief executive of Exxon Mobil on Jan. 1, 2006. During his tenure, the company has acknowledged the science underlying climate change and said it supports a carbon tax. It has also expressed support for the Paris climate agreement.
“We believe that addressing the risk of climate change is a global issue,” he said at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in May, adding that it would require the cooperation of governments, business and individuals.
By contrast, Mr. Trump has called climate change a hoax created by the Chinese for business reasons, and has named a climate change denier, Scott Pruitt, the attorney general of Oklahoma, as his choice to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.
sunsong posted his assessment on a device with no plastic parts, on Wi-Fi powered by a bicycle.
Because sunsong is not sick. Not really sick.
EDH, you just explained how Tillerson says the things that keep the leftists sedated while he tends to business.
Mittens got that derisive, though accurate, name because he wouldn't pull out all the stops and get fire-in-the-belly back in 2012.
If he wouldn't fight with all his might for his own cause, how could Trump expect Mittens to champion Trump's foreign policy vision.
Is there any reason to believe the NYT has a direct pipeline to Donald trump?
I doubt it.
Why not nominate Lindsey Grahamcracker? Get him out of the Senate before turns Democrat.
Considering the importance of the petroleum business to Russia and the Middle East, this guy might be right for the job.
Or maybe we should tell the Saudis, Russia, and Iran that extracting and selling oil is sick, really sick. Unconscionably.
The good thing about businessmen and Military leaders is they know how to handle large organizations and will focus in on the task at hand. In addition, most of them will be very loyal to Trump for giving them a once in lifetime chance of being Secretary of XYZ. Political leaders are most interested in furthering their public image and career and many of them have no experience administering anything.
Plus, they're easier to confirm since they usually lack a paper trail.
Mittens shouldn't be rewarded for trying to elect Hillary. He can oppose the Trump administration - but so what? He gave Trump his best shot in 2016 and failed. People in general don't give a shit what Mittens thinks & the Establishment doesn't need him to criticize Trump - they have enough weapons.
Is there any reason to believe the NYT has a direct pipeline to Donald trump?
I doubt it.
The ancestral companies of ExxonMobil were in Iran when oil was first discovered there about 1905 and have never left. They "know the territory" as well as or better anybody else.
You cannot trust what "the energy companies" have said about AGW and its successor soubriquets. They have all been sued and fined by the EPA and told that 2 million of their fines will be forgiven for each million they spend on advertising for "alternative energies."
Major take-away from all the chatter about DJT's Cabinet picks - we have a WAY to big Cabinet.
We hope DJT's time will have less policy-making driven by compunction for personal enrichment than the present administration - but there is scant reason to expect that.
The only certain way to reduce abuse of Government power is to reduce the power available to Government.
Apropos Coolidge, we are doing another listen through Amity Shlaes biography of him - from Amazon/Audible.
Having read the post above this first, should this story be given any credence? Seems like news outlets are publishing a bunch of speculative gossip about administration picks these days. Waste of time.
MayBee said...
"I want Mitt"
Trump doesn't deserve Mitt.
"Trump doesn't deserve Mitt."
You mean that homophobic, sexist, dog torturing, cancer causing, tax cheat ?
That Mitt ?
You mean that homophobic, sexist, dog torturing, cancer causing, tax cheat ?
That Mitt ?
I like Mitt. I live in Utah. There are good Mormons. Just as there are good Catholics and Buddhists. I don't see much of that here. Most of the commentary here seems ideological - dogmatic dogma.
I voted for Mitt in 2012. I thought he would get right to work on improving the economy. Trump definitely does not deserve Mitt.
The international oil business is used to dealing with projects with long time horizons. Way back int he way back I was working for a major oil company (not Exxon) that was investing in a project in the Orinoco Heavy Oil Belt in southern Venezuela. The technical risks were manageable; the economic risk was large. The project (if it had been completed) had a fifty year time horizon You had to drill the wells, build a 200 mile long pipeline, a shoreside refinery and ship loading terminal etc. The political risk was even higher---an unstable Venezuelan government. Venezuela had offered either five or six concessions in the Orinoco Basin. Most of the concessions had teams of at least three or four foreign oil companies. I think Exxon Mobil took on one concession all by itself.
One by one, the various foreign oil companies elected to withdraw from or give up the concessions. The political risk was just too great. Exxon Mobil hung in the longest--I think they gave up the concession in 2012.
CEOs of major oil international oil companies have as much, if not a heck of a lot more, experience in dealing with heads of nations as anyone in the State Department. I'd say that Tillerson is a heck of a lot better diplomat than old Horseface Jean Fraud Kerry can ever dream of.
The heavy oil in the Orinoco is still there--it's one of the greatest known oil resources in the world. And it will probably be developed at some time--unless the fracking revolution --with it's lighter, more commercially desirable crude oil, pushes it out of the market. But the Orinoco reserves are not going away.
Tillerson would be a good choice for Secretary of State.
"And it will probably be developed at some time-"
After Socialism is finally buried with a stake through its heart. I doubt that will be in my lifetime.
"Socialism" is but a name. The concept goes back to the Garden of Eden (or shortly thereafter) and actually works well in subsistence cultures. The problems arise as soon as there is a surplus that might be unequally distributed. Some individuals may then look for additional sources of of wealth that they may take advantage of for themselves, which then leads to unrest, but eventually some progress for the tribe in general, while others insists that all such is evil, and the thing to do is freeze everything in place and share the misery equally.
"The problems arise as soon as there is a surplus that might be unequally distributed."
Heh. The Industrial Revolution gets all the bad Progressive press, but its the Agrarian Revolution that we need to undo to get back to the Garden. Hunter-gatherers of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your jobs, your empty carbs, your so-called homes, your....
Why not nominate Lindsey Grahamcracker? Get him out of the Senate before turns Democrat.
Only position I'd have considered Lindsey for would've been Sec of Defense...and Trump already picked a damned good Sec of Defense.
It is not so much the hunter-gatherers or migratory hunter peoples. In their societies, disaffected individuals or groups can get up in the night and be far gone by morning. I do not know of any such people that has, or have had, a government capable of enforcing "equality."
That takes a farming or urban society where people are tied to the farm or can be walled in and, of course, a ruling class not subject to the "equality."
"I voted for Mitt in 2012. I thought he would get right to work on improving the economy. Trump definitely does not deserve Mitt."
You're right about Trump not deserving Mittens. What Trump ever do to deserve a back-stabbing Hillary supporter as Secretary of State? A man who has flipped and flopped on every issue -except tax breaks for the rich.
No one deserves that...
I wouldn't pick Lindsey Graham for dog catcher.
Tillerson as a choice is making all the right heads explode, so my guess is he's a good pick for the job. He's got the right enemies.
It sounds like Tillerson is pretty chummy with Putin. That might be useful, according to the old adage: Keep your friends close. Keep your enemies closer.
But, dammit! I've wanted Newt or Bolton all along and, as Newt apparently isn't in the running, it should be Bolton. Is he too hawkish?
But Mitt Romney? WTF??
"Lindsey Grahamcracker" That, in a nutshell, explains why there are so many reports that the senator is deathly afraid of water.
Washington and Moscow, sister oligarchy cities.
has named a climate change denier
Another one. The need to liken critics of AGW Theory to Holocaust Deniers is a good tell that your "science" is bunk. Else, it would be able to stand on it's own merits and not be propped up with social shaming and appeals to conformity.
But they will never get it.
Tillerson is an interesting choice considering that OPEC, led by the Saudis, is attempting to destroy America's shale oil business. Put that together with the Iranian's legal reentry into the world oil market and the utter dependence of all middle eastern tent-dwellers on oil prices and oil shale finds in Israel to make them independent, will require a SecState who understands the politics of black gold.
On the other hand, Trump would have to give up some of his authoity and I fear all of these new Cabinet folks will be in charge of nothing.
More evidence that Trump doesn't know shit about what he got himself into.
Why did Giuliani drop out?
Any lack of a solid answer to that one goes into my pile of "didn't want to be associated with an impending, disastrous Trump administration."
Another one. The need to liken critics of AGW Theory to Holocaust Deniers is a good tell that your "science" is bunk.
I don't see why. Holocaust deniers hate evidence in the service of their cause as much as you do. The only difference is their cause is Hitler glorification and Jew hatred and your cause is the belief that fossil fuel industries need to be protected.
What science changes due to economic interests? Well, the AGW-denialists demand it does.
Do they have evidence to say that CO2 (or atmospheric composition) doesn't control climate? No.
Do they have evidence to say that human activity hasn't increased CO2 by 50%? No.
Do they evidence to say that CO2 didn't fluctuate in tight association with fluctuating climates throughout earth's geological history? No.
Do they have evidence to say that volcanoes, or sunspots or whatever are active enough to override the impact of CO2? No.
Do they have evidence to say that all the melted glacial and polar sea ice isn't occurring at a rate to directly impact the half of humanity that requires sea levels to stay right about where they are and have been since the dawn of agriculture and civilization? No.
And do they have evidence to say that seasonal cycles aren't responding in exactly the way that a warmer climate would force them to respond? Of course not. And they can't prove that the extinctions this is forcing on the planet is good for anybody.
Nope. All they have is instead, a prostitutional protection instinct for a subsidized industry of global climate pollution that can't stand to make way for the sustainable and emerging industries posed to overtake it - and the idiotic and immoral blindness to pretend that those companies' short-term profits are more important than how life is sustained on the planet. Not that I ever took a science course that demonstrated how a narrow economic interest could define and over-rule actual scientific evidence.
These people never so much as stepped foot in a laboratory, though. I can tell you that much. But they do believe that the internet has magnified the power of their ignorant partisanship and elevated it to levels that somehow diminish the scientific method or make it obsolete. That's how desperate these ignorant assholes are to feel intelligent and important.
Being Republican is just an excuse for being too lazy to use your brain.
Fen is in a great position to defend his AGW denialism. He's never set foot in a laboratory, and obviously never opened a science book. But he can be converted into easy cannon fodder to be plopped onto a foreign battlefield for protecting Mid-East oil interests. Now that's credibility!
Hardly. The predictions made by the climate computer models haven't matched with real word observable data. So the models are bunk. And since the AGW theory. I'll use an example that breaks it down into small pieces for you.
Your computer model says Dallas will win 3 of the next 5 superbowls.
Dallas loses in 2016. I question your model's accuracy, you call me a science denier.
Dallas loses in 2017. I question your model's accuracy, you call me a science denier.
Dallas loses again in 2018, which makes your theory impossible, so you go back and change the 2016 score to give Dallas the win. I question that you are not following the Scientific Method because you are altering data to fit your theory, you call me a science denier.
Again, there are people like me who follow the scientific method to support scientific theory, and there are people like you who resort to name calling to intimidate anyone from questioning their theory. The former is Science, the latter is a Cult.
"Why did Guiliani drop out?"
Was not selected.
Do they have -
And talk about being a denier. It's obvious you haven't kept up with the issue. For example, it's now proven that the increase in sea ice is due to underwater volcanic activity, not human induced warming. But here you are, repeating the same broken dogma. Ask them for some new talking points, I'm sure they are in a wonderful mood these days.
Any lack of a solid answer to that one goes into my pile of "didn't want to be associated with an impending, disastrous Trump administration."
Dude, you really need to get a mirror. Or have someone check you before you go outside. How many logical fallacies are you going to step in over the next 4 years. You're supposed to be smart, not stupid, not like everyone says.
Maybe just have a good temper tantrum and get it out of your system.
Your side LOST. And because of people like you smug and arrogant in their ignorance. You are completely out of touch with the rest of America. It's why there are millions of you wandering the streets like shell-shocked zombies. Worse, you STILL can't figure out why you lost.
And you think it's bad now? Ha. Look at the state level. The GOP is washing out the supports from underneath your training camps. Your party is led by old white people and no one is working up the farm teams for replacements, because they are all gone.
And another thing - Hillary Clinton will never be President! HAHAHA!
The CEO of Exxon as SecState. Can't get anymore in your face than that. Democratic attorneys general all over the country are taking to their fainting couches. I can't wait to see what the man's got up his sleeve next.
Trump is not "the GOP", you low information junkie. Trump only won because he ran a campaign more economically progressive and militarily isolationist than Goldwater-supporting corporatist neocon Hillary. If that's the agenda that Trump ends up actually promoting, fine with me. If not, he'll get impeached or voted out.
Does it have to be spelled out to you?
Oh, that's right. You're a community college drop-out whose only education in life is being barked at on whom to kill next, before they kill you. You never passed a science course, never did an experiment, never set foot in a laboratory, and think that atmosphere doesn't regulate climate - or that humans can't affect the environment, (or at least that whomever sends you to the Middle East to defend their oil can't) - but that sekrit "underwater volcanoes" "increase sea ice" that's been melting at rates high enough to submerge the Manhattan financial centers that fund your rent-a-cop duty for Arabian oil sheikhs.
The CEO of Exxon as SecState. Can't get anymore in your face than that. Democratic attorneys general all over the country are taking to their fainting couches. I can't wait to see what the man's got up his sleeve next.
A Trojan condom to wrap around the collective penises of the Saudi royal family's hairy members before fellating them?
Nah, nobody needs to fellate the Saudis anymore.
So Trump will just do it because he likes it, then.
As the commercial went, just for the taste of it.
Pathetic.
Wait one second, doggies! The Tillerson name came out via an NBC story. Let's wait and see. They might even be right, but based on their track record so far from the start of the campaign through today that's not the way to bet.
"Socialism" is but a name. The concept goes back to the Garden of Eden (or shortly thereafter) and actually works well in subsistence cultures.
I've been listening to Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick. He says the Pilgrims finally had enough to eat when it was decided that rather than sharing the food from the garden, each family could eat what they planted. Suddenly, so much more food was grown!
Are the moonies still going on about socialism? Well, I guess they tried shoving as much anti-socialism down America's throat as they could manage, and then scratched their heads after the country became, you know, anti-social. No wonder they feel such a sense of lost greatness. Just can't figure out why an anti-social society could have the problems they've inflicted on us. What a mystery.
sunsong said...
sick - really, really sick...unconscionably so
Oh, please explain disgruntled Hillary voter.
Who, by the way, will never be president of the United States no matter how much you cheat and lie.
Nice try though.
Rhythm and Balls said...
I don't see why. Holocaust deniers hate evidence in the service of their cause as much as you do. The only difference is their cause is Hitler glorification and Jew hatred and your cause is the belief that fossil fuel industries need to be protected.
My belief is we don't need a massive un-elected bureaucracy in charge of the lifeblood of the modern economy.
What science changes due to economic interests? Well, the AGW-denialists demand it does.
It is the AGW people who have been caught multiple times manipulating data. Their goal is to increase government/bureaucratic control so it makes sense they would argue for more power.
Do they have evidence to say that CO2 (or atmospheric composition) doesn't control climate? No.
Actually if you look at historical CO2 levels and historical temperatures there is little or no correlation to temperature. In fact the total CO2 levels have been significantly higher for most of Earth's history. Historical CO2 levels.
Do they have evidence to say that human activity hasn't increased CO2 by 50%? No.
Nobody cares. It makes it easier for me to grow trees in my backyard.
Do they evidence to say that CO2 didn't fluctuate in tight association with fluctuating climates throughout earth's geological history? No.
I will just repost this link. Eventually you will figure out AGW and people like you are tools for the plutocrats.
Do they have evidence to say that volcanoes, or sunspots or whatever are active enough to override the impact of CO2? No.
Methane does. It is 5 times and "greenhousey" as CO2. You don't get to take over the world economy regulating methane though.
Do they have evidence to say that all the melted glacial and polar sea ice isn't occurring at a rate to directly impact the half of humanity that requires sea levels to stay right about where they are and have been since the dawn of agriculture and civilization? No.
This is a joke right? Why haven't sea levels changed over the last 30 years? Nothing you people have said would happen has happened. There are still glaciers on Everest. The North Pole is still frozen over. There are more polar bears than ever. The Antarctic has more ice than ever. Temperatures haven't increased over the last 20 years according to satellite data which can't be manipulated.
Stop being a tool. You might as well go build Al Gore another mansion or help T. Boon Pickens clean his next private jet. There are a bunch of plutocrats getting rich off of you people.
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