Remember last December, when Donald Trump unloaded on former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson?

Mike Pompeo is doing a great job, I am very proud of him. His predecessor, Rex Tillerson, didn’t have the mental capacity needed. He was dumb as a rock and I couldn’t get rid of him fast enough. He was lazy as hell. Now it is a whole new ballgame, great spirit at State! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 7, 2018

Well, this morning, he was at it again:

Rex Tillerson, a man who is “dumb as a rock” and totally ill prepared and ill equipped to be Secretary of State, made up a story (he got fired) that I was out-prepared by Vladimir Putin at a meeting in Hamburg, Germany. I don’t think Putin would agree. Look how the U.S. is doing! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 23, 2019

Putting quotes around something he himself said is a very Trumpian touch. Almost as Trumpian as taking a swipe at someone else and ending up being the one who looks bad.

The man Trump appointed Secretary of State. https://t.co/GmWlTE4gZN — Morten Øverbye (@morten) May 23, 2019

why did you make him Secretary of State? — ? (@kabyr) May 23, 2019

Why on Earth would the president hire a man who is “dumb as a rock” to be the Secretary of State? How dumb does that make the president? — Bill Shapiro (@Bill_Shapiro) May 23, 2019

So you hired “a man who is as dumb as a rock and totally ill prepared and ill equipped to be Secretary of State” for the position of Secretary of State? — Mia Farrow (@MiaFarrow) May 23, 2019

Then why did you hire him? I thought you only hired the best people? Did you make a mistake? No way, that isn’t possible because you never make mistakes right? — Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) May 23, 2019

How did Trump end up hiring all these “dumb” people for senior positions in his administration? https://t.co/ZkyDWmciSK — (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) May 23, 2019

Donald Trump may think this sort of name-calling makes him look tough, but it ultimately only makes him look petty and incompetent. He’s basically admitting that he’s a terrible judge of ability and character. Not exactly the sort of thing that inspires confidence.

"The best people" — ConservativeBlackMan ???? (@NevilleD35) May 23, 2019