Date: 2025-08-22 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00013881
The Trump Presidency
Cabinet
Rex Tillerson Reportedly Called Trump a ‘Moron’
Burgess COMMENTARY
Peter Burgess
Rex Tillerson Reportedly Called Trump a ‘Moron’
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Newsmax.com
Faced with policy clashes and disputes with the White House, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson nearly resigned during the summer, sources told NBC News. At one point, Tillerson referred to President Donald Trump as a 'moron' after a July 20 meeting with Trump's national security team and Cabinet officials at the Pentagon.
His frustrations reportedly reached a boiling point in late July around the time Trump made a politicized speech to the Boy Scouts of America, the group Tillerson once led. The secretary of state was in Texas at the time and threatened not to return to Washington.
Vice President Mike Pence later intervened and advised Tillerson how to ease the tension with Trump in a conversation described as a 'pep talk.' Meanwhile, other administration officials asked him to stay on for the rest of the year, including John Kelly, who would later become Trump's chief of staff, and Defense Secretary James Mattis, according to NBC.
A White House spokesperson said Monday that the president still has confidence in Tillerson, after Trump undercut Tillerson on Sunday, tweeting that his effort to negotiate with North Korea was a waste of time.