[Senator Clay Davis]

Must kind of suck for Tillerson to know he's basically a diplomatic janitor who has to clean up the messes of a six year old.

President Donald Trump spent much of a recent phone call with French President Francois Hollande veering off into rants about the U.S. getting shaken down by other countries, according to a senior official with knowledge of the call, creating an awkward interaction with a critical U.S. ally.

While the Hollande call on Jan. 28 did touch on pressing matters between the two countries — namely the fight against the Islamic State — Trump also used the exchange to vent about his personal fixations, including his belief that the United States is being taken advantage of by China and by international bodies like NATO, the official said.

At one point, Trump declared that the French can continue protecting NATO, but that the U.S. “wants our money back,” the official said, adding that Trump seemed to be “obsessing over money."

“It was a difficult conversation, because he talks like he’s speaking publicly,” the official said. “It's not the usual way heads of state speak to each other. He speaks with slogans and the conversation was not completely organized.”

And, when the politics and the personalities mesh, the calls can become mutual admiration societies, as was the case with Trump’s call during the transition with Milos Zeman, the president of the Czech Republic.

Zeman is a hardliner on both immigration and Iran, and he and Trump found common ground on those issues, but also hit it off personally in a big way, said a Czech political operative briefed on the call.

Trump told Zeman "you're my type of guy," and invited him to the White House repeatedly during the course of the conversation (a visit was subsequently, but tentatively, scheduled for April). “We expected it to go well, but it was surprising how well it went. The chemistry was very good,” said the Czech operative.

There is intense speculation in diplomatic circles about how Trump’s off-the-cuff style may have played out during a call last month with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country is considered America’s top geopolitical foe, but for whom Trump has had kind words. The White House released only a brief anodyne readout of that phone call, and so far, few additional details have been disseminated.

Since taking over, Tillerson, the former CEO of ExxonMobil, has spurred hope within the Foreign Service that he will be a stabilizing force. His first day was spent meeting or speaking on the phone with several of America’s closest allies: the foreign ministers of Germany, Mexico, and Canada, as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In the days since, Tillerson also has spoken to counterparts in Australia, South Korea and Japan, as well as NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

The State Department has offered thin readouts that nonetheless was reassuring to U.S. diplomats: “In all of his conversations, Secretary Tillerson stressed America’s steadfast commitment to its key allies and partners as it works to protect the interests and safety of the American people.”

He has his work cut out for him, though. According to the State official, the department is "on edge more than I've ever seen it, and I've worked here for more than two decades." Officials have even begun communicating covertly with each other, afraid the administration will listen in on them.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/0...e-calls-234770