Exxon used to be a powerhouse—loud, political, and unapologetically Republican. Prior to 2016, they spammed us with emails daily, pushing us to vote red. Now? Crickets. No talk about Trump, no mention of Elon, just this weird retreat into things like carbon capture and biofuels. It’s like after 2016, they got checkmated and negotiated a slow-motion collapse. And wow, is it slow.
Everything feels fake. The people, the work, the endless meetings that lead nowhere. No one follows up on anything because nothing actually matters. They’ve outsourced all the engineering jobs to India, where the skill gap is obvious, but no one cares because the goal isn’t to get things done—it’s to keep up the illusion.
Which makes me wonder—was Exxon ever really just a business, or was it something else entirely? It expanded across the world, embedding itself in key regions, just like USAID does under the banner of "development." Was Exxon really just another tool to get U.S. influence locked in globally? And if so, did they lose their usefulness after 2016?
I remember about 25 years ago, my uncle and another oil and gas vendor found out I joined Exxon. At the time, I was very young, enthusiastic, and thrilled to be permanently employed with such a well-known company. But they weren’t impressed. They were familiar with Exxon to the extent they made a comment, "I don’t understand how they make money. They're inefficient and have bizarre decision-making processes." And now, all these years later, I can’t help but agree. Darren confirmed that, of course, we zig when others zag. Lol. What kind of funhouse mirror game are we playing?
So I have to ask—how do the rest of you feel? Do you see the same decline, or are you still playing along with the charade?