For Trump, the Reality Show Has Never Ended
Asked if he still had confidence in Mr. Tillerson, Mr. Trump said simply, “Yes.”
At the time, Mr. Trump was sitting next to Henry Kissinger, the former secretary of state who happened to be visiting the Oval Office on Tuesday.
Instead, Mr. Trump picked Rex W. Tillerson, who is several inches taller
but whose own relationship with the president has deteriorated to the point that he was said to have called Mr. Trump a “moron.”
Mr. Tillerson initially did not deny it, but later he had a spokeswoman insist that he did not say it.
In an interview aired on Monday to promote her new memoir, Ivana Trump, his first wife, told ABC News that “I’m basically first Trump wife, O. K.?
WASHINGTON — Over the weekend, President Trump was accused by a Republican senator of running the White House like a “reality show.” In the 48 hours
that followed, this is how the president rebutted the characterization.
“Reality TV is known for its humiliation tactics and its aggressive showmanship and also the idea
that either you’re in or you’re out, with momentum building to the final decision on who stays and who goes.”
Among those on the in-or-out bubble in this week’s episode was Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, the frustrated Republican who described — and derided — the conversion of the White House into a virtual set for “The Apprentice” and, for good measure, expressed concern in a weekend interview with
that the president could stumble the country into a nuclear war.