Poor Rex Tillerson, Secretary of State, presiding over what had until now been the crown jewel of the president’s cabinet, and reduced instead under Trump practically to a footnote on the organization charts. This appears deliberate. State historically had been identified, correctly or not, with the pursuit of peace in international relations. Actually, market penetration and the negotiation of alliances, usually with military implications and geostrategic planning, are more like it. But however involved in the dynamics of realpolitik, and hence, hardly a pacific agency as such, State nevertheless was equidistant to outright militarism, which, via the Pentagon etc., already had ample representation in government. This demotion of State (Tillerson wielded more power in foreign affairs as CEO of Exxon Mobil than presently), beneath both cabinet departments and the armed services, signifies the Rightward thrust characterizing—this early—the new administration.
State in addition to policy formation had always set the ideological tone of government. Now, no longer, on either count, a dramatic upheaval bringing America closer to a permanent state of war psychology, self-appointed to act unilaterally in the role of world leadership. Eclipse of a normalized position in power politics (disturbing as that is), in favor of guardianship of global capitalism, speaks volumes about a qualitative transformation of structural-ideological mission,…