Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley. State Department.
Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley says in a new book that former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Chief of Staff John Kelly undermined President Trump. The Hill. Haley said that “Kelly and Tillerson confided in me that when they resisted the president, they weren’t being insubordinate, they were trying to save the country,”. For example, when President Trump wanted to cut aid to Palestinians both Tillerson and Kelly overruled Haley. Kelly also prevented a direct meeting with President Trump. Haley went around them and Kelly complained about it. Haley said that she was working to advance the Trump agenda as the people of the United States voted for him and she had a duty to carry out his plans.
The Washington Post broke the story and their article can be found here.
My Comment:
Interesting move here by Nikki Haley. She's rather publicly throwing Rex Tillerson and John Kelly under the bus. By her accounting it looks like both men were openly defying President Trump and undermining him. They also tried to recruit Haley to do the same thing and when she refused they tried to undermine her.
If true, it's a huge accusation and a very good explanation as to why both men are no longer working with President Trump. Both were fired under mysterious circumstances that made it clear that both were on the outs with President Trump. If Haley is telling the truth, then it was completely justified by the actions of these two men.
But should we trust what she is saying? It does seem like she held a grudge against both men. It's possible that they weren't undermining President Trump, just explaining what their beliefs were. Plus, they might not have liked Nikki Haley especially since most UN ambassadors never made it to cabinet meetings. It seems clear that there are personality issue involved here.
That being said, I tend to believe Haley. She has been accused of many things but I never saw her as someone who lies. And it also was pretty clear that in the end Tillerson and Kelly were looking out for themselves and not serving their President.
I do have to say that back when Trump's cabinet was announced a lot of people were very happy with Tillerson and Kelly. They were seen as tough people that would have the President's back. Haley on the other hand was seen as a possible threat due to her comments with President Trump during the campaign and was seen as someone who was trying to leverage a 2020 or 2024 presidential run. In the end though, it was Haley was the one that was loyal.
I do have to say that the biggest criticism I have had for President Trump is who he picked for his staff. He's had more than a few bad picks and it has really undermined him. Some, like Jeff Sessions, were just terrible at their jobs. Some, like Michael Flynn, weren't vetted enough (even though he was railroaded). Some were lightning rods for controversy and gave him bad advice (like Steve Bannon). And now we find out that Tillerson and Kelly undermined him.
Why has President Trump had so much trouble? I think the problem is that many people on his staff aren't fully buying into his agenda and there are limited people out there that are. That means that many of his picks have ended up either being bad at their jobs or have undermined him for their own reasons.
Thankfully, President Trump has seemed to have gotten things under control. The team he has now seems to be more loyal to him and the voters that voted for him than their own agendas. I am hoping that there are no people left in Trump's administration at the higher levels that are openly against him. Of course that doesn't account for all the "deep state" un-elected bureaucrats, like accused leaker Eric Ciaramella, which shows that you don't have to be in the upper tier of management to screw over the country.
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