Trump's Qatar Curveball Makes Tillerson Improvise Policy Again
- President’s posts undercut Cabinet’s bid to ease Gulf crisis
- Government officials stay in shadows to avoid explanations
Turkey Sides With Qatar as Gulf Crisis Deepens
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As the Qatar crisis erupted this week, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson found himself performing a familiar task: assuring the world his boss didn’t mean to reverse years of foreign policy in a tweet or two.
Trump’s tweets on Tuesday praising Saudi Arabia’s decision to sever ties with Qatar contradicted diplomats and military officers who had avoided taking sides between U.S. allies for fear of making the situation worse. He echoed the point in Cincinnati Wednesday when he again praised Saudi Arabia for “doing something very special.”