Trump undermines his own Sec. of State

It seemed there was a lull for a few days in the taunting between Trump and Kim Jong Un.   There were news stories of "back channels of communication" with Kim's people and that the State Department is actively engaged in a diplomatic effort to resolve tensions with North Korea.

As reported by Eline Gordts and Nick Robins-Early on HuffPost, Sec. of State Rex Tillerson told reporters while on his trip to Beijing that the the U.S. has several direct lines of communication open and that we are actively engaged in dialogue with North Korean officials.  Tillerson added, “We ask: ‘Would you like to talk?’ We have lines of communications to Pyongyang. We’re not in a dark situation, a blackout.”

Earlier in the day, Tillerson had spoken of a peaceful resolution and offered reassurances that the U.S. is not trying to topple Kim's regime.  "I think the whole situation's a bit overheated right now, [and] everyone would like for it to calm down," he added.

So what does Tillerson's boss do -- the man-child in the Oval Office?   One day after Tillerson's hopeful statements, which were not a leak but obviously a deliberate, reassuring message to both the American people and the North Koreans, Trump tweets out this:

"I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man.  Save your energy Rex, we'll do what has to be done."

My first thought when I read this was:   'Tillerson's going to have to resign.  Surely this will be the last straw for him.'   As difficult as this job is, to be undermined by your own president, while you are in a foreign country trying to stop a nuclear war, is an untenable situation.   Unless . . .

The only possible alternative is that Tillerson and Trump have strategized a "good cop/bad cop" routine.   But I don't think so.   I think we're seeing Trump at his worst, most dangerous level of fury and lashing out.

In the course of the last week, he had all those losses:  the last chance to repeal Obamacare;  the candidate that he grudgingly endorsed for the Alabama seat in the senate lost;  he had a travel-gate scandal in his cabinet and fired Sec. Tom Price;  the Mueller investigation is moving in on the White House;  he's being roundly criticized for an inadequate response to Puerto Rico's hurricane crisis, and San Juan's mayor -- a woman -- has bested him in the media war over just that failure.  So far, he's lost the PR battle, badly.

Every day he proves again that he is just not presidential material.  On a completely separate track from ideology or political policy -- he doesn't have the character or the soul . . . or the maturity for it.

But this is just the point.   Trump is incapable of absorbing very much criticism and behaving like an adult.    The real danger is that he'll reach the end of his short fuse of anger and humiliation -- and retaliate by sending the bombers toward North Korea.

Ralph