What Rex Tillerson's fumbles mean for other Trump nominees and Trump's opponents
By James Downie January 12 at 10:38 AM
Secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson did not have a great Wednesday on Capitol Hill. The former ExxonMobil chief struggled to answer the yes-or-no question on whether the oil giant had ever lobbied against sanctions on Russia while he was CEO. He stumbled on whether Saudi Arabia is a human rights violator, something even the U.S. government — too often willing to look the other way when it comes to the House of Saud — accepts. And he admitted the astonishing fact that he had not yet talked in specifics about Russia policy with President-elect Donald Trump.
To be clear, the hearing wasn’t a total disaster for Tillerson. His odds of confirmation remained unchanged at the end of Wednesday: If Tillerson can convince a few skeptical Republican hawks like Marco Rubio that he’s not worth opposing, he will be confirmed. But his troubles do suggest a rocky road ahead for several other key Cabinet nominees — and an opportunity for Democrats to start changing the narrative against Trump.
Like several other of Trump’s most-eyebrow-raising choices for his Cabinet, Tillerson is an uber-wealthy businessperson with no government experience. His decades at the head of an international behemoth and the fact that he had already finished his ethics and financial disclosure filings suggested that his road to confirmation would be easier than some others of similar backgrounds. He worked with a prepping staff that Trump people bragged about to the Beltway press: “Asked how many mock confirmation hearings each nominee is doing, another transition official said, ‘Enough to be perfect.'” And yet Tillerson was far from “perfect.”
Other nominees in this “wealthy neophyte” mold start their travels facing more obstacles. There are the conflicts of interest: Education secretary nominee Betsy DeVos and Commerce secretary nominee Wilbur Ross have both had their hearings pushed back because of delays in completing their ethics reports; Treasury secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin and Labor secretary nominee Andrew Puzder still haven’t had their hearings scheduled for the same reason. (Puzder’s appearance could be as late as February.) Again, Tillerson seemed to be ready and prepped, yet there were easy fumbles. What thorny issues await these four, and who thinks all of them will sail through without embarrassing mistakes?
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