Fox News reported Friday that other officials may quit the Pentagon in Mattis’s footsteps. “More resignations at the Pentagon could be coming,” it said.
It also said that several potential successors to Mattis would likely share the outgoing defense chief’s positions on US military involvement in both Syria and Afghanistan. Noting that “Gen. Jack Keane and Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., are considered the frontrunners to replace Mattis,” Fox pointed outthat “neither candidate seems likely to embrace Trump’s ‘America First’ foreign policy and “Both came out against the withdrawal from Syria in strong terms.”cnn
The defense secretary's decision to quit Thursday was a warning that will ring through history about an impulsive President who spurns advice, disdains America's friends and proudly repudiates the codes of US leadership that have endured since World War II.
Mattis stopped Washington in its tracks -- even after months of stunning plot twists in Donald Trump's presidency, and as stock markets plunge, a legal net tightens around the White House and the government is about to shut down.
His recognition that he could no longer work for an erratic commander in chief who decided to pull US troops out of Syria, apparently without consulting anyone, could lead to a new period of global uncertainty as Trump slips his remaining restraints.
Grave faces on Capitol Hill and the shaken voices of retired military men on cable news reflected the Pentagon chief's renown as more than a decorated warrior, retired four-star general and the most admired Cabinet member.
He is a talisman.
For two years, politicians, foreign policy experts and allied diplomats would quietly confide their belief that as long as Mattis was in the Situation Room, alongside the impulsive Trump, everything would be OK.
fox
Defense Secretary and retired Marine Gen. James Mattis, whose retirement from the Pentagon was announced Thursday by President Trump, is an archetypal American warrior. This country loves military leaders like him who speak their minds without any concern for how it will make the sensitive types feel.
In more than four decades as a Marine, Mattis’ job was defending our nation and killing our enemies. He was brilliant and extraordinarily effective doing that. One of his more memorable quotes showcases his attitude and persona perfectly: “Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet.”
Mattis fought bravely in the Persian Gulf War, in Afghanistan and in the Iraq War. Plenty of bad people got what they deserved when he put his plans into action.
When Mattis was tapped to be secretary of defense by President Trump he received nearly universal acclaim – one of the few Trump appointments that both Democrats and Republicans said was a wise one.
Mattis and President Trump started out sharing a strong position against North Korea, which was conducting regular missile and nuclear weapons tests and presented a growing danger. They both fired some powerful rhetoric at the regime of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. And they gave the impression that the secretary of defense was ready to put some teeth into those threats if need be.
But that was about the last of the smooth sailing for the Trump-Mattis partnership. It didn’t take long to see that the two men were not well-aligned on either style of substance.
It also seemed like Mattis never really felt comfortable in a suit and tie as opposed to combat boots and a helmet. In the early days of Trump’s Cabinet, Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson soon emerged as a sort of counterweight to the president’s more assertive ambitions.
The Iran nuclear deal soon became a particular sticking point. President Trump had promised to dismantle what he correctly called one of the worst deals America had ever made. Mattis and Tillerson worked diligently and in concert to change the president’s mind and even to slow down the process of withdrawing from the nuclear agreement.
This eventually angered Trump and in a famous blow-up he reportedly told both Mattis and Tillerson to bring him the plans for pulling out of the Iran deal he had asked for – or heads would roll.
The president eventually got his way – he is the commander-in-chief, after all. But his relationship with Mattis continued to sour amid disagreements over the policy on transgender troops and Mattis’ concern over Trump’s regular attacks on some of our longstanding allies.
"But his relationship with Mattis continued to sour amid disagreements over the policy on transgender troops...."
ReplyDeleteGoodbye! He weakened the moral fabric of the military and endangered all of us.
Trump! Trump! Trump!
Joseph Orlow “Trump! Trump! Trump!” Bravo. May I update on my SCOTUS 18-7160?
ReplyDeleteI’m waiting until after January 22, 2018 to see if SCOTUS will grant me my motion. If granted, G-d willing, I’ll request SCOTUS to get possession of the record. Susan has until January 22, 2018 for her opposition: Rules of SCOTUS p. 18
In addition to presenting other arguments for denying the petition, the brief in opposition should address any perceived misstatement of fact or law in the petition that bears on what issues properly would be before the Court if certiorari were granted. Counsel are admonished that they have an obligation to the Court to point out in the brief in opposition, and not later, any perceived misstatement made in the petition. Any objection to consideration of a question presented based on what occurred in the proceedings below, if the objection does not go to jurisdiction, may be deemed waived unless called to the Court’s attention in the brief in opposition.
please note trump didnt fire mattis claiming he was weakening the moral fiber\\\
ReplyDeletemattis quit because trump is harming Americas safety and allies - which include Israel
For the soldiers getting injured and dying in wars far away from home that seem never ending (because when we pull out the whole thing collapses and sooner or later we got to pull out), wars that seem questionable at best as to why being there serves our interests, what the Commander-in-Chief did was far from harmful. And was smart.
ReplyDeleteHow does our pulling ourtroops back to ourhomeland harm anybody? If these allies think troops should be kept in place, let them send their soldiers into harm's way.
Tefillin already read
ReplyDeletewhy don't you note that the vast majority of even Republicans disagree with naive simplistic view
ReplyDeletewho beside you and Trump thinks it was a smart move?
ReplyDeleteMy friends in the various White movements.
ReplyDeletePerhaps. But an important core element of Pres. Trumps's political base are highly energized by this development. The withdrawal of troops cemented support for the President within White Nationalist groups. Politically, this was a very shrewd move on the President's part.
ReplyDeleteso the beneficiaries and cheerleaders are neonazis?
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't characterize them that way. Although many do, either from ignorance or laziness.
ReplyDeleteI haven't met very many Nazis online. There are some, but they seem to be the exception, not the rule. Many people do use the Nazi symbolism ironically, though.
Most telling, however, is the line from Christopher Cantwell who most assuredly did not start out as a Nazi, and neither is he one now. He says that if you keep calling someone a Nazi long enough, you'll find out you are right.
What he means is that after he got called and labeled a Nazi over and over, he began investigating Nazism, and realized that the obtuseness he was observing about Jews was the same obtuseness Adolf Hitler wrote about in "Mein Kampf."
fernandonagao 3+
ReplyDelete