By Josh Dawsey, Ben White & Eliana Johnson @ Politico.com, Aug. 28

[....] The repudiations by Tillerson and Cohn were not nearly as sharp as some other criticisms of the president [....] Still, said Rich Lowry, editor of National Review, “In the normal course of things, a secretary of state would be fired an hour after saying such a thing on national TV.”

The president, whose approval ratings have dropped into the 30-percent range and who has lost a raft of senior staff members, is loath to get rid of anyone right now, one adviser said. Some close to Trump note that he needs Cohn and Tillerson, seen as stabilizing forces in his administration, more than they need him at this point [...]

But he has stewed, this person said, as the comments from his own staff have dominated the news. Trump has repeatedly said that he doesn’t feel that others on his staff and Republicans on Capitol Hill are defending him enough.“He feels like when you back down, people will just keep coming at you,” the adviser said. “Even if he knew he was wrong, I don’t think he’d back down.”

The president could still lash out and publicly criticize Cohn or Tillerson, something Cohn told others wouldn’t have surprised him in the immediate aftermath of his interview last week.

Tillerson visited the White House early Monday, and several senior administration advisers said he was involved in responding to the hurricane in Texas, his home state. He was seen in the front row of a news conference at the White House on Monday afternoon and laughing with Vice President Mike Pence afterward. And Cohn told associates that he hadn’t heard a word from the president about his supposed anger — and that he didn’t regret one bit having made his comments [....]