After a tumultuous first year in office, President Donald Trump has finally parted ways with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson — much to Tillerson’s surprise, apparently. Although rumors have been swirling for months that Trump planned to oust the former ExxonMobil CEO and replace him with CIA Director Mike Pompeo, poor Rex was reportedly “blindsided” by the news, learning of his firing along with the rest of the country on Tuesday morning — on Twitter, no less — after weeks of no communication with Trump.
Not surprisingly, Tillerson’s firing comes just days after he downplayed Trump’s upcoming meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un as “talks” as opposed to “negotiations,” which likely would have infuriated the president. Such was the last straw for poor Tilly, who has been on notice since allegedly calling his boss a “moron” last summer and threatening to quit — not to mention committing the cardinal sin of hogging the spotlight from the reality TV star president.
Tillerson now joins Trump’s other “best people” including Mike Flynn, Sean Spicer, Anthony Scaramucci, Reince Priebus, and Hope Hicks, among others, in the unemployment line, and as such, the internet was not short on jokes. Twitter erupted with jokes at Tillerson’s expense, who — to be fair — probably should have known what he was getting himself into.
https://twitter.com/BenjySarlin/status/973547421937684481
live shot of Rex Tillerson leaving the White House pic.twitter.com/SLSZM57D8M
— shauna (@goldengateblond) March 13, 2018
REX TILLERSON: *scrolling timeline* this is an interesting story from oil and gas monthly. i will bookmark this to read later. ha ha another funny jibe from red steeze. hmm well this is alarming news.
— Sen. Lemon Gogurt ugarles.bsky.social (@Ugarles) March 13, 2018
Rex Tillerson To Return To Role of Pharma Ad Grandpa Not Letting It Slow Him Down
— pourmecoffee (@pourmecoffee) March 13, 2018
Rekt Tillerson
— Simon Maloy (@SimonMaloy) March 13, 2018
Goddamnit, this fucks up my entire bracket https://t.co/6q9l2rMTsR
— Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) March 13, 2018
https://twitter.com/nickconfessore/status/973559039119515649
https://twitter.com/michaelianblack/status/973559082257977344
Melania is going to find out that Trump is divorcing her on his Twitter someday, just you wait. https://t.co/Hdg6xRjciy
— The Volatile Mermaid (@OhNoSheTwitnt) March 13, 2018
Only 00’s kids remember when Trump fired people to their face.
— Jesse McLaren (@McJesse) March 13, 2018
https://twitter.com/morninggloria/status/973565591297536002
Tfw REX TILLERSON isn’t pro-Russia enough for you. pic.twitter.com/tEDhAnV87v
— Samantha Bee (@realsambee) March 13, 2018
Look, let's be perfectly clear about this: Rex Tillerson was just a low-level campaign volunteer who only used to fetch coffee. Trump never even met the guy. Okay?
— Jeff Tiedrich [retired account — see bio] (@jefftiedrich) March 13, 2018
Firing Rex Tillerson is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. They've been rearranged a lot. We should all have learned by now that nothing will really change. The problem is at the very top. https://t.co/T6lh6jLNqO
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) March 13, 2018
Thanks for the memories, Rex Tillerson pic.twitter.com/UNmCSEqXre
— Edel Rodriguez (@edelstudio) March 13, 2018
Rex. The tribe has spoken.
— Jenny Johnson (@JennyJohnsonHi5) March 13, 2018
Rex Tillerson, recipient of the Russian Order of Friendship, canned by Trump for being too tough on Russia.
— Jason Kander (@JasonKander) March 13, 2018
https://twitter.com/InternetHippo/status/973546452394930177
https://twitter.com/pattymo/status/973564162084409347
https://twitter.com/ParkerMolloy/status/973557411733737472
Cue Boyz II Men: “Said we’d be forever, said it’d never die … how could you love me and leave me, and never say goodbye?”