“I didn’t want this job. I didn’t seek this job.’ He paused to let that sink in. A beat or two passed before an aide piped up to ask him why he said yes. ‘My wife told me I’m supposed to do this.” Rex Tillerson only allowed one member of the press (a White House beat writer from the conservative Independent Journal Review) to join him on a recent diplomatic trip to Asia. This is Erin McPike’s report: Trump’s Diplomat.

+ “The two most influential role models in Mr. Trump’s youth were men who preached the twin philosophies of relentless self-promotion and the waging of total war against anyone perceived as a threat … Mr. Trump, according to one longtime adviser, is perpetually playing a soundtrack in his head consisting of advice from his father, Fred, a hard-driving real estate developer who laid the weight of the family’s success on his son’s shoulders. Mr. Trump’s other mentor was the caustic and conniving McCarthy-era lawyer Roy Cohn, who counseled Mr. Trump never to give in or concede error.” From the NYT’s Maggie Haberman and Glenn Thrush: Why Letting Go, for Trump, Is No Small or Simple Task.

+ “He isn’t the best communicator in the world, but he is very good. He doesn’t know as much about politics as career politicians do, but apparently he knows enough. He isn’t the smartest person who ever ran for office, but he’s very smart. He might not be the best business strategist in the world, but he certainly knows his stuff. I could go on for pages about how Trump has good-but-not-world-class skills in a variety of areas. And when you put all of those talents together it makes him the most persuasive human I have ever observed.” Dilbert creator Scott Adams has a second career as Trump observer and analyst. And this is what he sees.