In veiled shot at Trump, Tillerson warns US democracy at risk

Former US secretary of state Rex Tillerson takes a veiled shot at US President Donald Trump on Wednesday, warning that a growing national crisis of ethics and integrity has put American democracy at risk.

In remarks to graduates of the Virginia Military Institute, Tillerson laments assaults on facts that he says would lead to a loss of freedom if not countered. And he says that only societies able to pursue the truth and challenge alternate realities can be truly free.

“When we as people, a free people, go wobbly on the truth, even on what may seem to be the most trivial of matters, we go wobbly on America,” Tillerson says. “If we do not as Americans confront the crisis of ethics and integrity in our society among our leaders in both public and private sector, and regrettably at times in the nonprofit sector, then American democracy as we know it is entering its twilight years.”

Tillerson does not mention his former boss by name Wednesday but alludes to some policies of the Trump administration by decrying those who neglect or ignore long-standing allies or deny that free trade is an engine of global growth.

“We must never take these long-held allies for granted,” he says, in apparent reference to Trump overruling the advice of his former top diplomat and others and withdrawing from some international agreements, threatening import tariffs.

— AP