President Trump's exuberant humiliation of Rex Tillerson

Working for Trump is impossible

Rex Tillerson and President Trump.
(Image credit: Illustrated | REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)

It's difficult to imagine how Rex Tillerson might have survived any longer as President Trump's secretary of state.

Tillerson's doom was written in his acceptance. The former president of the Boy Scouts of America, himself a former Eagle Scout, a member of his high-school marching band, an earnest Congregationalist, a proponent of free trade and Common Core, a supporter of Mitt Romney in 2012 and Jeb Bush during the last election, Tillerson was the least representative of all Trump's major Cabinet nominees. Perhaps the only thing, aside from his proven ability to make money on behalf of his employers, that might have endeared the former CEO of Exxon to the president is his longstanding use of a bizarre alias — "Wayne Tracker" — to conduct business correspondence.

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Matthew Walther

Matthew Walther is a national correspondent at The Week. His work has also appeared in First Things, The Spectator of London, The Catholic Herald, National Review, and other publications. He is currently writing a biography of the Rev. Montague Summers. He is also a Robert Novak Journalism Fellow.