President Trump said Thursday he was “very thankful” that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered the expulsion of 755 U.S. diplomats from the country in response to sanctions — because the administration needs to cut the State Department’s budget anyway.
Trump’s comments were a shock to State Department officials, according to officials who described the reaction on condition of anonymity to avoid potential repercussions for reporting criticism of the president. Some in the department were dismayed to hear the president suggest, even sarcastically, that American diplomats were a waste of money and unneeded in large numbers in a major world power like Russia, the officials said.
The world is now waiting to see how Secretary of State Rex Tillerson handles Trump’s totally inappropriate comment about the department in which Tillerson is supposedly in charge.
