Tillerson calls Trump undisciplined. Trump calls Tillerson ‘dumb as a rock.’

Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke publicly about the challenges he faced while working with President Trump in an interview on Dec. 6. (Reuters)

Absence does not make the heart grow fonder when it comes to President Trump and his first secretary of state, Rex Tillerson.

Nine months after Trump summarily dismissed his top diplomat by tweet, Trump and Tillerson were back to bickering as they traded accusations in a relationship that at turns has been icy and blistering.

After Tillerson publicly said their encounters grew rocky over Trump’s directives to do things that were illegal, Trump hit back in a tweet in which he branded Tillerson “dumb as a rock” and “lazy as hell.”

View the complete December 7 article by Carol Morello on The Washington Post website here.