“I’ll hire the best people, believe me” – Trump, many times on the campaign trail

“Tensions escalate after Tillerson calls Trump ‘moron'” – CNN headline, October 5, 2017

The New York Times is reporting that the Trump Administration has developed a plan to force out Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, whose relationship with Trump has been strained, and replace him with Mike Pompeo, the C.I.A. director.

Pompeo would be replaced at the C.I.A. by Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas who has been a key ally of the president on national security matters. Reportedly, Cotton said that he would accept the job if offered.

John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, developed the transition plan and has discussed it with other officials. Under his plan, the shake-up of the national security team would happen around the end of the year or shortly afterward.

The ouster of Tillerson would end a turbulent reign at the State Department for the former Exxon Mobile chief executive, who has been largely marginalized over the last year. Trump and Tillerson have been at odds over a host of major issues, including the Iran nuclear deal, the confrontation with North Korea and a clash between Arab allies. The secretary was reported to have privately called Trump a “moron” and the president publicly criticized Tillerson for “wasting his time” with a diplomatic outreach to North Korea.

Here’s why Tillerson is on the way out:

• Trump can’t stand him and has contradicted him on many major policy issues — from North Korea, to Iran, to Qatar, to Saudi Arabia.
• He has no allies in the White House, few if any in the State Department beyond his innermost circle and he’s managed to alienate even his tiny number of supporters on Capitol Hill.
• His natural constituency would’ve been Democrats and moderates who view him and General Mattis as restraints on the president, but he lost that crowd because of what he’s done to the State Department — a bungled reorganization and a failure to appoint people to top jobs.
• He never had favor among mainstream Republicans in foreign policy circles because he’s got a history of ignoring the human rights agenda to get business done.