Comment on Rex Tillerson makes veiled attacks on Trump in speech

Matthew Rozsa, Salon: Politics
Thu, 05/17/2018 - 1:33pm

Rex Tillerson makes veiled attacks on Trump in speech

Getty/Alex Wong It's hard to listen to former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's commencement speech at the Virginia Military Institute and not conclude that he was talking about his erstwhile boss, President Donald Trump. Consider this passage: 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. In addition to taking a swipe at Trump's penchant for playing fast and loose with the facts, Tillerson's speech seemed to reference an infamous line from Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway about "alternative facts." Consequently Tillerson's description of respect for the truth as a "central tenet of a free society" seemed to imply that dishonesty is not only wrong, but a threat to freedom. Tillerson also had this to say: When we as people, a free people, go wobbly on the truth — even on what may seem the most trivial of matters — we go wobbly on America. He added: If we do not as Americans confront the crisis of ethics and integrity in our society and among our leaders in both public and private sector — and regrettably at times even the nonprofit sector — then American democracy as we know it is entering its twilight years. To be fair to Trump, the reference to the nonprofit sector makes it unlikely that this section was meant to refer to the president.

 

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