10/1/2017
Today President Trump decided it was best to share his tactics on North Korea with the whole world.
…Save your energy Rex, we'll do what has to be done!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 1, 2017
The tweets came a day after Tillerson told reporters that the US had direct contact with North Korea in regards to its nuclear and missile programs. It was assumed that Tillerson was leading the discussions with North Korea.
Trump has traded insults and threats with Kim Jong Un in recent weeks amid escalating tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs. Trump later tweeted that his White House predecessors, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, had all “failed” on North Korea by “Being nice to Rocket Man.” “So why would it work now?” he asked.
The President’s comments caught many people of guard, and may have erased any positive progress the Secretary of State may have made with the North Koreans. Many foreign policy experts wondered how Tillerson would be able to negotiate in good faith in the future, if the President was prone to undercut and trivialize his efforts. Some even speculated that Tillerson may consider resigning after being humiliated by Trump.
However, R.C. Hammond, an adviser to Tillerson, denied that his boss had been undercut by Trump’s tweets and rejected any suggestion that the secretary of state should resign. “Let’s resign the idea of resignation. The President just made it clear to the Kim regime the diplomatic offer on the table is cooling,” Hammond said on Twitter.
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