This morning, President Donald Trump fired his Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson. While the timing seemed out of nowhere, a rift developed between the two long ago that spilled over into the public when it was revealed Tillerson called Trump a “fucking moron.”
Naturally, everyone expected that might have factored into the firing, even though the comments came back in the summer and were revealed in October of 2017.
But one reporter was brave enough, as the president was taking questions before he boarded Marine One, to ask if it factored into his decision this weekend.
Haha Rex's revenge: "Did you fire him because he called you a moron?" https://t.co/2lYUg7bmjR pic.twitter.com/F6zbZgDrc0
— Tommy moderna-vaX-Topher (@tommyxtopher) March 13, 2018
The video cuts out, but either Trump couldn’t hear the question or was pretending to not be able to hear, because—per the pool transcript—the president said “say it again,” and then moved on.
What a Q&A involving the president of the United States after he fired his secretary of state.
— “Mark Berman” (@markberman) March 13, 2018
Q: "Did you fire him because he called you a moron?"https://t.co/fon9l1EnOF pic.twitter.com/Wml8hT3Gqw
Naturally, Twitter couldn’t get enough of this following joke format.
https://twitter.com/jeffdobbs/status/973577331490115585
https://twitter.com/AlecGray11/status/973579633198358528
Reporter: “Moron says what?”
— MaryAnne Summers (@ZFrosty1) March 13, 2018
Trump: “What?”
Reporter [softly]: A moron says what?
— Jeff Konkel (@JeffKonkel) March 13, 2018
Trump: What?
Reporter [softly]: A moron says what?
Trump: What?
[press pool bursts into laughter]
The discourse in 2018 has truly been elevated.