Uh, one of the biggest pro...
positions President-elect Trump needed to fill
was the position of secretary of state,
which is
with the most important job,
and that is telling the rest of the world
why America had to bomb them. It is also the subject
of tonight's Profiles in Tremendousness.
-♪ ♪ -I have the most dedicated people.
I know the best people.
We're gonna use out best people.
I have the smartest people in the world.
I know guys that are so good.
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So good.
Yes, after weeks of searching,
Trump has finally picked a secretary of state.
And, uh, no, it was not Mitt Romney.
But, hey, at least Trump took him out for dinner
before he (bleep) him. Uh, really classy guy, classy guy.
And also-and also a genius move from Donald Trump,
because you realize he just ensured that Romney
can never talk (bleep) about him again. Yeah.
Although I will say making Romney get that tattoo
was a step too far. I don't think that was necessary.
Uh, so, if Mitt Romney didn't get the job, then who did?
After weeks of interviews and mulling the decision,
President-elect Trump has announced his choice
for secretary of state.
It is ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson.
Oh, my God! You're going with Rex Tillerson?
Rex Tillerson?!
I've actually never heard of him before.
I don't know who that is, but I know I should be angry.
I-I do know that his name is an anagram for "roller sex tin,"
yes, and, uh, he's the man who's gonna replace
current secretary of state, Horny Jerk.
That's a real anagram of his name.
Uh, Rex isn't just an anagram though.
He's also the CEO of America's largest oil company,
ExxonMobil, which is really impressive.
But, still, the question is, what the hell does an oil man
know about the intricacies of international relations?
Well, it turns out, a lot.
Tillerson, in many ways, has made a career out of working
in parallel to the state department in many countries.
REPORTER:
operating in more than 50-- five-oh-- countries worldwide.
Exxon has its own intelligence department, which is very good.
They do forecasting of the very same kind that the CIA does.
So, you know, he has, in a sense, had a dry run
for this job in a way that very few CEOs, uh, have had.
Wow. That is insane.
This guy has his own CIA?
I'm impressed by that.
I mean, Trump was also probably impressed
but just because of his name. You know?
It was like, "Wow, your name's Rex, like a dinosaur.
Pretty cool!"
Now, another important part of being secretary of state
is cultivating good relationships
with key foreign leaders.
The question is, is Tillerson up for the job?
And the answer is hell to the
He's got very close connections with-with the Kremlin
at its highest level.
He's met Vladimir Putin on numerous occasions.
REPORTER:
the Order of Friendship medal,
one of the highest Russian honors a foreigner can receive.
REPORTER 2:
personally pinned that medal on his chest.
Yo, on the real though, you know your country's hardcore
when friendship gets a medal.
Yeah. 'Cause in America, people are just like,
"Friends, friends, friends, friends, friends, friends,
friends." Russia's like, "We know each other.
Don't get comfortable."
But that's how close these two are.
In fact, look, Tillerson even got Vladimir Putin to smile.
Yeah, look at that. Nobody's ever done that before,
which you can tell, because if you zoom into that picture,
it's clear that Putin is figuring out how to smile
by looking at Tillerson.
You can see. He's like,
"Is... It's like wolf? How do you do this?
"Like... It's like-like dog?
"Like dog but no bite?
"What-what is this smi...
"What is happy? What is that?
What is this?"
Now, now, now, Putin and Tillerson's friendship
is built on a lot of things, you know,
their shared values, uh, their work ethic,
uh, oh, and the $500 billion oil deal
that, uh, they signed in 2011.
But mostly based on their values.
Uh, and you don't have to stress about this deal,
because it never went into effect.
Because, you see, in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine,
Obama imposed sanctions on Russia,
which blocked the Exxon oil deal.
And those sanctions are firm, you know?
To lift them, you'd need somebody
like the secretary of state to convince the pres...
Oh...
Oh, look at that.
You know, I don't know if Russia hacked the election
and tilted it toward Trump,
but if they did,
that investment has already paid off.
And-and I'm-I'm not gonna front.
I'm kind of enjoying this about Trump's administration.
He doesn't do subtext.
Instead of acting like oil is just an added bonus
of America being overseas,
why not just let the number one oil executive
run your foreign policy?
Cut out the middleman. Yeah.
That's a nice change for America.
Even the rain forest is like, "Hey, at least he's honest."