The excruciating, humiliating dance that unindicted co-conspirator and Russian asset Donald "Rump" Trump had during the transition with plutocratic robot Willard "Mittens" Romney over the Secretary of State position took on a new twist with a report that the Kremlin had vetoed Mittens' nomination. Jane Mayer's essential article in The New Yorker indicates that the Kremlin wanted a sanction-lifting person in that job, and Rump acquiesced by appointing oil mogul Rex "Rexxon" Tillerson, Exxon's Putin-friendly CEO, who was awarded Russia's Order of Friendship a few years earlier in recognition of his role in developing Russian oil assets. Mittens had reportedly drawn the Kremlin's ire after declaring in 2012 that Russia was the U.S.'s number one foe.
Rexxon has demonstrated his continuing loyalty not only to his compromised boss, but also to the Kremlin in not spending $120 million appropriated to counter further Russian interference in our democratic processes, saying with a shrug last month, “If it’s their intention to interfere, they’re going to find ways to do that.” Good to know that Rexxon's picked sides. Maybe Putin will build him a nice retirement dacha.
(photo: Rexxon to Putin: "I'll serve you well.")
