In politics, being bold and totally lacking in self-awareness can be a winning strategy, as was evidenced by the interminable national nightmare that was the 2016 presidential election. But even in a world where that kind of brazen disregard for societal norms is rewarded, this latest development in the ongoing Tom Clancy thriller that is our current state of affairs with Russia is BONKERS-LEVEL bold.

Maybe Rex Tillerson Is a Bad Secretary of State North Korea launched another ballistic missile... This is a bad response.

Right before Rex Tillerson was shrugging off the press as Secretary of State, he was the CEO of oil giant Exxon Mobil. During his time as CEO, Tillerson worked closely with Vladimir Putin and was even awarded the Russian Order of Friendship by the Bond villain turned politician. Well, it turns out that back in 2012, Exxon, under Tillerson, partnered with the state oil company PAO Rosneft, but those plans were sidelined in 2014 because of sanctions levied against Russia after its illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. Exxon applied for a waiver from the Treasury Department to be exempt from those sanctions and drill for oil in Russia with the state oil company anyway. That application was denied. They were allowed to finish the well they were drilling, and then they stopped work.

But lo and behold, what came back around right after Rex Tillerson took over the State Department? You guessed it! Another request for a waiver to go work with Russia. Here's The Wall Street Journal:

Exxon has been seeking U.S. permission to drill with Rosneft in several areas banned by sanctions and renewed a push for approval in March, shortly after its most recent chief executive, Rex Tillerson, became secretary of state on Feb. 1, according to one of these people. The company originally applied for a waiver to gain access to the Black Sea in July 2015 but its application wasn’t approved, the person said.

Now, sure, Rex Tillerson is recusing himself on all matters Exxon for two years, but the State Department (among other departments) does have a say in this application. And if I work in State and my boss is Rex Tillerson, who I clearly know feels strongly about this, wouldn't I be tempted to curry favor with him by backing this proposal?

To his credit, John McCain came out against this on Twitter today, so maybe there's some political pressure that can stop this from going down. Regardless, we're looking at the synthesizing of the two biggest Trump scandals. Crony capitalism and weird Russian ties, combined into one awful "you got chocolate in my peanut butter" middle finger to any American who has eyes.

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