The latest reports say that Trump is likely to appoint ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State.
His first qualification, from Trump’s point of view, is that he has no government experience whatever. He has spent the past 41 years working at ExxonMobil. He also has no diplomatic experience. That makes him just right for the Trump cabinet, where knowledge and experience are seen as handicaps.
His second qualification is that he has a long and apparently close relationship with Trump’s friend Vladimir Putin. He was doing billions of dollars of business with the Russian oligarch and opposed the economic sanctions on Russia after it invaded Crimea.
But, from a Trumpian perspective, Tillerson has one defect: He was the leading advocate for the Common Core in the corporate world. He sold it as the sine qua non for the future of the nation, which of course was nonsense, but he believed it.
Well, Trump has Betsy DeVos, who used to support Common Core but stopped when Trump asked her.
They could switch jobs and it wouldn’t matter, since neither is qualified.
Want to read more about Rex and the Common Core?
When Exxon Mobil, GE, Intel, and others pushed for the education standards, they incurred the wrath of Tea Party conservatives and got a painful lesson in modern politics.
http://fortune.com/common-core-standards/
CFR CEO Speaker Series: A Conversation with Rex W. Tillerson
http://www.cfr.org/world/ceo-speaker-series-conversation-rex-w-tillerson/p35286
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Picks calculated to drive you MAD!
What, me worry?
LikeLike
From slate: In 2011, he [Tillerson] negotiated an energy partnership with Russia that could eventually be worth as much as $500 billion, according to Putin. Further confirmation of Tillerson’s close relationship with Putin came in 2012, when Moscow awarded him the country’s Order of Friendship decoration. It isn’t just with Russia though. Having Tillerson as head of the State Department could open up all sorts of conflicts of interest considering Exxon operates in more than 50 countries.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/12/10/exxon_ceo_rex_tillerson_who_has_close_russia_ties_is_frontrunner_for_secretary.html
Massive conflicts of interest, no problem in Trumplandia.
The right wingers sure did a flip flop, now they are all kissy-huggy with Putin and Russia.
LikeLike
Great pick ,
The “Monster from the Black Lagoon” just got pulled out of the swamp. .
It’s a great plan to drain the swamp. Take them out of the swamp and put them in the cabinet.
LikeLike
I think it’s actually a reconstituted dinosaur. They didn’t have to drain the swamp, they had to drill.
LikeLike
Each of Trump’s picks get more insane.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Listening to KPFA and can’t imagine how much worse this can get. Lots of work to do!
LikeLike
Trump’s picks of people who are climate change deniers, as is he, is for me the most egregious of all. Man’s laws can be changed. The laws of physics cannot and as many of the world’s brightest minds have told us, the fate of homo sapiens on this planet can well hang in the balance.
WHAT could be more important than addressing this now
AND
there is not that much time left if indeed there is time to change the course of climate change already.
LikeLike
As a former employee of the US State Department Foreign Service, I am perfectly fine with the appointment of Mr. Tillerson, for the post of Secretary of State. He is a proven deal-maker, and international diplomacy is all about deals. He is NOT one of the “cookie-pushers” (A Richard Nixon sobriquet applied to career diplomats).
Most of our senior diplomats, are extreme liberals, mostly educated at prestigious east-coast “ivy league” universities. Our nation does not have a Foreign Service Academy ( like a military academy or a naval academy or an Air Force academy).
I believe that man with a real understanding of the real world, and the necessity of dealing with unsavory governments, will do just fine at the helm of the State Department.
LikeLike