This write-up in The Nation about the Rex Tillerson hearings raises yet more questions about the coherence and direction of President-elect Trump's foreign policy. But what I've been reading about him up to now, including in a January 9 Wall Street Journal article that is unfortunately for subscribers only (lucked into a copy of the actual paper at a cafe), has already convinced me this man is a tragically bad choice for Secretary of State. Climate change is the preeminent challenge of our time; to state what will be an obvious point to many, one of the most prominent oil company leaders in the world is the last person you can trust to lead international efforts to head off this looming catastrophe. Big oil is exhibit number one for anyone wanting to make the case that mankind's greed and short-sightedness is hard-wired into the species and will lead us to an early extinction. But it's not just abstract corporations that are the problem in this case, although a corporation is an amazing structure for diffusing critical thought and moral responsibility. Ultimately, oil companies are led by men (and I am guessing a few women at this point) who either practice willful ignorance or a deliberate disregard to climate change.
Yes, yes, I know that our entire civilization runs on oil, we're all implicated, yadda yadda yadda. But big oil has done disproportionate damage to efforts to keep the planet healthy, sowing doubts about climate change and spending untold riches on greenwashing efforts that would be far better spent actually helping move the economy to a renewable and sustainable energy future. And yes, I understand the case that these CEOs have a responsibility to shareholders to make money. But it's not necessary to fully resolve the question of relative culpability and moral turpitude to conclude that there are many better choices than an oil company CEO to be secretary of state at this critical juncture of human civilization.
At any rate, we're not just dealing with some abstract nominee, but a particular man. If the absurdity of an oil executive as secretary of state at this time of environmental crisis doesn't move you, then maybe Tillerson's coziness with Vladimir Putin will. As the WSJ article describes, Exxon has, under Tillerson, made investments in Russia that have substantially aided Putin's grip on power. And during a time when the U.S. and Russia have been in conflict on various foreign policy fronts, Tillerson has nonetheless steered his company's money to the development of Russia's energy resources - hardly the actions of a patriot who puts American interests first and foremost.
This man has spent his career serving private profit, not the public interest, helping befoul the environment, cloud our planetary future, and provide material support to an authoritarian antagonist of the U.S. I fear that the general and widespread craziness that Trump is forcing us to contend with is distracting a lot of people from just how outrageous the Tillerson pick is.