WASHINGTON — In a veiled rebuke of President Trump, former Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson warned on Wednesday that American democracy was threatened by a growing “crisis of ethics and integrity.” “If our leaders seek to conceal the truth, or we as people become accepting of alternative realities that are no longer grounded in facts, then we as American citizens are on a pathway to relinquishing our freedom,” he said in a commencement address at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Va. Even small falsehoods and exaggerations are problematic, Mr. Tillerson said. He did not mention Mr. Trump by name, although the president isprone to both. “When we as people, a free people, go wobbly on the truth even on what may seem the most trivial matters, we go wobbly on America,” he said. ... In his address, he cut to the heart of the most significant criticisms of the president, that Mr. Trump exaggerates and constructs his own truths and that he has undermined ethical standards in Washington. “If we do not as Americans confront the crisis of ethics and integrity in our society and among our leaders in both the public and private sector — and regrettably at times even the nonprofit sector — then American democracy as we know it is entering its twilight years,” Mr. Tillerson warned. ... “One of America’s great advantages is we have many allies,” he said. “Our adversaries — China, Russia, Iran and the terrorist organizations — have few.” ... “We must never take these long-held allies for granted,” he said. “We must motivate and strengthen them — not just in our areas of complete agreement, but particularly in bridging our differences both in trading relations and in national security matters.” Mr. Tillerson made a full-throated appeal for the benefits of free trade, warning of the “anxiety and fear about growth in foreign markets and about the global movement of jobs.” He said that “every nation has a right to aspire to a better quality of life, and that free trade and economic growth are the means by which opportunity is created for all people.” It was a notable defense of free trade and developing nations from a veteran of an administration that has threatened to rip up the North American Free Trade Agreement and impose billions of dollars in tariffs on rivals and allies alike, and uses “America First” as its guiding principle. ... Mr. Tillerson also said citizens must demand that America’s future be “fact-based, not based on wishful thinking, not hoped-for outcomes made in shallow promises, but with a cleareyed view of the facts as they are and guided by the truth that will set us free to seek solutions to our most daunting challenges.” https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/16/us/politics/tillerson-truth-lies-american-democracy-trump.html
If he'd made that speech while he was still Secretary of State, it would have meant more. If he hadn't been a disaster in every way as Secretary of State, it would have meant more to say it now. barfo
No respect. He had a frigging year to speak. Did nothing. Went along. Shredded the department - there is still no ambassador to South Korea, the career officer in charge of dealing with North Korea is gone, so is the career officer in charge if nuclear disarmament.
Everything every politician says is either a lie, or, information heavily edited to push their agenda and their financial supporters agenda.
Not in any way a rebuke of Trump. Tillerson was fired for leaking and lying about it, and for undercutting the President's foreign relations goals. Also for destroying morale in the State Dept and failing to reorganize staff effectively. Early opinions are he was the most incompetent to ever hold the position.
Yes, our democracy is definitely being undercut by a lack of ethics and integrity. When a president (Obama) conducts secret surveillance on the candidate of the opposing party (Trump), that’s a genuine threat to democracy. And when a presidential candidate (Clinton) destroys 33,000 emails that have been subpoenaed, and funnels millions of dollars of contributions to her personal foundation while Secretary of State, that’s also a threat to our democracy. And let’s not forget that former Secretary of State (Kerry), who now holds no elected office, has been secretly talking to leaders of foreign countries about preserving a deal that he knows his own president is opposed to. You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting someone on the left who is undercutting our democracy these days.
The biggest undercutter of democracy is sitting in the oval office and spray paints himself orange, lol. How can Kerry be meeting secretly if even you know about it? Should we list the lies Trump has said?
Unlike Trump who has been the most incompetent to be President? You do know that Trump was the one that appointed Tillerson don't you? As well as all the other firings and resignations. The amount of turnover in DC has been a joke and that starts with the leader.
