{"id":267316,"date":"2018-03-13T16:05:00","date_gmt":"2018-03-13T20:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?p=267316"},"modified":"2018-03-14T23:23:34","modified_gmt":"2018-03-15T03:23:34","slug":"trumps-hitting-his-stride-fires-tillerson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2018\/03\/13\/trumps-hitting-his-stride-fires-tillerson\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s Hitting His Stride: Tillerson Out, Pompeo In"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-267344\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/VladRex.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"396\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/VladRex.jpg 594w, https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/VladRex-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/VladRex-300x297.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/>RUSH: Now to Tillerson and all of this going on in Washington. I want to ask you if you remember something. Didn\u2019t the media&#8230;? Didn\u2019t the media tell us&#8230;? I mean, way, way back. I\u2019m talking here near&#8230; It may even be during the transition, but it was around the time Trump selected Tillerson. Didn\u2019t the media tell us that Trump picked Tillerson to be secretary of state as a payback to Russia for Russia helping Trump win the White House? You can look it up. My memory does not fail me. You remember all of those stories about how friendly Tillerson was with Putin?<\/p>\n<p>And we were told, &#8220;Well, you know, he\u2019s the CEO of ExxonMobil, and Exxon has business interests all over the world because they\u2019re pumping oil and causing climate change all over the world! So Tillerson has an intimate relationship with all these nations, presidents, strongmen, dictators, whatever. He has to because he does business in all these countries, and he\u2019s got a really, really good reputation with Putin and a good relationship with Putin.&#8221; He was essentially very, very friendly with Putin, and we were told this is why he was chosen because Putin helped Trump win by screwing Hillary.<\/p>\n<p>Oh! Have you seen the video of Hillary in India? She fell down the steps twice, had to be propped up. You\u2019ve probably heard about the speech that she gave. Have you heard about that? (interruption) Oh, gee whiz! The woman cannot let go of it. But it\u2019s instructive. Anyway, she walking down the steps, and if you didn\u2019t know it was Hillary&#8230; Yeah, you\u2019d know. There\u2019s one telltale, physiological&#8230; You\u2019d know. But, I mean, she can barely walk down these steps. They\u2019re stone steps. She slips twice, almost does the splits like a cheerleader except she can\u2019t go that far.<\/p>\n<p>She\u2019s propped up by two guys twice, and Huma is just standing behind there looking at this as though it happens all the time. Nobody seems particularly ruffled by this. Hillary\u2019s wearing this gigantic straw hat with sandals and white slacks that go down about, oh, just leaving the ankle exposed. And she can\u2019t walk! She cannot walk down these steps. Anyway, she\u2019s in Mumbai. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/28148\/watch-hillary-says-racist-poor-people-voted-trump-ben-shapiro\">She\u2019s made all these comments about why she lost, and it\u2019s pathetic<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/76EuMPDCWfs\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>But, at any rate, we were told that since Putin helped Trump, that Trump picked Tillerson as payback.<\/p>\n<p>Remember, Putin even gave Tillerson the Russian Order of Friendship. The Washington Post reported that in December of 2016. &#8220;Tillerson won the award after signing deals with the state-owned Russian oil company whose chief is seen as Putin\u2019s loyal lieutenant,&#8221; and it\u2019s interesting to note that since Tillerson became secretary of state, he has indeed taken positions that are sympathetic with Russia. He sided with Russia and Obama on the Iran nuke deal when Trump thinks it\u2019s horrible and needs to be ripped up &#8212; and that was a major sore spot for Trump.<\/p>\n<p>That and Tillerson is apparently a genuine believer in climate change, and that is something, a point of friction between him and Trump. I thought Tillerson\u2019s climate change position was simply a CEO saying what he had to say to keep half of the Exxon customer base mollified. But it turns out that Tillerson actually may be a true believer in it. Whether he is or isn\u2019t, the point is Trump isn\u2019t, and it was another friction point. So Tillerson being fired is a slap in the face of Russia, if we\u2019re going to take the media stories in December 2016 seriously, that Tillerson was chosen as a payback to Putin for Putin helping Trump getting elected.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-225446\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/649185770-300x219.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"219\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/649185770-300x219.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/649185770.jpg 594w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Nothing could be further from the truth. I\u2019ll tell you what I think is happening here. Trump\u2019s now to his second year. This is his 14th or 15th month. Mr. Snerdley, did you watch Trump\u2019s rally Saturday night in Pennsylvania? (interruption) Did it bother you? Did it upset you in any way, shape, manner, or form? Did Trump look unhinged or off the rails? I thought it was especially great, and you can tell this by looking at the reaction to it. These idiots at MSNBC said, &#8220;My God, that was Mussolini! We were watching Mussolini!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>That was Joe Scarborough. They were watching Mussolini! I think what\u2019s happening, folks&#8230; I think Trump is on a roll. I think if you look at Trump\u2019s agenda on taxes, on the economy, on the tariffs&#8230; A big steel company just announced they\u2019re opening a new plant in Ohio. They just announced it today, a thousand new jobs, reopening a steel plant. But if you look at Trump\u2019s agenda, 65% of it already achieved, I think Trump\u2019s just hitting his stride, frankly. I think he\u2019s on a roll. I think that he\u2019s getting confident and comfortable.<\/p>\n<p>Did you hear him say, &#8220;I don\u2019t really need a lot of advisers. You know, I don\u2019t need a bunch of strategists. I made up my mind on a lot&#8230;&#8221;? I think Trump is totally capable of making up his mind on things. He doesn\u2019t rely on advisers or strategists nearly as much as the Washington establishment is used to. I think he\u2019s just hitting his stride. I think Trump is getting more and more confident, and I think now it\u2019s time for Trump&#8230; He mollified some people by choosing cabinet members that might not have been his first choice.<\/p>\n<p>But he was making a mistake that freshman Republicans make consistently, thinking you can sue for peace or buy peace with the media, with the Democrats, with the opposition. So he picks people that the Drive-Bys are gonna swoon over and applaud and approve and so forth, but they\u2019re not Trump people. It\u2019s obvious Tillerson was not a Trump person. Tillerson, CEO ExxonMobil. That\u2019s not a job where you report to anybody. It\u2019s not a job where other people tell you what to do.<\/p>\n<p>As CEO of Exxon, you\u2019re telling everybody else what to do, not just inside your company, but outside. Tillerson, I think, believed he had a free hand at secretary of state, that foreign was basically his. You remember last summer there was a leak that Tillerson had called Trump a &#8220;moron&#8221; &#8212; and that was denied by both sides. But what if Tillerson really thought that and thought that foreign policy was his, and when he shows up and starts implementing his version of it that\u2019s in direct opposition to Trump, conflict, something has to give.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-267346\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/TrumpTillerson.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"254\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/TrumpTillerson.jpg 594w, https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/TrumpTillerson-300x190.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/>So rather than this being chaos, rather than this being, &#8220;Trump\u2019s losing control; nobody knows what\u2019s going on in the White House,&#8221; I think it\u2019s the exact opposite. I think Trump is on a roll. I think he\u2019s gaining confidence, and now, &#8220;To hell with it!&#8221; He\u2019s putting Trump people, people he likes, people he believes in, people who understand him, people who like him and that he likes. He\u2019s putting them in key positions in his inner circle. It\u2019s a positive.<\/p>\n<p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n<p>RUSH: Rex Tillerson. I still like the name. I\u2019ve always liked the name &#8220;Rex Tillerson.&#8221; It\u2019s a great name for the CEO of a major oil company. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s a great name for secretary of state, though, but it\u2019s a great name for an oil company head honcho. Rex Tillerson. He says he doesn\u2019t know why he was fired. Well, let me try to help out here. If you\u2019re butting heads with the president on three key issues&#8230; Tillerson said nothing was gonna happen on North Korea. He was not even told that that deal had been made to go accept the invitation from Kim Jong-un.<\/p>\n<p>And the Iran deal! Trump hates the Iran deal, has made no bones about it. Tillerson apparently is trying to keep us in it. And then there\u2019s this whole Paris accords climate change thing, and there probably some other riffs, not to mention the &#8220;moron&#8221; comment. Whether it was made or not, it was reported. It\u2019s floating out there. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s personal here. I think Trump&#8230; As I say, he\u2019s hitting his stride, and I think that he\u2019s putting people in these key positions to help him get his agenda moving and accomplished. I think he\u2019s leaving people in the dust here, folks.<\/p>\n<p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n<p>RUSH: One other thing: Rex Tillerson was opposed to moving the embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. So that\u2019s four things that Trump and Tillerson disagreed on, and they are significant. And you add to it the fact that (as best I have been able to ascertain this morning) Tillerson really did think he had autonomy. Look, personality types are what they are, and Tillerson hasn\u2019t reported to anybody on the job in I don\u2019t know how long. You\u2019re the former CEO of Exxon. You\u2019re not a wallflower. You\u2019re not sitting around waiting for somebody\u2019s approval.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019re a proactive, go-out-and-get-things-done kind of person. He really thought, from what I\u2019m told, the State Department was sort of like a personal fiefdom &#8212; as it has been, by the way, for others. You know, Obama would put people in there and just let \u2019em run because he knew that he basically had put himself in there. Well, that\u2019s what Trump is doing. Mike Pompeo! Mike Pompeo. Do you know he finished No. 1 in his class at West Point? He\u2019s from Kansas, a former member of Congress. He\u2019s already been confirmed as the CIA director.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-267327\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/APP-031318-Tillerson-Pompeo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/APP-031318-Tillerson-Pompeo.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/APP-031318-Tillerson-Pompeo-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/>He\u2019s gonna have to go through confirmation hearings again. Those are gonna be interesting. The Democrats are gonna try to stall as much of this as they can because it\u2019s an election year. Also, Trump has named the first woman to run the CIA. She\u2019s been the deputy director of the CIA. The deputy director actually is the day-to-day operations person of the CIA anyway. The deputy is actually who implements stuff. The director is not a figurehead, but the deputy &#8212; which is what she was &#8212; means that she\u2019s been doing the job anyway and is eminently qualified for this.<\/p>\n<p>But I think if you look at this simply as Trump finally getting people in place&#8230; You have to understand something, folks. In Washington, there aren\u2019t too many people happy Trump is there. In Washington, it would be not difficult at all to choose somebody to be in your cabinet who doesn\u2019t like you. What percentage of the Washington establishment or people that work in government at any level with any degree of experience in anything &#8212; how many of them &#8212; like Trump? His universe of people is pretty small.<\/p>\n<p>And I think he\u2019s realized this. I think Trump\u2019s learning a lot about liberalism that he didn\u2019t know &#8212; I think Trump is learning a lot about leftists that he didn\u2019t know &#8212; because Trump is becoming more conservative instinctively as he goes. But, believe me, it\u2019s a win-win to put people in positions where his agenda is implemented and maintained, people that are on the same page has he is. Remember I told you&#8230; I\u2019ve made mention of this I don\u2019t know how many times. A lot of Trump\u2019s staffing decisions during the transition in the early days after the inauguration really puzzled me.<\/p>\n<p>You ever done this? I have. Pretend that you\u2019re running for president, pretend that you win, but nothing else about your life changes. Just one day, you\u2019re out there doing what you do, and one day you decide to run &#8212; and you win. Now you have to pick a secretary of state. Now you have to pick a secretary of commerce and on down the line. You\u2019ve gotta pick somebody to lead your Council of Economic Advisors. You have to pick somebody to go over to Commerce. You have to pick somebody at the Food and Drug Administration and the EPA and all this.<\/p>\n<p>How many of you know anybody who is expert in any of those areas? So since you don\u2019t, and since most of us wouldn\u2019t, where would you go? Who would you rely on for advice? Who would you go to find people to staff your cabinet? If you\u2019ve never been in politics, and all of a sudden you run for the top gig in the country and you get it&#8230;? I ask myself this all the time because I try to find out&#8230; You know, George H. W. Bush is the first president&#8230; Well, maybe Reagan. But George H. W. Bush is the first person I actually tried to figure this out.<\/p>\n<p>I looked his cabinet. Like Bob Mosbacher was secretary of commerce, and he was great, and he was also a very tight buddy of George H. W. Bush. They\u2019re both in Texas, both in Houston. Mosbacher was a perfect fit. Now, Bush had been in government all his life, so he had the pick of the litter. He knew everybody. James Baker actually was a Bush man before he was a Reagan man, and some people said he never became a Reagan man, that he was always a Bush man, meaning he was never his conservative as Reagan was.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-258857\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/FB-FB-122117-Haley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"315\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/FB-FB-122117-Haley.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/FB-FB-122117-Haley-300x158.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/>But that\u2019s the position Trump was in. I don\u2019t know if Trump knew Tillerson before he ran for president. Maybe he had met him. I don\u2019t know if he knew Mike Pompeo. I just don\u2019t know. But to know people well enough to put them in these positions&#8230; Nikki Haley at the United Nations, the ambassador. So at some point you do have to rely on people that you trust to make recommendations to you to put people in your cabinet. When that starts happening, that\u2019s when it can all go wrong. What if you\u2019re asking people who don\u2019t want you to succeed?<\/p>\n<p>What if the suggestions you\u2019re getting are not the best fit for you? Say you\u2019re relying on&#8230; Pick. I don\u2019t care who it is. You\u2019re relying on somebody to advise you on picking a secretary of state, and what if that person really thinks you have no business being president so you need somebody in there that\u2019s gonna actually run foreign policy for you since you\u2019re such a dodo bird. What if Trump was relying on somebody to give him advice? Not just secretary of state, but any other position?<\/p>\n<p>My point is that now that Trump\u2019s got a year under his belt and has gotten to know people and has seen them in action and now has an on-the-ground feel for his agenda and how this place work&#8230; Now I think he is making moves to staff his administration with people who are on the same page as he is, people he trusts, people that he knows agree with him on what he wants to get done. He said he made the decision to fire Tillerson by himself. He didn\u2019t talk to anybody about it. He didn\u2019t get any suggestions. He didn\u2019t even tell Tillerson.<\/p>\n<p>The decision was supposedly made on Friday. He said that he and Tillerson been talking about this for a long time. &#8220;A State Department official says Trump never explained to Tillerson the reason why he was fired. He said, &#8216;I don\u2019t think it needs a reason.'&#8221; Now, you can say, &#8220;It\u2019s not cool. If you fire somebody, you bring \u2019em in and you tell \u2019em face-to-face, or you call \u2019em on the phone, but you don\u2019t announce it in a tweet.&#8221; Well, Trump announced it in a tweet.<\/p>\n<p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n<p>RUSH: We\u2019re gonna go to George in Augusta, Georgia. George, great to have you. Thank you for calling. You\u2019re up first today. Hello.<\/p>\n<p>CALLER: Good afternoon, Mr. Limbaugh. In reference to Mr. Trump firing Tillerson, I think it was a strategic move based on that Tillerson\u2019s a dove, he\u2019s replacing him with Mike Pompeo, who\u2019s a hawk, and getting ready to go into this <a href=\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/daily\/2018\/03\/09\/north-korea-breakthrough-panics-the-trump-haters\/\">meeting with Kim Jong-un sometime in May<\/a>. He\u2019s going to be dealing from a position of strength and not having to worry about making any kind of compromises through Tillerson.<\/p>\n<p>RUSH: That\u2019s probably a decent observation. In fact, George here is right. That\u2019s a great categorization, if you want a quick label type explanation. Tillerson is more of a dove or a moderate. Pompeo is a hawk. And what that really means, those two terms have become I don\u2019t think all that valuable, but, like, hawk has a negative connotation to it, depending on who uses it. The best way to describe Pompeo is aggressively pro-America, aggressively pro-American.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/daily\/2018\/03\/09\/north-korea-breakthrough-panics-the-trump-haters\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-267115\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/APP-030918-Trump-Kim-Jong-Un-North-Korea.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/APP-030918-Trump-Kim-Jong-Un-North-Korea.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/APP-030918-Trump-Kim-Jong-Un-North-Korea-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a>He\u2019s not wimpish. He\u2019s not defensive about it. I\u2019m not kidding you. The Obama administration had a lot of people, State Department and throughout, that thought they had to defend the greatness of the United States, to apologize for it. Sorry we\u2019re so big. Sorry we\u2019re so powerful. We know that we don\u2019t really deserve it because we\u2019ve done it on the backs of your country and that country. Pompeo is not that.<\/p>\n<p>The fact that Tillerson was not even in the loop on the Nork thing, you know, this has to be embarrassing. It was one day last week. It was the day before Trump made the announcement or the South Koreas came out and made the announcement. It was the day before that Tillerson said there\u2019s no talks with North Korea and there aren\u2019t gonna be any. And the next day Tillerson was effectively blown out of the water on that.<\/p>\n<p>Any CEO who really, really believes in climate change is likely going to be a dove on a whole lot of things, because if you believe in climate change, there\u2019s one thing else you have to believe, and that is America is at fault. If you believe in this whole left-wing climate change thing business, then you are required, if you\u2019re being consistent, to also believe that America is primarily responsible. Well, you don\u2019t want somebody like that hanging around when you\u2019re heading into talks with the pot-bellied little dictator from North Korea.<\/p>\n<p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n<p>RUSH: I think another reason why Washington was blown to smithereens today, is nobody gets fired in the swamp. Obama never fired anybody. George W. Bush didn\u2019t. These people screw up left and right. They never get fired. Trump, he\u2019s firing people. Oh, oh, the swamp is taken aback. This doesn\u2019t happen. Gotta be some sort of abnormality, conspiracy or something. It just doesn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n<p>Swamp people don\u2019t get fired. That\u2019s one of the benefits of being in the establishment is you do not get fired. You get reassigned, your kids maintain their health care, you maintain your career and future, but you do not get fired. Well, not in Trump world. In Trump world you get canned and you get called out for it. And people find out why you got canned before you find out. Do not discount this.<\/p>\n<p>Did Lois Lerner get fired? Did anybody that had anything to do with that botched Benghazi thing get fired? Did anybody ever get fired? No. They\u2019re promoted! They\u2019re shifted, they\u2019re transferred, they are protected.<\/p>\n<p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n<p>RUSH: There has been another firing, this time at the State Department.<\/p>\n<p>You know, we ought to know better by now. We just ought to know better. This is a great illustration of how every one of us can get swept up and believe caca. &#8220;The White House has fired an aide at the State Department who contradicted the White House account of&#8221; Trump\u2019s firing of Tillerson. &#8220;The Associated Press first reported the firing of Under Secretary of State Steve Goldstein&#8230;&#8221; He\u2019s an assistant. &#8220;The firing was reportedly prompted by a statement from Goldstein on Tuesday, responding to Tillerson\u2019s firing, in which Goldstein said Tillerson did not speak with Trump before his firing and is &#8216;unaware\u2019 of the reason behind his dismissal.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-256795\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/FB-Washington-DC.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"315\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/FB-Washington-DC.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/FB-Washington-DC-300x158.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/>&#8220;The statement strongly suggested that Tillerson found out about his firing from Twitter&#8230; Goldstein also said that Tillerson had &#8216;every intention of staying\u2019 before his firing. Goldstein\u2019s account differed from the one a White House official told The Hill. In the White House official\u2019s version, White House chief of staff John Kelly told Tillerson on Friday that Trump would fire him. Trump said Tuesday he made the decision to oust Tillerson on his own and that Tillerson would be &#8216;much happier now.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>So apparently John Kelly told Tillerson (paraphrased), &#8220;Hey! Soon, you\u2019re gone. You\u2019re gonna be gone.&#8221; He was not blindsided. He was told in advance. Does anybody remember over the weekend that Tillerson had to cancel some kind of a meeting somewhere because he had become ill? It was in Africa. &#8220;He got sick and had to&#8230;&#8221; That story\u2019s BS. He knew. I predict how that he knew and that\u2019s why he flew back early. We all believe this notion that Trump didn\u2019t tell Tillerson, that Trump tweeted it before Tillerson even knew about it.<\/p>\n<p>Because we have some undersecretary in the State Department who says (impression), &#8220;Poor little Rex! Nobody told Rex! Trump is a mean SOB! I can\u2019t believe Trump would do this!&#8221; That\u2019s essentially the message the guy put out; everybody believes it. So the White House says, &#8220;Okay. You\u2019re gone, too, buddy. Get out of there, &#8216;Rosenstein,\u2019 whatever your name is. You\u2019re gone. Goldstein! You\u2019ve had it,&#8221; because Tillerson was told.<\/p>\n<p>Kelly told him on Friday he was out. I\u2019ll tell you what. I think they are brooking none of this usual crap in the Trump administration. I actually think I\u2019m right. He\u2019s finding his grove. He\u2019s getting his groove on, folks. He knows exactly what he wants to do now. He\u2019s had a year to size things up and is now cruising and realizes only a certain amount of time to move the agenda forward and knows full well what the Democrats are trying to do to hold him up and stop it, and it\u2019s full-speed ahead, business as usual.<\/p>\n<p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n<p>RUSH: Rex Tillerson just concluded his remarks relating to his being dismissed by President Trump. He took no questions. We\u2019re editing some sound bites now. He seemed really shaken by this. Really I guess &#8220;shaken&#8221; is the best word. He was breathing erratically.<\/p>\n<p>Wall Street Journal has a story here, the headline: &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/freebeacon.com\/national-security\/tillerson-fired-rogue-bid-save-iran-nuke-deal\/\">Tillerson Fired Over Rogue Bid to Save Iran Nuke Deal<\/a> &#8212; The abrupt firing Tuesday of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson follows months of infighting between the State Department and White House over efforts by Tillerson to save the Iran nuclear deal and ignore President Donald Trump\u2019s demands that the agreement be fixed or completely scrapped.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In the weeks leading up to Tillerson\u2019s departure, he had been spearheading efforts to convince European allies to agree to a range of fixes to the nuclear deal that would address Iran\u2019s ongoing ballistic missile program and continued nuclear research. While Trump had prescribed a range of fixes that he viewed as tightening the deal\u2019s flaws, Tillerson recently caved to European pressure to walk back these demands and appease Tehran while preserving the deal.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Well, hell\u2019s bells. If that\u2019s it, then it\u2019s no wonder. If you\u2019ve got somebody trying to undermine the president\u2019s objectives on this Iran deal, which is another campaign promise, by the way, in addition to being the right thing to do. And if the secretary of state is working with European allies to kind of, &#8220;Hey, let\u2019s try to stop our president from succeeding here, he may not know what he\u2019s doing,&#8221; I guarantee, once that was discovered, it was over, it was history. See? Wait. Be patient. You\u2019ll eventually get close to the truth on everything.<\/p>\n<p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n<p>RUSH: Here\u2019s Tillerson, two bites. First, as he made his exit remarks today&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>TILLERSON: I received a call today from the president of the United States at a little after noontime from Air Force One, and I\u2019ve also spoken to White House Chief of Staff Kelly. To ensure we have clarity as to the days ahead, what is most important is to ensure an orderly and smooth transition during a time that the country continues to face significant policy and national security challenges. As such, effective at the end of the day, I\u2019m delegating all responsibilities of the office of secretary to Deputy Secretary of State Sullivan.<\/p>\n<p>RUSH: His last official day will be March 31st. I think it\u2019s midnight March 31st so that it doesn\u2019t bleed over into April Fool\u2019s Day, so the media doesn\u2019t get confused. But he\u2019s effectively out now. That means he\u2019ll get his health care and his benefits up until March 31st, and whatever other benefits that are attached here. Here\u2019s the next sound bite&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/94i2WbqZJS8\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>TILLERSON: I close by thanking all for the privilege of serving beside you for the last 14 months. Importantly, to the 300-plus million Americans, thank you for your devotion to a free and open society, to acts of kindness towards one another, to honesty and the quiet, hard work that you do every day to support this government with your tax dollars. All of us we know want to leave this place as a better place for the next generation. I\u2019ll now return to private life &#8212; private citizen &#8212; as a proud American, proud of the opportunity I\u2019ve had to serve my country. God bless all of you. God bless the American people. God bless America.<\/p>\n<p>RUSH: Rex Tillerson said he spoke to Trump. Trump departed today on Air Force One, I think at&#8230; Let\u2019s see. What time was this? 10 o\u2019clock. Yeah, because that will put him in out there at noon, yeah, California time. So he called Tillerson from Air Force One. Again, the Wall Street Journal story just moments ago says the reason Tillerson was fired is that he was discovered to have been operating a rogue operation to save the Iran nuclear deal when Trump wants it either majorly fixed or scuttled. Tillerson was working with our, quote-unquote, &#8220;European allies&#8221; to see to it that Trump\u2019s efforts met failure.<\/p>\n<p>They wanted to save the Iranian nuclear deal as it is. So this is curiosity. You have on the Iran nuclear deal, Tillerson more closely aligned with Obama. On climate change, you have Tillerson more closely aligned with Obama. Tillerson also opposed the moving of the embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, and Tillerson apparently was not in the loop and not thinking that it was possible to have a sit-down with North Korea. So, it\u2019s why I said earlier, &#8220;I think Trump is reaching his stride and is getting people in these key positions that are on the same page as he is regarding his agenda.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t think he\u2019s out looking for friends and associates and so forth. He\u2019s not throwing a party in there and he\u2019s not looking for sycophants. But he\u2019s looking for somebody &#8212; \u2019cause he can\u2019t do everything. He\u2019s looking for people are gonna implement his agenda without having to be told what to do. I can\u2019t tell you how important that is to major CEOs, major managers of a lot of people and a big organization. You have to be able to delegate. You cannot have your hands on everything. It\u2019s just not possible, and you need people who are going to execute your agenda and not undermine it.<\/p>\n<p>And you\u2019re going to need people who can do it without asking you what it is they have to do every day. That would be pointless. Trump\u2019s original staffing decisions were probably some of that, but they were also appeasement oriented. He wanted&#8230; Remember, I met with the president in February shortly after he was inaugurated, and he told me then that he was surprised that the opposition hadn\u2019t calmed down. He thought it would have faded away after he was inaugurated when people realized there was nothing more they could do about it. I remember telling him, I said, &#8220;It\u2019s never gonna go away. They are gonna oppose you for as long as you\u2019re there. They\u2019re never gonna like you, much less love you.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But I think some of the original staffing was designed to appease. It\u2019s what Republicans do. It\u2019s what Republicans in Washington do. They think they have to do it. They have to show, &#8220;No, I\u2019m not what you think I am. I\u2019m not a mean guy. I don\u2019t hate this group and I don\u2019t hate that group. No. Let me show you.&#8221; And they don\u2019t really think you hate. Even if they do, that\u2019s not what it\u2019s really all about. It\u2019s forever stigmatizing their opposition, characterizing them, lying about them. It\u2019s not about reforming anybody. It\u2019s not about getting along, at least as far as the left is concerned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>RUSH: I think Trump&#039;s just hitting his stride, frankly. I think he&#039;s on a roll. I think that he&#039;s getting confident and comfortable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":267327,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[12,1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v17.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Trump\u2019s Hitting His Stride: Tillerson Out, Pompeo In - The Rush Limbaugh Show<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/daily\/2018\/03\/13\/trumps-hitting-his-stride-fires-tillerson\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Trump\u2019s Hitting His Stride: Tillerson Out, Pompeo In - The Rush Limbaugh Show\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"RUSH: I think Trump&#039;s just hitting his stride, frankly. I think he&#039;s on a roll. 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