The White House revolving door: Who's gone?

For a start they are not cut from the same cloth. Yes, they were both global businessmen - Trump with his beauty pageants, Tillerson the head of the slightly bigger, world renowned petro-chemical firm Exxon.

But beyond that, they seemed very different people. Tillerson had been recommended to Trump by a former secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, and a former CIA director and defence secretary, Robert Gates.

They thought he had the weight and the global experience as boss of Exxon to be the man to represent American interests around the world; to be the flag-waver-in-chief; to be the translater of Trumpism and "America First" to an anxious global audience.