Where Trump Zigs, Tillerson Zags, Putting Him at Odds With White House
Some in the White House say that the discord in the Qatar dispute is part of a broader struggle over who is in charge of Middle East policy — Mr. Tillerson or Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and a senior adviser — and
that the secretary of state has a tin ear about the political realities of the Trump administration.
But his first opportunity to use that experience — as a behind-the-scenes mediator in the dispute between Qatar
and Saudi Arabia — has put Mr. Tillerson in exactly the place a secretary of state does not want to be: in public disagreement with the president who appointed him.
In a freewheeling talk, operating without notes, Mr. Tillerson ran through each region of the world where the State Department is active — including the Middle East, Europe
and Asia, touching on China and North Korea — asking how to “advance our interests in Afghanistan” and how to keep terrorism from spreading through North and Central Africa.