Rex Tillerson, the U.S. Secretary of State. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch-Pool/Getty Images)

If The Onion had run a headline over the summer that Donald Trump would nominate the CEO of ExxonMobil to be the next secretary of state, I would have thought it was a bit too obvious to be funny.

But Rex Tillerson is now the head of our State Department, after the Senate voted 56-43 in favor of his confirmation. Three Democratic senators, including Virginia’s Mark Warner, crossed party lines to vote for him, as did Angus King, an independent from Maine.

Early on, it seemed like Tillerson’s close ties with Russia might stymie his chances. After all, he was literally awarded Russia’s Order of Friendship. But members of the Republican party, even those who had harshly questioned Tillerson during hearings, ultimately fell in line (*cough* Marco Rubio *cough*).

President Donald Trump will partake in Tillerson’s swearing in ceremony at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday evening.

As one former Obama speechwriter put it:

An oil company executive who’s friendly with Putin is now in charge of America’s diplomacy and that’s somehow the least of our problems.

— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) February 1, 2017

Shortly after Tillerson’s confirmation, in a surely unrelated move, the House of Representatives voted to get rid of the requirement that oil, gas, and mining companies must disclose payments to foreign governments.