"The president speaks for himself"

There's been so much sad news lately, it's hard to keep up. Right now, there's even fear of an explosion in a plant near Houston (in Crosby, Texas) due to hurricane Harvey's floodwaters. A reaction in that chemical plant lead to smoke and fumes in the area. There's the uneasy feeling that an already bad situation can become infinitely worse. So amidst all the bad news, I had not been able to fully comprehend what Rex Tillerson said in an interview a few days ago:

'The president speaks for himself': Rex Tillerson distances himself from Trump

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/27/rex-tillerson-donald-trump-charlottesville

'Days after an official White House statement attributed to Trump blamed the violence “on many sides”, Trump went further in a testy exchange with reporters.

“You had a group on one side that was bad and you had a group on the other side that was also very violent,” Trump said. Both sides included “very bad people”, the president added, saying those gathered for the far-right rally, ostensibly to protest the removal of a statue of Robert E Lee, included many “fine people”.

Asked if such remarks made it harder for him to represent America abroad, Tillerson said: “I don’t believe anyone doubts the American people’s values or the commitment of the American government or the government’s agencies to advancing those values and defending those values.”

“And the president’s values?” asked Chris Wallace, the Fox news anchor.

Tillerson replied: “The president speaks for himself.”'

This is a remarkable statement given that Tillerson is Trump's own secretary of state. It's as if John Kerry had tried to distance himself from Barack Obama.

But as far as American values, they can mean many things across many generations. But at this moment (today) what American values mean for me (especially given the recent events following hurricane "Harvey") is civilians, emergency, medical, & military personnel in Texas risking their lives (some lost their lives) rescuing complete strangers regardless of race, sex, or nationality. If you contrast helping your brothers-&-sisters-in-need, with Trump's remarks following the murder in Charlottesville where the Donald said there were "fine people" in the crowd of nazis & white supremacists, you can better understand Tillerson's statement.  

But who is Tillerson? He's the former CEO of ExxonMobil. 
So then you may ask; how did he end up as Trump's secretary of state? Well, Trump appears to have no ideology whatsoever (except wanting to "win" & blaming minorities for everything) so Tillerson was probably assigned by some wealthy-republican-oilman donor. 

It seems to me, Tillerson, even though he's in it for the money/power & for gutting regulations for big oil (as well as helping his oil-industry buddies), is probably nevertheless a man with common sense who looks at Trump (like the rest of us) & is disgusted by the Donald's erratic behavior (or is tired of defending the indefensible (or both)).