What seemed unlikely a few months ago is one week away from becoming a reality — Rex Tillerson is poised to hit his one-year anniversary as secretary of state.
Despite reported imbroglios with his boss, President Donald Trump, despite the incessant rumors that his dismissal was imminent and the rampant speculation of replacements, Tillerson is still in office and planning trips abroad months from now, Politico reports.
How effective Tillerson can be is another matter, but he seems sure to hit his anniversary next week, Jan. 31.
"He's stuck in this Bermuda Triangle where he's going to continue to wander around as the nation's top diplomat, but without real opportunities or the real support of the president at home or abroad," Aaron David Miller, a former adviser to several secretaries of state, told Politico.
Tillerson has always dismissed reported rifts with Trump, and earlier this month said he intends "to be here for the whole year."
Tillerson really hit hot water in October when NBC News reported that he nearly resigned over disputes with the president and had called Trump a "(expletive) moron."
Tillerson never expressly denied saying it and went on about his business, while the rumor mill churned that Trump was disenfranchised with his secretary of state and was mulling a change, reporting he dismissed as "fake news."
But Tillerson is still here and plans to go about the business Trump hired him to do.
"He has been and is focused on his job," Steve Goldstein, undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs, told Politico. "The secretary will remain the secretary as long as the president wants him to be there."
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