The smartest guys in the room

[readerc54]

They were the smartest guys in the room.

Until they weren't.

Rudy Guiliani was sure he'd get the job he lusted after: secretary of state. And why not? He'd played Trump's angriest attack dog with Pavlovian loyalty. It was his for the asking, it was.

Being sought out by the gullible media for comments, Newt Gingrich figured he had an edge on Rudy because he took considerable joy in kicking sand at reporters. And he knew his way around congress that Rudy didn't.

Mitt Romney, the happy warrior of the old GOP, figured he was the go-to guy because he looked like a secretary of state: handsome, patrician, and he knew what fork to use.

What they didn't know was what the prez-elect was really thinking (Rudy, you're crowding me; Newt, you're challenging me; Mitt, don't you understand that I'm just humiliating you?).

So when Rex Tillerson appears on the shortest of lists, even the smart guys finally get it. Rex was the top choice all along. Here's a guy pulling down a salary of $24,261,291 at Exxon and we're asked to believe that, at the drop of a hat, he was ready to dump it for a job paying $205,700 after a cold call from The Donald. Turned out to be the ultimate inside job but Trump pulled it off with aplomb.

Sure, there were others "interviewed" for the job: Bob Corker, David Petraeus, John Bolton, John Huntsman, and a host of other names I can no longer recall but all willingly allowed themselves to get sucked into the vortex.

Rex was the guy everybody--well everybody who really mattered--wanted from the get go. But it had to look like an exhaustive nation-wide search. Fortunately, for Trump, he had an eager media who cooperated--perhaps unwittingly--to make it look real.

[Undaunted]

Interesting how Rudy wound up with nothing, and Romney was played like a fiddle of couse in an effort to humiliate him, in the end Trump was the "smartest guy in the room" lets see if he can stay that way.

[daherk]

Rex Tillerson becomes 65 early next year and per Exxon's policy must step down and retire from Exxon. So what has he given up, just a few months of salary.

[lvdkeyes]

If the orange Cheeto is the smartest guy in the room, God help us.

[readerc54]

Rex Tillerson becomes 65 early next year and per Exxon's policy must step down and retire from Exxon. So what has he given up, just a few months of salary.

Good point. And the new job comes with a much better private plane that knows no queues.