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Exxon CEO Tillerson 'to be Secretary of State'

Sultan Of Swing

Well-Known Member
My previous thread was just that he's become the frontrunner, but various sources suggest he is now confirmed to be Secretary of State.

Can't say for sure until Trump officially announces, and he can be unpredictable... Anyway:

Exxon Mobil chief executive Rex Tillerson is to be selected by President-elect Trump as his Secretary of State, US media reports.

He emerged on Friday as the leading candidate to be America's top diplomat.

And he is expected to meet the billionaire later on Saturday, a transition official said.

His expected appointment comes after former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani formally withdrew from consideration for secretary of state.

Exxon Mobil chief 'to be US Secretary of State'

Thoughts?
 

metis

aged ecumenical anthropologist
Just what we need, another man who admires and has links with Putin.

BTW, where's the outrage on the right with the fact that the Russians interfered with our election process? The right used to be very concerned about this, but I guess all this has changed with the election of Comrade Trump.
 

icehorse

......unaffiliated...... anti-dogmatist
Premium Member
My previous thread was just that he's become the frontrunner, but various sources suggest he is now confirmed to be Secretary of State.

Can't say for sure until Trump officially announces, and he can be unpredictable... Anyway:

Exxon Mobil chief executive Rex Tillerson is to be selected by President-elect Trump as his Secretary of State, US media reports.

He emerged on Friday as the leading candidate to be America's top diplomat.

And he is expected to meet the billionaire later on Saturday, a transition official said.

His expected appointment comes after former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani formally withdrew from consideration for secretary of state.

Exxon Mobil chief 'to be US Secretary of State'

Thoughts?

I think the government has been pillaging the population for decades now. I think trump got elected by people who thought he'd slow down the pillaging...

Surprise!!! He's gonna ramp it up to whole new levels.
 

Cassandra

Active Member
Trump is bringing in his corporate cronies as expected. Together they will rob the state of what is left. For decades they have made people believe the state is their enemy taxing and robbing them. In reality the state is simply the common good of the people, created to protect them against the very thugs that they have now elected in government.

People like Trump are despicable in every respect, so how is it possible that so many Americans voted for such a man? I think we have to face the fact that this can only be because many Americans think very much like Trump and have become opportunists like Trump. They have sunken to a low level of existence in which it is really about me, myself, and I. Solidarity and sharing with the less fortunate really disgusts them as much as Trump.

Trump creates a liberation for these people. Now that the president openly shows himself to be a moron, they feel they can do the same, and no longer have to pretend to be decent and civilized and pretend they care about others. Now they can utter all their egocentric feelings, their fears, anger, disgust, their greed, their selfishness. And they do. All over the Internet it is like demons creeping up out of the Earth to show their sick minds.

How did it ever come so far? I think what we see is really the result of the unhealthy abundance in the USA. Such abundance and huge waste does not create social behavior but enormous greed and hunting for fortune with disregard for others. It creates an antisocial mindset. That explains the paradox that in the most wealthy country in the world (average income eight times world average) there is so little regard for the less fortunate, the less able, the less talented. That is how the US can consume the bulk of worlds resources and feel it is their normal birthright. There is no sense of justice left in the US. Even invading other countries and killing millions of innocent people, and traumatizing tens of millions does not bother most Americans, except that they do not want the fugitives it creates. No real compassion, just me, myself, I. Self-pity has become the predominant emotion among Americans. Even the ones that live in perverse opulence, still feel victims for having to share some of it.

This fall in values, goes with deceit and self-deceit. Many love to hear Donald repeat the same lies and turn them into golden truth. In the US religion itself has become so perverted that they make people believe that you only need to be anti-abortion and gay-marriage to be Gods blessed one. And pro-life is no longer being against killing people (like unnecessary unethical wars) but simply being against abortion. It is a religion that has been stripped off real values to serve the greedy, the antisocial, and the opportunists. It is all window-dressing. It falsifies the real values and makes people blind with cheap slogans.

Egotist people dominate society and turn society into an arena in stead of a truly loving social community where people want to serve each other. In this conflict zone they pitch people against each other, making it harder and harder to uphold human values, and turning it into a struggle for survival. That way the often evil leaders become the good ones, the heralded champions, and those who fail the losers who deserve to rot. Ethics goes down to gangland ethics. And that all in the most wealthy country in the world. This country kids itself it is not Sodom and Gomorrah as long as it combats homosexuality. That their sick totally enslaved minds are sane if they can keep up some appearances. Things that are easy, like being against homosexuals if you are not one. Or men forcing women to give birth to unwanted children.

This site is an interesting place as we see two groups of people battle without ever convincing each other. They can not convince each other as the human being is not driven by ratio but either higher values and feelings ... or negative emotions. On the one hand self-centered people that are driven by lower emotions like greed, fear, disgust, jealousy, anger, hate, self-pity, guilt, self-justification. On the other hand people that are driven by higher values and feelings like sharing, compassion, truth, friendship, shame. These people will never find common ground.

For the first group is is a delight to have a President like Donald Trump. They call him honest for openly lying, stealing, enriching himself at the cost of others, even breaking the law. That is how they truly feel. The USA shows the tragedy of the human being. It wants to rise above its needs and become independent, but when it does it turns into egotistical monster that can no longer control itself. Frankly it then becomes self-destructive. The environmental problems we have created are the result of that. In the past only rulers could acquire enough indulgence to pervert themselves, now large groups in society grow up like that. And they live like King Louis the 14th, whose motto was: Apres moi, le deluge. (After me, let the world go to waste). We now have a large group of people who will not be stopped in their surge for indulgence and they are not only the rich, but rather across the spectrum. They are also the people who lost their gravy lives and have become hateful and jealous and blame other often underprivileged groups because they more directly compete with them.

Why do I write this? Because people on forums waste huge time in trying to convince each other. If you are a social person do not waste time on the antisocial. All they will do is make you feel bad, and tell you what stupid person you are. Because that is the level they operate on. They lost their happiness and can only feel better by putting others down. Social people better limit their exchange to other social people. It is much more rewarding and ultimately much more effective than feeding the attention-hunger of people who feel self-important.

It is more effective too. Antisocial people find themselves excluded from the company of social people and are left with other antisocial people who are also inapt to socialize and that is where they belong. In their hearths they feel lonely having no real sharing relations. It is only through total desperation that they ever change their ways, not by arguments, not by convincing, not by being kind to them.

Social people should really stick together now and look after their own, because with the likes of Trump we are entering a very harsh, icy climate in which ruthless people will overturn all decency. We have to stop wasting time on antisocials. People that do not really feel for others will never do more than mimic that. Where society is moving now, social people only survive where they stick together, help, and defend each other. Let the selfish help themselves.

Truly feeling social behavior is the high accomplishment of evolution found in mammals. It allows them so survive in social groups where there are lots of enemies all around. It also allowed them to isolate bullies and bring down their influence.

Trump and his followers basically represent a cancer in society. Like cancer it wants to grow unrestrained at the cost of everything else even the body that keeps it alive. They will continuously seek new areas to exploit, but never ever want to restrain themselves. When someone wants to restrain them they become aggressive.

But they have one weakness. As much as they look down on other people, they want to be admired by them. They need others to recognize their existence and want them to praise them. They are enormous attention seekers. Ignore them.

I think the moment has come that social people have to start wondering how to organize themselves in order to survive, because social structures serving all of society are being destroyed by people who no longer can see the value of anything that does not directly benefit themselves. They are so selfishly shortsighted they can not even see that one day they or their children may need a safety net.

Do not waste time on these people. When you have created thousands of posts trying to convince people that can not be convinced, make a balance. Have you achieved anything or have you become lured into and become hooked to useless debating? Is it your ego trying to win debates, or does it really serve anyone? I think it is wasted energy. If anything you make psychopaths and sociopath smarter. That is what science found out: Treating psychopaths only makes them more dangerous. You can not talk empathy into a psychopath, you only train him to emulate it better, to better manipulate your emotions. The only thing psychopaths relate to is fear of personal suffering.

Let us not underestimate what Trump really stands for. George Bush was already a break free of civilized norms and structures, but he only was the precursor of the uncontrolled opportunism that will now flood society. Things like respect, truth, decency, compassion, even respect for law fly out of the Window with Trump and his supporters. The awful thing is that Trump did not hide his evil character but showed if off very openly and still got elected. That destroys all hope that his people will listen to higher reason. Not until Trump has made an utter mess will selfishness again make people turn against him, not higher reason, and again only temporarily.
 
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Sultan Of Swing

Well-Known Member
I think the government has been pillaging the population for decades now. I think trump got elected by people who thought he'd slow down the pillaging...

Surprise!!! He's gonna ramp it up to whole new levels.
Drain the swamp my lilly white arse.
Trump is bringing in his corporate cronies as expected
If Tillerson removes his business interests before taking office, why is him being a successful businessman and international deal-maker a problem? How would it be making 'the swamp' any worse? Draining the swamp clearly didn't mean getting rid of all wealthy and successful people... otherwise Trump himself would be disqualified.

And pro-life is no longer being against killing people (like unnecessary unethical wars) but simply being against abortion
I like this line, as Trump was the only one out of the two main candidates actually calling for an end to regime-toppling wars.

And no I wasn't ignoring the rest of what you've written. Good stuff, writing that all out, but I see a lot of exaggeration of Trump's character and misrepresentation of why his supporters voted for him.

People like Trump are despicable in every respect, so how is it possible that so many Americans voted for such a man? I think we have to face the fact that this can only be because many Americans think very much like Trump and have become opportunists like Trump. They have sunken to a low level of existence in which it is really about me, myself, and I. Solidarity and sharing with the less fortunate really disgusts them as much as Trump.
Trump vowed he wouldn't touch social security. This is just silly. It is astounding how many liberals still fail to grasp why anyone voted for Trump. And what of the blue collar voters in Michigan and Pennsylvania who have lost their jobs, they just hated the poor right? The complete disconnect with ordinary people is extraordinary. Your entire post is simply demonstrating the liberal attitude that ordinary voters were sick of and made Trump win the election in the first place, it's great stuff.
 

ADigitalArtist

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
removes his business interests
So step down? Not make policy in the interest of his contemporaries? Considering I think Trump only appointed him in the 'you scratch my back' means to get more money long term, I highly doubt he's going to be called to give up his power within big oil long term, or avoid supporting prejudicial decisions for corporate welfare over environmental welfare.
The point of draining the swamp, supposedly, was to get rid of people maintaining a status quo for personal interests and refusing to innovate. I expect much the same from Tillerson, who helped run ExxonMobil as a monstrous beast of a company which destroyed much and cared little.
 

Sultan Of Swing

Well-Known Member
So step down? Not make policy in the interest of his contemporaries? Considering I think Trump only appointed him in the 'you scratch my back' means to get more money long term, I highly doubt he's going to be called to give up his power within big oil long term, or avoid supporting prejudicial decisions for corporate welfare over environmental welfare.
The point of draining the swamp, supposedly, was to get rid of people maintaining a status quo for personal interests and refusing to innovate. I expect much the same from Tillerson, who helped run ExxonMobil as a monstrous beast of a company which destroyed much and cared little.
While the presidency is more of a grey area, for cabinet picks I'm pretty sure there are some stringent laws on getting rid of business interests. He'll have to do something, we shall see.
 

icehorse

......unaffiliated...... anti-dogmatist
Premium Member
@Cassandra

Lots of truth in your post, but it's a bit black and white. Here are some gray areas:

- Some people are on the fence, and such debates might help shift them off center.
- Debates here are often better informed than what one can find elsewhere - there is some degree of actual journalism going on here.
- Even the entrenched can sometimes learn new tricks (although I agree it's rare).
- it's a good thing to understand your opponents.
- it's a good thing to have persuasive raps for when you go into "the real world"
- it's fun
 
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