Normally the way that someone gets fired is their boss calling them in to their office and telling them directly. Depending on the boss, the words used may be gentle or they may be callous but they are usually done in person, especially if the person being fired is high-ranking in the organization. To fire someone by text or email would be highly unusual and by Twitter would unthinkable.

One thing I have noticed is that although Donald Trump’s TV show featured him relishing saying “You’re fired!” to various contestants, in real life he seems to be scared of telling that to their faces. As far as I can tell, he either gets other people to fire them or tells them via a tweet when he or they are traveling somewhere. That was the case with James Comey and now with Rex Tillerson.

Take the Tillerson case. Even according to the White House version, Trump comes out looking bad. Their story is that chief of staff John Kelly contacted Tillerson last Friday while he was traveling in Africa and requested that he resign or to look out for Trump’s tweet. Tillerson reportedly told Kelly to ask Trump to wait until he returned to the US. Just four hours after he landed, Trump sent out a tweet while Trump was flying to California. Since this was not an emergency, it clearly gives the impression that Trump desperately wanted to avoid meeting Tillerson face-to-face. What is he afraid of? That the fired person might yell at him in anger? That Tillerson might say to his face what he has said privately to others, that “You really are a fucking moron”?

Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers also commented on the odd nature of the Tillerson firing

Many people have been fired so far from this administration. Is there anyone that Trump has told to their faces?