Date: March 14, 2018
Host: Jim Schneider
Listen: MP3 | Order
This edition of Crosstalk centered around the decision by President Trump to fire Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and replace him with CIA Director Mike Pompeo.
Jim reported that White House officials were not sorry to see Tillerson go. He was viewed as an ineffective leader who was rarely on the same page as the president.
Is more change on the way? That’s possible, as National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster’s name has allegedly been part of circulating rumors.
Nancy Pelosi is outraged that President Trump has fired Tillerson. The problem is that less than a year and a half ago, she was upset that the president had brought him on as Secretary of State.
President Trump and Tillerson disagreed on the Iran deal, with Tillerson trying to preserve it. Tillerson also felt diplomacy was the way to go in regard to North Korea, whereas President Trump wanted to get tough, which he did, via sanctions. This has resulted in North Korea wanting to come to the negotiating table. Tillerson also wanted to preserve the Paris Climate Accord and the Trans Pacific Partnership.
Senator Rand Paul has indicated he will do everything he can to block the nomination of Mike Pompeo because Pompeo doesn’t believe that enhanced interrogation techniques are torture as well as lending support to the Iraq war.
The activist LGBTQ organization known as the Human Rights Campaign claims that Mike Pompeo is anti-LGBTQ. They claim he opposes marriage equality and, as a member of Congress, co-sponsored efforts to allow states to not recognize same-sex marriage and to allow not-for-profit businesses and organizations using taxpayer dollars a license to discriminate against LGBTQ individuals.
Jim presented more information from various media sources related to this State Department shakeup along with the opinions of Crosstalk callers.
