I Can’t Believe You Asked That, Chris

Vincent J. Curtis

22 May 2017

Washington is so weird.  They just don’t get Trump at all; and by implication, they just don’t get middle America at all, either.

On Fox News Sunday yesterday, host Chris Wallace demonstrated in an interview with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson just how certain the Washington swamp is in its own judgement.  In the questions below (edited somewhat to highlight the point being made) Wallace asserts his judgement and the judgement of the Washington swamp in the manner in which he puts his questions to Tillerson.  The questions and the manner in which they were formulated show just how incredulous Wallace is at what the Trump administration does.  They don’t understand Trump at all.

In the course of asking Tillerson about the just concluded summit with Arab leaders in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Wallace played clips of Trump during the election campaign calling out Islam for its violence and radicalism.

WALLACE:…….Mr. Secretary, President Trump is urging Muslim leaders to join the, quote, "battle between good and evil". He’s opening a center against extremism today. Muslim leaders are pledging to cut off funding to radicals.

But the question I have is, is this just talk?

Regrettably, Tillerson did not begin his answer with, “Yes, Chris.  This is all just talk.”  However, Tillerson is a diplomat and gave a serious, diplomatic answer to Wallace’s challenging question.

Wallace was not satisfied:

WALLACE: Given that past rhetoric, why should Muslim leaders trust Mr. Trump now? And on the other hand, if the president is so concerned about human rights, why isn’t he talking about it publicly this weekend?

Wallace is substituting his judgement on diplomacy for those who are responsible for the administration of American foreign policy.  Never mind the plain evidence that Arab leaders are placing a great deal of hope in Trump.

When Tillerson turned aside Wallace’s challenge again and answered a question about the purpose of this particular meeting, Wallace was not satisfied:

WALLACE: But -- but, sir, I’ve seen a draft of the president’s speech, the big speech this afternoon. Not a mention of human rights, not a mention of women’s rights. You say he wants to speak concretely and frankly about these things -- he’s not doing that today.

Tillerson’s answer below ought to have been understood by even the dullest interviewer:

TILLERSON: But, you know, the primary reason we’re here today is to confront this threat of terrorism. If we do not defeat Daesh, if we do not defeat these forces of evil, there will be no conditions under which we can even hope to improve the human rights for all of the people in the region.

Wallace did not understand it, and turned to another topic in the formulaic manner of a television interview:

WALLACE: Mr. Secretary, you were in the Oval Office when the president met with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov on May 10th, and according to the official summary, the president told Lavrov: I just fired the head of the FBI. He was crazy, a real nut job. I face great pressure because of Russia, that’s taken off.

My question to you, sir, as someone who was in that meeting -- was he telling the Russians that firing Comey was taking off legal and political pressure?

TILLERSON: Chris, that’s not my -- my interpretation, certainly, of the conversation. [This ought to have tipped off Wallace that maybe the unnamed source who read something to the New York Times maybe didn’t have it quite right.]   And I think what the president was trying to convey to the Russians is, look, I’m not going to be distracted by this -- all these issues that are here at home, they -- that, you know, affect us domestically. I’m not going to let that distract from our efforts to see if we can engage with you, engage with Russia, and identify areas where we might be able to work together. The president I think reemphasized the message to the Russians that the relationship is at a low point and we need to change that, we need to both work towards trying to improve that.

So I think the point he was making is I’m not going to be distracted by those things that are happening here at home, nor let them get in the way of the important work of engaging Russia to see what can be done to improve this relationship.

Tillerson gave an excellent explanation of what transpired between Trump and Lavrov, and its diplomatic purpose.  Nevertheless, Wallace bulls ahead with the received Washington swamp interpretation:

WALLACE: But, sir, he seemed to be saying that firing Comey would help remove one of the distractions.

TILLERSON: I -- Chris, I just didn’t -- my takeaway from that conversation was not that point at all. I think, again, the president was simply saying to the Russians these issues at home are not going to get in the way of my effort and the effort of my government to see if we can find a way to move this relationship forward.

WALLACE: You said this week in Washington that you don’t think that foreign leaders around the world care about what’s going on in Washington with regard to the president. Here you are.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TILLERSON: I think the people in the rest of the world take -- do not have the time to pay attention to what’s happening domestically here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: I have to ask you, Mr. Secretary, do you really believe that? Because I got to tell you that ambassadors that I talk to here in Washington are deeply concerned with the investigation into the president and question, wonder, whether it’s going to somehow prevent the U.S. from meeting its challenges around the world.

Again Tillerson passed up the opportunity to say to Wallace, “No Chris, I really don’t believe that.  I just said it to throw you guys a screwball.”  But here again, Wallace is throwing the Washington swamp interpretation at Tillerson and not listening to what Tillerson is saying to him.  Tillerson gave another diplomatic and correct answer, and then Wallace formulaically moved to more pleasant discussion.

The Washington swamp believe they know better, and aren’t prepared to listen and learn.  They are way too comfortable in their opinions and worldview, and much of what Trump does is outside their realm of understanding and experience.

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