JOHN WRIGHT

Seattle

The writer is the co-author of “Life Without Oil.”

To the Editor:

What galls me about the nomination of Rex Tillerson — as much as his business ties to the very leaders he will be making political deals with — is that someone without a shred of diplomatic experience is now expected to manage our relationship with China, ponder our involvement in Middle East wars, discuss drug smuggling with leaders of South America and prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.

The business leaders whom Donald Trump is putting in his cabinet would never, ever hire a deputy who had no business experience. They would be laughed out of town. The fact that they believe they can run huge swaths of our government with zero experience not only reveals a dangerous sense of hubris but also a deeply mistaken belief that a government can be run like a business.

Hey guys: It can’t.

CARRIE ABELS

Montpelier, Vt.

To the Editor:

Rex Tillerson has no government or diplomatic experience, has disturbingly close ties to Vladimir Putin and has enriched himself by selling an environmentally destructive product while lying about how destructive it really is.

In other words, he is a perfect fit for Donald Trump’s cabinet.

Why? Just look at who else is in there. Mr. Trump’s choice for energy secretary wanted to abolish the department. His education secretary is a threat to public education. His attorney general opposes the Voting Rights Act. His housing secretary opposes the Fair Housing Act. His health and human services secretary wants to restructure Medicare. His Treasury secretary helped cause the financial crisis, then profited from it. His E.P.A. chief is a climate change denier who has spent much of his career fighting the very agency he was appointed to lead.

You can’t make this stuff up. Choosing Mr. Tillerson for secretary of state should cause a scandal. But it won’t. We have come to expect nothing less (and nothing more) from Mr. Trump.