Mattis should read the Tea Leaves and quit immediately, saying he no longer has faith in an”erratic” president he believes puts our military in danger.
Only then can this Former Marine, Mattis, hope to restore even a shred of his reputation.
1
Trump's insistence on having his cabinet members worship his every move and laugh at his every joke is a strong reflection of his base, who do just that no matter how blatantly incompetent Trump has proven himself to be. Trump's supporters aren't his constituents, they are his worshipers. Sad.
114
Not a single senior Republican senator or congressman is quoted in this article. They continue to stay subservient to a president that they know is fundamentally incompetent, unknowledgeable, impulsive, erratic and disrespectful of the military leadership's competency. When the only adult left in this administrative decides to resign (or is fired), we are in serious trouble.
107
Mattis isn't going anywhere any time soon.
He's smart, loyal and well-liked.
5
Get out now. Save your reputation. You will never be able to control this crazy man. Help elect democrats to do this and turn this sinking ship around.
54
That the National Security Advisor and Deputy, neither requiring confirmation by the Senate, are in a position to intercede, direct, or over ride the Secretary of Defense, who requires Senate confirmation and by statute is second in command behind the president of the armed forces, is not satisfactory nor acceptable.
A bill has been pending in the Senate since early 2017 to require Senate confirmation of the National Security Advisor (NSA). Had it become law, John Bolton would not be the NSA. Recall that he couldn't win Senate approval in 2005-06 to be ambassador to the UN.
Apart from this individual situation, it's absurd that a position this high in the national security apparatus can be appointed without confirmation.
103
Mattis persuaded Trump to send thousands more American troops to Afghanistan.
I wonder if Mattis was able to explain what we have achieved in Afghanistan since 2001, given a war that's cost over $1 trillion and led to the loss of over 2,300 American military personnel.
37
The increased paranoia of Donald Trump is typical of despots. Mr. Mathis is now being accused as a Democrat at heart.
The White House is also being invaded by aliens.
45
If Matt is leaves, Trump will have a looser chain which will allow him to be more himself.This may precipitate some crisis that will either cause us all untold grief or bring down the wrath of God on Trump's head, probably both. Either way Trump'opps days in the White House
will I hope be more limited. We have plenty of chaos all around us, we don't need to encourage chaos in the White House.
14
A simple contest is taking place. A man named Mattis is armored by integrity and moral gravitas against a man who hasn't the faintest idea what those words mean.
48
He has likely held out for longer than most could. He works for a narcissistic ignoramus. General Mattis - thank you for your service. Only you will know, at the end of all of this, whether you were an enabler or a protector. Unfortunately from where I sit, you are the former.
25
General Mattis' departure would be a huge blow to the Pentagon but, if it lead to the collapse of this insane administration, of great service to the nation.
26
Trump is systematically replacing "the adults in the room" with his own loyalists. Mattis might be the only person capable of telling the military to stand down, when given a direct order from Trump. Once he's gone, we'll have a narcissist with the intelligence of a 5th grader with his hands on the nuclear codes.
I'm sure he's aware of this, so if he's shoved out the door, who says he'll definitely go. Then all the monkeys will be out of their cages.
36
Anyone else think it's telling the Trump is often photographed at staff meetings with his arms crossed across his body?
...like with his staff he has to assume a defensive position?
40
Ricardel? She's not fit to shine Mattis' medals. I disagree with the general on some policy matters but I don't think he should have to put up with flack from this hack. She couldn't finish her doctoral studies...a good match for Trump in some ways...and she is going to cast aspersions at a lifetime military officer?
48
"In the second year of his presidency, Mr. Trump has largely tuned out his national security aides as he feels more confident as commander in chief,...."
As Dr. Phil would likely say, "How's that working for you?" Answer: not at all well.
37
One by one, the voices of relative sanity in the White House will be driven away by our mad president, leaving only the other inmates to run the asylum.
29
Trump only thinks he likes the military. He has no real understanding of it. He'd have a better idea if he hadn't dodged the draft. Then he might be more careful and take less for granted.
29
Trump and his GOP are a profound danger to American democracy, security, values, ideals, the rule of law and to the environment.
50
'Mr. Trump has largely tuned out his national security aides as he feels more confident as commander in chief', Bobby Ewing felt good after his shower, but he just couldn't shake the sense of unease that things were not quite right......
12
Serious people with lifetimes of service are pushed out and have their clearances revoked, while an ignorant and unqualified man-child continues to serve as President. Fellow Americans....what have we done? Please vote.
65
I still don't get it. If Mattis walked to the nearest microphone and unloaded the truth of what he has seen, known and fears, it would at least be the beginning of the end. The GOP would lose whatever lingering independent and doubting voters who still cling to it. They might have to consider immediate impeachment.
47
The mighty US military is a "paper tiger" under Trump. An army is as strong as the strategic thinking ability of its leader. We know Trump does not read. He does not understand complex government issues. Mattis is a great strategist. Obama made a huge mistake by not listening to Mattis. The greatest blunder Obama made, because Iran gained a foothold in the Middle East and has become a regional power. Iran will cut off the oil supply in the Persian Gulf and Russia will cut the gas lines to Germany. The world economy will nose dive and that is when Putin can flex his muscle. Trump does not get it.
10
What was Trump THINKING? Cancellation of - Ulchi, Foal Eagle, take your pick - has no basis whatsoever in any form of military logic.
War is an incredibly complex endeavor, and he who is unprepared starts with one hand tied behind his back. What would you say if advanced infantry training at Ft. Benning were to be cancelled? How about crowding all NATO warships into the Mediterranean without a plan, or without exercises to prove that a plan works?
With a casual flip of the wrist and a tepid "Peace in Our Time" message after Singapore, Trump once again demonstrates the emptiness of the part of his cranium where the brain is supposed to be.
33
Don't be surprised if Mattis again will have a few burgers with Trump to arrange for the sudden departure of John Bolton. The latter is smart but too extreme. Trump is no fool and will listen to his Secretary of Defense.
3
"Trump is no fool ..."
Thanks for the laugh! That was a good one.
75
Mattis, a retired Marine Corps general, and every other ex-military member of President Pathological's leadership disgrace their own service, their branch of service and their reputations by failing to call out Trump, accompanied by their resignations.
31
Mattis needs to resign and tell the public clearly that Trump is a national security threat and needs to be impeached. If he stays he is complicit and will eventually be fired anyway and will disappear like all the others. We need someone from the inside to tell it like it is, not what Trump wants to hear and Mattis may be the last one left that has integrity.
40
Competence with a dose of humility are not traits Donald J. Trump endorses or favors. The Secretary of Defense always a man of principle. Another trait Trump lacks. Mattis will resign before being kicked to the curb by Bolton. Firing Mattis with a tweet might fit the Trump touch, but would come at a cost.
16
The question is, why would anyone with intelligence work for Trump? It’s not about him being a good leader. It’s about the chance to implement ideas that no one with intelligence would support. The Trump administration is no place for someone who wants to be correct.
9
I hope Mattis can add to removing Trump. Please!
5
"Only the best people!"
It seems anyone who has an ounce of good conscience, integrity, or sense of duty eventually becomes an "obstacle" to Trump...
Just look at what's left in this cabinet for proof.
Commonly Accepted Profile of a Sociopath:
Glibness and Superficial Charm
Manipulative and Conning
Grandiose Sense of Self
Pathological Lying
Lack of Remorse, Shame or Guilt
Shallow Emotions
Incapacity for Love
Need for Stimulation
Callousness/Lack of Empathy
Early Behavior Problems/Juvenile Delinquency
Irresponsibility/Unreliability
Promiscuous Sexual Behavior/Infidelity
Lack of Realistic Life Plan/Parasitic Lifestyle
Criminal or Entrepreneurial Versatility
Changes their image as needed to avoid prosecution.
NOTE: In the 1830's this disorder was called "moral insanity."
Vote in November... We must defang this monster.
44
Who that the Senate is likely to confirm is available to succeed Mattis as Secretary of Defense? Surely not John Bolton;there are too many skeletons hanging in his closet.
10
If Mattis had any self respect and real honor, he wouldn't have lowered himself and taken a position from the the worst president in this county's history. He couldn't help but know Trump was and is a loser.
Mattis and Kelly, are both disgraces to the Marine Corp. They should be ashamed of themselves. Any real Marine should shun both these losers.
8
@Doremus Jessup:
The problem is, if they leave, there is nothing to stop Trump and Bolton from starting WWIII
14
“Any real marine”, yeah, with no skin in the game you slander men who’ve served with distinction. Try to say and do something constructive.
7
If Mattis is pushed out we will really need to worry since there will be no buffer between the most powerful military in the history of mankind and the most unstable, ignorant, racist, criminal ever to lead America. I hope Secretary Mattis finds a way to stay until Trump is removed from office.
35
A continual embarrassment to the office and our nation I seriously hope people vote in 2018 to rein this clown in so he becomes a one term president.
19
He’s gotta go sooner. Pence too.
I hope Pence is part of the obstruction of justice revelations and evidence. He’s complicit without a doubt.
20
STAY, General Mattis. Don't let the dictator gain a dictatorship.
Military nobility outplays a swamp player, who controls nothing at all, except his silly belief that the better decisions are actually his.
16
Mr. Pompeo needs to think seriously about why Mr. Mattis sits stone-faced while he himself chuckles at every one of Mr. Trump's jokes.
One thing is for sure. Mr. Trump is not funny.
31
What about Bolton as Secretary of Defence, Ms. Ricardel as the National Security Adviser. With Pompeo and Trump we all need to pray (even the agnostics and atheists) that there will be no major, catastrophic war before Jan 2021.
2
Everyday Mattis stays after knowing what he knows about Trump only helps Trump and hurts the nation.Is pretending The Emperor has Clothes really helping anyone? What happens when the whimsical Trump tires of Mattis and fires him? Blowing the whistle on Trump after he gives you your walking papers will probably be too late just ask James Comey. Truman's firing of MacArthur should tell us just because you lead people in battle does not mean you are flawless. When Trump gets someone in there willing to let him play world bully then what?
6
The scariest quote here?
“One American official said the White House had bypassed the Pentagon by getting classified briefings of coming operations directly from the Special Operations task forces, to the frustration of Mr. Mattis.”
The White House leaks like a sieve. Trump himself likes to pass on secrets to foreign representatives in order to impress them.
25
“Mad Dog” is now a mad poodle?
4
General Mattis, a man of impeccable character, would do well to walk away from his job of Trump's Defense Secretary before he is fired as ignominiously as Rex Tillerson was fired. Fire and pestilence, global turmoil and chaos in the White House follow in Trump's wake. We understand why Mr. Mattis, an educated and intelligent man, compared his boss to a "5th or 6th grader". Why Secretary of State Tillerson called the president "a moron". Horrors. Mattis is not a chuckler at Trump's jokes, as is Pompeo, the new Secretary of State. Mattis is not a loose cannon hawk as is John Bolton, the new national security adviser and his cabal. There is no sane guidance left in the president's cabinet or the White House. Meanwhile Trump is "standing by his man", former 4-Star Marine General Mattis, and bragging about "victories people don't even know about."
6
@Nan Socolow-Mattis is upholding his oath to protect the country. May he prevail.
12
Mattis should go to Mueller with anything he may have on Trump!
9
@Elias - What makes you presume that he hasn't already?
4
Every once in a while, I need to post the following just to demonstrate just how ignorant our POTUS is:
In his July 19, 2017 NYT interview, Trump said: “So pre-existing conditions are a tough deal. Because you are basically saying from the moment the insurance, you’re 21 years old, you start working and you’re paying $12 a year for insurance, and by the time you’re 70, you get a nice plan. Here’s something where you walk up and say, “I want my insurance.” It’s a very tough deal, but it is something that we’re doing a good job of.”
Bless General Mattis for his service and for staying so long in a post engulfed by an honor-staining stench.
22
Mattis should change the codes.
19
Mattis is one of the best people. Trump has said from the beginning that he hires only best people. Looks like lie #6001, 2, 3, 4, 5..... No one believes Trump anymore.
5
Once Mattis is gone, the next person will be more apt to do Trump's bidding and get American soldiers killed. But, no one seems to care.
10
Really what came first the chicken or the egg? The notion that Mattis is serving Trump only for the greater good of the country is starting to sound lame. Flynn and Kelly were both Generals and both character has to be questioned. Flynn led the lock her up chants and Kelly lied on a congresswoman of color. Would a true patriot serve Trump and pretend he is not playing babysitter for a loose cannon? Is it patriotism pretending you are following a leader so unsuited to lead. Staying with Trump this long only helps to legitimize Trump.I think real courage would be to resign and call out the charlatan The Special Op's admiral who told Trump to take his security clearance too in defense of the former head of CIA has real True Grit.
13
There isn't a more honest and devoted public servant in this administration than General Mathis.
12
What is the time frame in which an administration goes thru a transition? Trump just continues to hire and fire. It would be nice if people quit instead of waiting to read a tweet from Trump saying they are fired. It would be even nicer if GOP spoke out against Trump. Better still would be if Trump was removed from office via 25th amendment or impeachment.
8
We're dead. Killed by Twitter Fingers.
21
We are less safe with POTUS Trump in charge. He is unfit.
11
Escalation.
A verb synonymous with Trump.
Whether it’s White House cabinet members, allies, NATO, reporters, Trump knows no bounds.
10
A man who had already served his country with honor and courage can leave this mess with his head held high, secure in the knowledge that his obvious cooperation with Bob Woodward was one of his most honorable acts of all.
11
Fundamentally honest, and a loyal patriot, General Mattis needs to quit. He has no place in the Trump White House. It needs to be abrupt, without additional prediction and without fanfare, except for a carefully worded statement that his policies, intended to protect the security of the United States were not welcome in the Trump White House.
Quitting itself represents the last opportunity for Mattis to express his displeasure with Donald as opposed to letting Trump take the lead and provide his statement of displeasure dominate the news.
Under similar circumstances, Mr. Tillerson should have known to quit and instead he found out about his loss of his job in an electronic message. Mattis needs to go out with a proud flourish of a proud Marine General, not as an ignominious discard of the Trump administration.
23
A deputy national security advisor who's a vindictive flaming partisan to replace Gen. Mattis, huh? Did John Bolton personally pin on Mira Ricardel's orange deputy badge of loyalty? I've been worried that Mattis might not stay. Now I'm very very .... very very worried.
13
"the left of Mr. Bolton"
That would be everyone.
29
Folks like Pompeo, Ricardo & Bolton are sure to get the dog wagging its tail to divert from Mueller's coming whole-sale indictents
10
Trump LOVES to give people nicknames. Lil Marco, Little Rocket Man, Crooked Hillary...but he ACTUALLY got pretty close with his Sec’y of Defense.
His call sign is “Chaos.”
At a joint meeting of Marines and USAF he told the story of how his “call sign” became “Chaos.”
https://taskandpurpose.com/mattis-nickname-callsign-chaos/
Chaos is the FIRST Secretary of Defense who was still active duty when named to this position. Up until Mattis the position had been given to a civilian such as Leon Panetta and Bob Gates. One needed to have retired from active duty for seven years before getting this job. But Trump loves his generals. So his GOP congress made an exception. What a MISTAKE!
We have civilians to balance out POTUS and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. There has been NO ONE to stop the military. Trump basically handed it off to Chaos; missile strikes and drones tripled. The military tries to keeps the increased number of troops quiet. That’s how we ended up with four US soldiers PLUS four Nigerian soldiers and an interpreter taken out in the desert of Nigeria.
It truly was utter chaos.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/05/10/niger-ambush-killed...
This was so much worse than Benghazi but it didn’t get the press it should have.Guess this paper and others had to “analyze” Trump’s tweets instead of finding out how our troops died...with one not found for two days and he had been alive before recovery.
Priorities
13
@Tracy Rupp. You don't know what you're talking about. I am a Christian and a Republican. I did not vote for Trump. In fact, I did not vote for Romney or McCain. Romney because of his disgusting attitude about the American public (they are ignorant and will vote the way we tell them to). McCain because of the stupid decision to select Palin as his running mate.
If the Democrats had selected a candidate with the qualities of President Obama instead of Detestable Hillary, I would have voted Democrat for president once again. I just could not vote for a person who is just as slimy as Trump. I don't subscribe to the attitude that one has to vote for a party block of candidates nor that a vote for one snake is a vote against another snake. There are other choices that are honorable.
I am not alone among my Christian friends. Good Christians vote for persons of honor and integrity. So, just because there are Republicans who espouse to be Christians who did support Trump, it is questionable they are true Christians. True Christians would never vote for a man or woman who would crassly brag about defining acts and intentions.
All of this leads me to question Pence's touted Christian beliefs. How can he share office with a demon like Trump?
17
Somehow I just know you can't give a single solitary solid reason for the "detestable Hillary," bit.
20
Trump is unwittingly enabling Russia and China to become the world leaders. It is ironic the the “Make America Great” hats had their origin with Manafort -“The make Ukraine Great”! A regurgitated slogan for the most plebeian of Presidents. Pompeo is a buffoon thinking he can jolly up to Trump.
13
Trump would like to be a dictator like his heroes: Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, and Rodriguez Duterte.
Such brutal psychopathic rulers may have their egos assuaged by their despotic realms — but look at the lives of the ordinary citizens in the countries they are running! I’m not aware of anyone trying to immigrate into Russia, North Korea, or The Philippines.
19
Donald Trump is like a small child playing grown-up, putting on his “space force” uniform and then running out into the street, with his parents yelling as he dodges cars. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is POTUS in all his glory. Not even a “Mad Dog” can stop someone so capricious and nutty. Maybe Robert Mueller can. Somebody has to, lest we have a squashed kid on our hands.
17
Trump surrounds himself with chicken hawks rather than men and women who have see real combat and their consequences.
16
The good general remembers, "once a marine, always a marine". His loyalty is to The Constitution of The United States of America. And even now, he stands between our constitution and a coward who refused to defend our nation. The hero defends us, the coward defiles us.
17
Has anyone noticed that Trump hasn't tweeted in over 17 hours? His last tweet was just after 11 p.m. Friday. You would think in the wake of Manafort's flipping, he would have gone on an early-morning tweetrant, but...not a peep.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/15/1795987/-Trump-Hasn-t-Tweeted...
8
Trump will pick a Fox News anchor to replace Mattis so he won't have a cabinet that can invoke the 25th Amendment.
8
How deeply depressing it is to read about this good man who seems to be trying to serve the best interests of our country by having to control or at least mitigate the impulses of an ignoramus who knows what he knows and refuses to listen to anything else!
Yet, if he and his colleagues in the cabinet and agencies would only take the initiative to remove this clearly unqualified, incompetent and unheeding man, we might have greater respect for them.
5
Ricardel and Bolton and two years to the general election in 2020? What could possibly go wrong?
10
The tipping point will come when the President* demands that internment camps be set up on military posts. Mattis will not permit it.
7
This is not good. The press indicated General Mattis would be the Marshall for the military parade coming soon.
1
Mattis should resign, step forward at a national press conference, and explain why Trump is a threat to the national security of the nation.
So should everybody else.
Then the GOP needs to go in with the 25th and remove him.
14
I'm dismayed at many of the thoughts in the comments section. Do you really want Mattis out? Do you really want DOD in the hands of someone who might, at this point, satisfy Trump? Not me. Mattis has shown impressive restraint in dealing with a President who is his polar opposite in temperament, character, sense of honor, and expertise. While I was opposed to Mattis' selection initially, based on his having retired from the Marines so recently, he has been a saving grace. How sad to write this, but the longer he can suppress his honor and keep the worst of Trump at bay, the better for our country.
16
This is an EMERGENCY! It is absolutely clear that have a mentally defective, treasonous, corrupt, incompetent and dangerous sociopath making decisions that affect our security and the security of the planet. This is not normal, not partisan, not political.
The only remedy is for EVERYONE to vote in the midterms, elect a Democratic house and senate to try to stop this dire situation. The Republicans are spineless, self-serving traitors. Even then it won’t be easy - Trump has his eye on 2020 and won’t leave easily.
19
trump is unfit for any job that i can imagine: what is the job that requires the disability of being a compulsive liar? The one that demands name-calling, slander, false accusations. the one that requires harassing pregnant war widows?
Commander in Chief?
He despises soldiers. He despises their wives, their parents, he despises POWs, he despises real generals and prefers toy soldiers he can play with, he wants to use the military as bling in his french-imitation parades.
What job requires that sort of use of the people willing to die for the enterprise?
The job that requires that is one-man tyrant.
UNFIT. IMPEACH. REMOVE.
YES WE WILL.
NEVER SIT DOWN.
NEVER SHUT UP.
Maintain the sane.
Crazy is crazy, lies are lies, hostility to the Constitution is the opposite of protect, defend and preserve, freedom is not the enemy -- the enemy is the man who says are freedom is "disgusting".
We make ourselves free of kings, dictators and tyrants.
See Declaration of Independence.
UNFIT. IMPEACH. REMOVE.
YES WE WILL
Call your reps and senators, no matter the party nd tell them to publicly demand he be called to account under oath.
16
DT torpedoed his own WH.
Time to jump.
The ship is sinking.
4
We are all Kremlinologists now.
4
Don't shed tears for Gen Mattis losing his job. He'll end up on a couple of corporate boards and consulting gigs; making 3 times as much money for 1/4 the effort.
But do shed tears for us when the job loses Gen. Mattis.
10
November can't come soon enough. If we don't vote the Republicans out of Congress and the Senate, we'll have disaster after disaster to contend with. Why would anyone work for Trump?
12
“Mr. Mattis himself is becoming weary, some aides said, of the amount of time spent pushing back against what Defense Department officials think are capricious whims of an erratic president.”
Very scary. The capricious whims of an erratic Khrushchev came very close to Igniting WW3. And the thought that a defense secretary would be measured by his or her willingness to engage in false praise or laugh at presidential jokes is appalling. There would be no place for George Marshall in this administration.
12
Does anyone really think the reclusive Mattis is worried about whether he’s fired or not? He never seemed thrilled to take this job in the first place. He retired from service with the greatest tribute(s) a Marine could hope for; a warrior nickname (Mad Dog), four stars (not a Yelp review, but general officer stars) and lots of tough talking, warrior aphorisms reverentially repeated by multitudes of younger Marines. He wasn’t a modern day Chesty Puller, but still not bad. It’s hard to imagine he really cares at this point.
5
Donald Trump thought he was getting "Mad Dog". Instead he got 4-star Marine General James Mattis. Gen. Mattis probably believed he could make a positive contribution and assist a new president in better understanding the US Military and its place in this country.
They were both wrong.
I doubt that Trump had any concept of how Mattis's self-discipline, intelligence and commitment to the US and its Constitution would shape his tenure as Secretary of Defense. These are not things that previously existed in Trump's world. Trump's constant harping on the "Mad Dog" sobriquet initially was an exemplar of his own cartoonish view of the military.
Gen. Mattis probably wanted to believe that the Trump impulsiveness, lying, and ill-informed opinions weren't what Trump was at his core. He's probably hung on both from a deep sense of duty and with a hope he could provide some mitigation of the worst impulses of this man unfit for the office he holds.
402
Mattis was not fooled in the least. He's been trying to keep his head down and maintain force readiness without letting the chaos in Trumps' mind spill over into the military. Having Trump as the commander in chief is a very dangerous thing and we should all be grateful it hasn't blown up yet. It's one day at a time over there.
3
@Diana Platts Being pretty generous with Mattis here. Seems to me he's just another craven careerist who thought he could have his way with Trump -- thought he was The Trump Whisperer -- even if that meant sacrificing every principle he ever pretended to have.
@Diana Platts. Secretary Mattis is saving the world, along with Trump from trump’s most dangerous impulses.
We need Secretary Mattis to stay well and stay put.
2
Mattis isn't the POTUS and certainly doesn't have a monopoly on being right. That's a common problem with stars.
Bolton wanting to get more informed in what's going on in Afghanistan? Well, it's the longest war in US history and the Afghan military got creamed last month. Are we winning? No. Is current trajectory likely to lead in Afghan forces being completely defeated? Probably. 20 months into the administration, that's on Mattis. If I were Bolton, I'd want to understand what's going on, too.
@David That would make a lot of sense under normal circumstances, but Trump has repeatedly shown that he doesn't take seriously the general's advice. A president is only as good as his advisors, what to do when an illinformed president won't listen to his advisors? Additionally, saying "We should be killing more people" would cause me to make efforts to reveal as little as possible in case the president would order the general to kill more people - a predicament Mattis would do all he could to prevent to avoid the catch-22 of loyalty to the president vs. his well earned wisdome and loyalty to the American people.
3
hi Lorraine- thanks for the reply. I see some of the examples as flimsy and/or bad advise if I may elaborate:
Iran: terrible deal never should have been made.
NoKo: think Trump played that right. The military exercise would have given NoKo an excuse to bail or delay the negotiations, which is probably what they really want to do. At this point, the administration hasn't given them an inch for justification to back out. Holding the war games at that particular moment was terrible advice that would have given NoKo the wiggle room to keep dancing, like they've always done in the past.
Space: militarization of space is a horrible thing for human civilization. Unfortunately, the Chinese don't feel the same way and we're in danger of being behind the curve. Air Force will prioritize a lot of things ahead of space operations, like upgrading the aging cargo fleet, long range bombing capacity and the raptor roll-out. I see that as a historic parallel with the Navy prior to WWII prioritizing battleships over carriers.
NATO: let's be honest, it's just us and Great Britain and GBR is a shadow of its former self in military capacity. The rest of the countries toss in a handful of troops each speaking different languages that we have to transport, supply, re-supply and come with onerous restrictions. Confronting these problems is what Mattis should be doing, not playing nice nice. That's gotten us to where we are now with NATO ineffectiveness.
General Mattis can do himself and the Nation a favor by speaking forcibly, candidly and publicly about the potential danger of Trump remaining in office. With Mattis gone, there is one less person of significant gravitas and intelligence, protecting the Nation from foreign (e.g., Russia) and domestic (e.g., Trump) adversaries.
14
I read many comments, but none that I read suggested that Mattis is 'Anonymous'. Seems that he could be.
If he is 'Anonymous', no, he is not the only adult in the room. A real adult would not hide behind anonymity. Also, 'Anonymous' did not show much courage, as you would expect from a military leader.
Appoints of the POTUS serve at the pleasure of the POTUS. They are not the elected ones, the POTUS is.
Regardless if he is 'Anonymous' or not, he appears to be disgruntled, and should resign. That would be the courageous and yes, adult thing to do. He no longer has the confidence of Trump, and vice versa.
Some people flatter themselves too much. People elect members of the Lower and Upper Houses of Congress, local officials, and the POTUS, not his cabinet. Cabinet members are appointed by the democratically POTUS. Mattis is not indispensable.
Also, seems that Trump is right about dialing-down the temp in N Korea and Afghanistan, not Mattis.
1
@Philly Thanks for explaining your views on anonymous , which has nothing to do with this article, but still you felt compelled to let that speculation weigh on your view/decision that Mattis should go. That Mattis is not elected supports his refusal to let his position/role be politicised; his duty is to prevent WWIII, a very complicated and high risk effort, not to praise the president to help his party get the vote.
6
"Mr. Mattis has recently resisted White House attempts to closely supervise military operations by demanding details about American troops involved in specific raids in Afghanistan and elsewhere."
I believe that Mr. Mattis does not want to let Trump know of coming operations in order to protect our troops as Trump might knowingly or unknowingly reveal those plans to hostile nations.
36
Yes... Or take credit for them at rallies with oblique statements about successes (his) that "you don't know about". Or, in any number of ways, explore their use for his political gain.
Or evaluate them for a war he wants to "win". (Scary to think he may try to set strategies.)
It always amazes me that military people vote for him. He has no real respect for them other than some mythical image in his mind of The General ('Daddy'), that he wants to rub elbows with. I believe, the inflated budget is, to him, a way to buy them off, along with all the voters employed by the military industrial complex.
I'd love to be a fly on the wall at the Pentagon!
4
Just writing to say “Well-done” to the student journalist from Mercer Island High School. Good sleuthing to come up with the cell number, and respectful, important, and well-crafted questions for Gen. Mattis. And I am glad that the press-averse general took the interview.
6
“ In the second year of his presidency, Mr. Trump has largely tuned out his national security aides as he feels more confident as commander in chief, the officials said.”
Like dictators from time immemorial, Trump believes he is omniscient, and thus a law unto himself. Every time he goes to one of his rallies, or watches Fox this impression is validated and reinforced. Trump clearly does not want a well-read apolitical military man like Mattis undermining his confidence and it is no surprise that Trump no longer wishes to share burgers with him. When Mattis is fired or resigned I guess Trump will just have to find another “hamburger helper.”
15
General Mattis you are a respected military leader you should resign and let Trump himself to serve as the acting defense secretary. Only Russia and China are happy for this chaotic news about Trump's White House. In the future all presidential candidates must have military services experiences. Don't treat defense and national security as video games. I really hope Trump will be a one term president. Enough is enough, Really FEAR. Why people still wanted to work for him? Government pay?
4
It's doubtful that Gen. Mattis or anyone near him reads these comments, but if anyone does I hope they convey the gist of most messages here.
Please, please sir, do not go voluntarily. Your country needs you now. You've courageously stood between it and a man for whom the word unfit is astoundingly inadequate.
Should he force you out, this nation will see that you stood tall, as the man of honor, integrity, wisdom and courage that you are. Traits that the person you've so earnestly and in good faith tried to serve in duty to country, has never had, never will have or begin to understand.
We and the world will see once more and with ever increasingly clarity, the danger he represents to all. Wth this action should it come to pass, I pray will come the realization that the need for his removal from office is urgent and imperative.
With much gratitude for your service.
5
Like everything about and coming out of the Trump administration since day one...this does not bode well.
We really are in need of better, healthier bodes.
5
I sure hope Mattis stays for the sake of our countries security. Mattis seems to be one of the very few level headed people in the crazytown that comprises our government. It’s hard to comprehend that so many people in the highest levels of government are not outraged at what the Trump administration.
16
Secretary Mattis is the most competent person in the Cabinet. I wouldn't blame him though, if he decides to leave.
10
That Mattis tell all will be a top seller as long as there are people left to buy it.
6
I just finished Bob Woodward's book 'Fear' and came away even more terrified than I already was. Contrary to what some have suggested here, General Mattis is not "subverting the will of the president." He is doing his dead level best to keep a commander in chief with the "understanding of a fifth grader" from careening off the rails in a fit of pique and taking the country with him.
Our president is like a little boy who loves to hear his toy cannon go boom ("Why do we even have nuclear weapons if we don't use them?") and who has no appreciation whatsoever for the human carnage and suffering involved in setting off real ones. "You should be killing guys," he once told his generals about Afghanistan. "You don't need a strategy to kill people." Faced with a commander in chief with such instincts and so little appreciation of what others understand intuitively, General Mattis first tried to help him with carefully gathered facts and figures and then finally put it in words even a fifth-grader should understand, "We are doing this in order to prevent World War III." Even then, Trump countered with, "But we're losing so much money in trade with South Korea . . ."
Perhaps that's what you get when you elect a businessman president--someone who sees the world only as dollar signs on a ledger with no column for human casualties. I for one pray that General Mattis will continue to stick it out. He seems to be the one true patriot left in the White House.
42
Gen. McChrystal was sacked for far less by the anointed one not too long ago and I remember nytimes calling for ousting the General at that time. If we follow the same rules, who can blame Trump? And is it fake news to publish something that's being denied by Gen. Mattis but still attributed to him by the times?
The only salient point in this article seems to be that Mattis actively hates Obama's failed Iran policy. What we have now is exactly opposite - why would he be unhappy at that turn of events? NATO countries have just started paying their dues - doesn't that make his job as Defense Sec. easier? I don't think either of the Generals (Kelly and Mattis) are going anywhere. If anything, Trump is probably more moderate than them.
Except the article specifically says that while Gen. Mattis disagreed with Obama about Iran, he has also repeatedly tried to talk Trump out of dumping the Accords.
9
The general should resign and put his cards on the table for the sake of the country and the public before the mid term elections. Time to stay silent is over, there’s a mad man at the helm, we need the adults to speak up and tell the truth of what’s going on.
4
@ad Do you think those voting for Trump will know about or take seriously the detriment to our national security if Mattis leaves? These are the same people that didn't read about or didn't mind that Trump bankrupts others ruthlessly, and doesn't have any qualifications for the job of president. It's interesting that the most top job in perhaps the world, has literally no educational or experience requirements.
3
It's the kiss of death when Trump tells an employee "He’ll stay right there." Mattis won't be our defense secretary for very much longer. We're only left to wonder when, how, and who will follow. Trump already tapped Bolton. Who's left operating in the traditional quack circuit? The applicant pool must be extremely shallow. I'm actually amazed someone like Mattis has suffered Trump for this long.
For an ex-marine, you would think commander bone spurs would have received a resignation letter in an uncomfortable place six different times by now. I suppose Mattis feels he is fulfilling a duty. However, you have to wonder at the man's motives this far along into Trump's presidency. Is he really helping the Pentagon by hiding Trump's incompetence? I don't feel any safer knowing about Mattis' arrangement with the president.
117
@Andy-Since you mentioned Bolton, worth noting as Trump's national security adviser, Bolton just declared the Hague Court--famous for bringing Nazi war criminals to justice--“ineffective, unaccountable, and indeed, outright dangerous,” and threatened US sanctions against the court’s prosecutors and judges who pursued cases against Americans, reported NY Times. Bolton hired Cambridge Analytica, which not only widely (mis)used social media for Trump's benefit but also boasted of its ability to manipulate elections to Russian clients. It's still unclear if the 500 data points CA said they had on 87+ million Americans was also used by Russia's GRU and Brad Parscale's firm to target American voters. Each effort was precision perfect in reaching voters and ads and emails didn't have to disclose the originating source.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/13/world/europe/icc-burundi-bolton.html
4
@Andy — Trump is the most erratic and dangerous president of the modern era, and you’re wondering about Mattis’s motives for staying on? How about attempting to save the country from the likes of John Bolton, Mira Ricardel, and all of the other single-minded hawks who seem to understand precious little about the horror and devastating, multi-generational impacts of war? I hope Mattis stays until he’s literally escorted from the White House. Maybe by then we’ll have an actual working Congress to replace the completely dysfunctional group there now.
3
@Andy Secretary Mattis is helping us all by modifying Trump’s worst instincts. He is not hiding trump’s incompetence from anybody.
1
Let’s just hope that Mattis, when fired, will do what others didn’t: denounce Trump and tell the world publicly what he saw and why he thinks Trump is dangerous.
444
@Barteke What we need is for these investigations to continue gathering facts about the Russian connection to Trump as well as his election and let Trump and all his accomplices have their day in a court of law.
@Barteke. - We already have Brennan for that. I hope Mattis stays where he is as long as possible.
This article contains many contradictions. I detest Trump, but he genuinely seems reluctant to involve the US militarily in places like Afghanistan and North Korea. Not sending more troops to Afghanistan and suspending wargames with South Korea would not throw the world into chaos. It’s the opposite of a belligerent foreign policy. If these are policies that Mattis is actively campaigning for then I certainly don’t support him.
I remember when Democrats were against the illegal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in favor of pursuing diplomacy with North Korea.
42
@Eric We are against illegal wars--and more importantly with an unhinged Commander-in-Chief, we are truly against World War III.
1
@Eric--How do you know Trump might be "genuinely reluctant?" If there's one impression we can base on years of accumulated information, it's that no Trump position whatsoever has turned out to be genuine. As for what Secretary Mattis is "campaigning for," it might be helpful to secure an assessment of the military situation in question before rendering a judgment concerning a recommendation about force deployment, eh?
@Eric Do you also remember when the Republicans ran adults for the Office of the President?
Democrats are still in favor of diplomacy, but simply meeting with tyrants so it appears you’ve “done something” is the sort of move you can expect from a fifth or sixth grader. Mattis knows what he’s doing. Wish we could say the same about Trump.
1
Perhaps Trump is afraid of someone invoking the 25th Amendment and wants to clean his cabinet of anyone who might vote him out
291
Now that is a plausible theory...
1
"Using his folksy manner, Mr. Mattis talked the president out of ordering torture against terrorism detainees "
What?!? Torturing detainees? Isn't this the bigger story?
223
@The Poet McTeagle - If you recall - During Trump's first news interview - he said he absolutely believed that waterboarding worked. Also, via executive order, he wanted to reinstate the CIA interrogation sites (ultimately that did not go into effect) - see: NY Times "Trump Poised to Lift Ban on C.I.A. ‘Black Site’ Prisons" - Jan. 2017. In one of the few areas where he has been consistent - it has been about torturing people. Without Gen. Mattis there, I fear the worst.
2
Good thing it was in folksy manner. An impassioned defense of human rights would surely invoke a bout of Trump's oppositional defiance disorder.
1
@The Poet McTeagle - This may refer to his comment early on to Trump -" give me a pack of cigarettes and a couple beers and I do better with that than I do with torture....."
All of these so-called patriots who chose to serve the likes of Trump should have thought about the consequences of their "service." Saving Trump from himself is prolonging a term that should be aborted. Saving Trump from himself necessarily means being a party to very unsavory things.
There are those who claim that the revelations from the anonymous op-ed are tantamount to a "soft coup." They're wrong in a way. The soft coup has been ongoing from even before this administration was sworn in.
Serving under Trump is not an act of patriotism. Thousands of disgusted civil servants have left government. If Mattis, Kelly, and a slew of others think they are doing us all a service, instead of fulfilling personal ambition, then they need to rethink what it is they are upholding.
===
My Notes On David A. Graham's: We're Watching an Antidemocratic Coup Unfold
https://wp.me/p2KJ3H-37g
5
"Serving under Trump is not an act of patriotism."
Regardless of how "serving under Trump" is labeled, Mattis, Kelly, and a few others seem to be helping to guide this misguided adminstration.
If they left now, that would expose the U.S. and the world to a huge risk without any confidence that it would result in removing the problem in the White House any sooner.
3
@polymath
We are already exposed. Fear is a terrible informant. The worst is already in place. Trump is president. It is naive to think that Kelly isn't on Trump's side, no matter what else he may think of him. Ditto for Mattis. Ditto for the entire GOP. Otherwise, they'd long have put Pence in charge.
Rima Regas — Yes, obviously, we are already exposed. Equally obviously, our dangerous exposure could become significantly worse. Entirely regardless of who is "on Trump's side".
"Mr. Mattis himself is becoming weary, some aides said, of the ... capricious whims of an erratic president." It is unacceptable for the US military to be subject to such "whims". The world is not Mr. Trump's personal sandbox.
1
@Steve Kennedy That's the point, Mr. Trump doesn't comprehend that the world is not his personal sandbox to be manipulated by the art of the deal.
1
So where are our congressional leaders, Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan, who are constitutionally empowered to challenge, and stop, the daily egregious behavior of this deranged president ?
Trump is a lost cause. The american people need to march on Ryan and McConnell.
4
@JM I so agree. Where is our congress in all of this? Why are they leaving people like Mattis to fend for himself instead of pressuring the president to keep Mattis?
1
If you would like a better understanding of how our military has operated given its' civilian control and public approval-disapproval, please read, The Death of Others, by John Tirman.
You may come away with a more nuanced understanding of why someone like the current occupant of our White House sees the world of "others" as a zero sum game.
If Trump could set his ego aside for a minute he would realize his best option now would be to resign. He could make a grand exit stating his resignation is for the good of the country and play the part of the hero he wishes to be instead of dragging the country, himself and his family through the mud of his making.
2
@DarchitectHe will not resign, he will not just quit. When the legal cloud begins to envelope him personally and the way out seems ever more onerous, he will simply one day just walk away saying he didn't want the job in the first place. He'll say he has much more important real estate work to attend to.
@willw That would be awesome.
From his fake hair to his elevator shoes, Trump stands in sharp contrast to Secretary Mattis, who looks and acts the part of a highly decorated Marine Commander. Trump, devoid of intellectual curiosity, and empowered only by office he apparently achieved through dishonesty and collusion with a hostile foreign power, is miniaturized by the cerebral General Mattis, whose intellect is well known among his troops and comrades in the military. How he ended up in the Trump White House in the first place is a mystery, but from the start, his presence there was a comfort to those who know him.
How long General Mattis can remain as the man who stands between Trump, the loose cannon, and international chaos, is a question only he can answer - unless Trump views him as a threat to his vision of himself as King of the World. Let's just pray that Trump's narcissism, or the tag team of Bolton and Ricardel don't drive him away when we need him the most.
5
The single great mistake in this immensely important article is Ms. Cooper's belief these matters can be described as left right issues. Iran, for example, is a practical matter. What was (is) the most effective way of curbing Iran's nuclear weapons program? Trump's bluster or JCPOA? To this point, JCPOA worked far better than Trump's verbal march toward war.
The result of a war which Trump apparently intends, the death of American soldiers plus masses of Iranians from aerial assaults, mostly civilians, many of whom favored decent relations with the West,.
------------------------
Mattis is the one official who ought to stay until he can no longer be effective. He, the current military leadership and their predecessors are loyal to the Constitution and the concept, inherent in it, of an apolitical military (Well, there was the Civil War). Though Trump can fire him, only Mattis can decide when he is no longer able to direct the military.
For our would be Caesar, the apolitical nature of our military appears to be increasingly intolerable. He wants a personal army which he can use as a political instrument.
Note: Ms. Flournoy's long association with Democratic administrations made her an unlikely choice but Anne Patterson (disclosure: an acquaintance from Foreign
Service days) was determinedly apolitical throughout her life in foreign and national security affairs. Apparently, that's why Ms. Ricardel blackballed her.
15
"But moderate Republicans — whom Mr. Trump will need in 2020..."
I am growing weary of the facade of normalcy in statements like this. The vast majority of Americans surely would shudder at the thought of Trump still being in office in 2020. National civility and the rule of law will likely be in tatters by then if this president can actually run for a second term.
“It’s up to the president of the United States to decide what he wants to do," says the Pentagon press secretary. Terrifying.
5
Well, God help us if this adminstration is angling to have Bolton and Ricardel, as the next Defense Secretary and WH National Security advisor. That would be two nominations the Senate should fight to the last "man".
The time has surely come to update Eisenhower's famous warning against the military-industrial complex, to something like beware of the corrupt industrial-partisan political , national security complex. Surprisingly, it may be Mattis who fills that role.
2
I think Mattis should really “push” tRUMP ASAP, and definitely before midterms, to help sway military personnel, veterans and moderate Republicans away from the GOP, returning the House in particular, and maybe even the Senate, into the moderating force that it should be on this insane administration. BTW - BRAVO to General Mattis for having the sheer fortitude that it takes to be “the adult in the room,” can’t imagine how stressful it must be to try to manage the lunatic in the Oval Office. VOTE BLUE on November 6th, our national security depends on it.
2
Defense Secretary Mattis is performing very well, and he is clearly a great fit for his job. We need his experience and knowledge to maintain stability in these turbulent times. With all the Russian shenanigans going on today, the spying, the poisonings on foreign soil, assaults on our diplomats, we need the lengthy and time tested experience of a solid Defense Secretary to weigh the threats and respond appropriately.
4
President Trump "wants only like-minded loyalists around him." Wonderful! How can anyone be "like-minded" with someone else who is utterly mindless -- or at least no more mindful than a 5th grader?
As for Trump's fellow chicken hawks like John Bolton who ducked service to his country with the audacious excuse blaming then-Senator Ted Kennedy for bed policy during the Vietnam war.
Yup, it was Kennedy's fault that tough guys like Bolton and Trump ducked risking their lives so that other people and their children could die. Somewhere Dick Cheney must be smiling.
4
Another leader , not so long ago, decided that he knew more than his general officer corps did about war and appointed himself The Commander in Chief. Even though he was a mere corporal, but with combat experience from another war. It didn’t turn out well for the military or the nation in question! This leader, President Trump, appears to be laying the groundwork, with the help of his son-in-Law, to radically rearrange the entire Middle East with use of force if necessary ( and it will be necessary!) and free up Israel once and for all from its enemies. Plus eliminate the Palestinian problem too...How to do it is the big question to be answered soon with Jared’s “ Middle East Peace Plan.”
Trump can only remain on friendly terms with people who agree with him 100% and fawn fealty. He will sour on anyone who simply talks of things he cannot understand, which is just about everything. Hence the utter loneliness of the man running the nation. A willful loneliness born from his long-perceived greatest injury: The isolation of being a victim; his own victim, caused by his own arrogance in never reading, never learning, never improving. Remaining forever ignorant of the world around him, and forever envious of those who have striven not to be.
Trump is the epitome of the out-of-step soldier:
Why is everyone out-of-step except me?
America can thank whatever God they want for Mattis. A man who does understand it all and well understands the dangers from a fool who does not, and cares not.
75
What a terrifying prospect in light of Woodward’s book and the Op-Ed of the White House “Resistor”.
To distract from his problems, Trump will be free without Mattis to start a war, or if provoked by a foreign government to escalate any conflict. It looks more and more like the mid-term elections will not only decide whether America will remain a true Democracy, but also whether or not it goes to war.
2
As Trump exhausts the supply of competent "adults" willing to endure his ignorance and irrationality, the danger he poses to our nation increases rapidly. He has shown that he will defend himself at any cost no matter what is destroyed in the process. We are heading towards defcon one.
22
This is really worrisome. If Mattis goes, Trump and his worst aggressive instincts will be unchecked if not goaded by his lickspittle "war cabinet" of Pompeo, Bolton, and Ricardel. He will be unbound, unchecked -- a misguided missile. Heaven help us all.
1
If Mattis goes watch the Joint Chiefs carefully. If Trump replaces the DOD head and the Chiefs with Trump loyalists, we won't have an election in 2020. There will be blood in the streets and martial law welcoming Trump as President for life. That's how Trump will escape the noose tightening around his neck and the GOP will retain power, whatever it takes. Then see who Trump goes after. Maybe you and me.
1
Trump needs to surround himself with younger people. One look at that picture of Mattis tells me he does not have the youth, energy or inclination to pursue a strategy that involves testing the fence. I praise Trump for his ability to shake the bush and see what falls out. It's the only way to defeat the stagnation of the past and move this country forward for the first time in 20 years. Trump is perfect for what American needs today.
3
@David
Larry Kudlow is 71 and just had a heart attack. Wilbur Ross is 80. And how old are all those old, white guys at Mar a Lago that informally run the VA?
4
How loyal to the administration will Mattis remain once he's outside the tent? His subpoenaed testimony to a House Judiciary Committee under Democratic control may prove crucial to proving beyond any reasonable doubt Trump's high crimes and misdemeanors in matters relating to US national security.
12
@Leigh Let's hope Trump can grasp that Mattis is more of a threat to Trump's popularity if he cuts him loose.
3
There is a moral issue in "Fear" that transcends the sales of a book. Mr. Woodward portrays, I believe accurately, Mr. Mattis as frequently derisive of the commander in chief, including:
In the North Korea meeting, during a period of high tension with the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, Mr. Trump questioned Mr. Mattis about why the United States keeps a military presence on the Korean Peninsula. “We’re doing this in order to prevent World War III,” Mr. Mattis responded. In April 2017, after President Bashar al-Assad of Syria launched a chemical attack on his own people, Mr. Trump called Mr. Mattis and told him that he wanted the United States to assassinate Mr. Assad. “Let’s go in,” the president said, adding a string of expletives- which was ignored by Mattis. And then to add to the calumny, the quote, “the president acted like — and had the understanding of — a ‘fifth or sixth grader.’”
Woodward, in his recorded conversation with Trump,emphasized that every word in the book is absolutely true, as is the case for his eighteen previous Presidential biographies. (None of these, of a President with existing power to precipitate Armageddon)
What Woodward did, by choosing to include this, is to ensure the dismissal of this single person in the position to prevent actions that can precipitate a risk to civilization itself. "Fear-Trump in the Whitehouse" just may affect the course of history in ways we dare not imagine.
12
Is there risk of war? Absolutely. In fact, I believe it's long been in the President's mind's eye as a cynical means to boost his popularity if he got desperate enough &/or a means to halt an impeachment process (we cannot risk instability in the Executive Branch during this scary spooky wartime.) That seems like an obvious move by a solely self-focused, purely transactional leader. Machiavelli no doubt would endorse such a move.
However, one must also assume that among military brass & long experienced civil servants, Machiavelli is just a starting point. A beginner's text. Starting with laws that disallow illegal orders, checks & balances within the Executive Branch itself thwart any attempt by a Chief to rule by whim or retaliatory grudge.
After all, a Secretary of Defense is not a mere errand girl or boy who offers input but easily caves if an Executive insists on wildly rash or foolish conduct. And that this is the case is no implicit Coup either.
A President of these United States never could do literally Anything she wishes. That is merely a surface myth, perhaps constructive in some situations, but also open to misunderstandings that bring us back to Woodward's apt title: Fear.
No doubt any confirmable SecDef or interim head will thwart any impulsive Enola Gay misadventures Mr. Trump may wish to foist upon everyone.
The real risk, in my view, is how he destabilizes the world of nations through troubling words and increased uncertainty leading to miscalculations.
3
@Call Me Al
Thus, the Op-Ed in the Times, with the anonymous official writing, essentially, "don't worry about a nuclear strike, if Trump ordered one, no one would obey his order."
It's clear to me that Mattis -- widely respected both within the military and with the civilian population, and in Congress -- should realize he will shortly be pushed out, and therefore take the initiative of resigning, followed that same afternoon with a very public speech (all the networks would go live) in which he expresses his concerns about the president in detail and calls for members of Congress to show some backbone in their oversight responsibilities. He should speak as an adult about a president who is impulsive, poorly informed, and contemptuous of basic American values. He would be performing one last act of patriotism if he exhorted EACH MEMBER OF CONGRESS to respond to his words by either challenging Trump's fitness for office or refuting the specifics of what Mattis has said. There is no magical pill that will save this presidency, but Mattis does have it in his power to resign and focus American political leadership on the danger that Trump poses to our national security and to our democratic traditions. Sir -- I hope you will use this opportunity you have to challenge DJT, not simply endure him.
4
"But moderate Republicans — whom Mr. Trump will need in 2020 — appear to trust Mr. Mattis as well, and firing him could hurt the president with that key group."
Moderate Republicans? You mean both of them?
2
There is something else that I am sure absolutely must eat at Mathis about this prez.
The number of Americans who died on Puerto Rice year ago from Hurricane Maria is NEARLY IDENTICAL to the number of Americans who died from the Sept 11 terrorism attacks in 2001.
And yet, Trump falsely and brazenly claims that only about 40-some Americans died on Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria.
That is as if an American President had only counted the 44 citizens who died on 9/11/01 when UA Flight 93 was hijiacked and crashed in Pennsylvania, and no one else as a terrorism victim on that tragic day,
It is as if a President had refused to count the 125 who died on September 11 when the Pentagon was attacked, plus refused to count every single one of those who died in the Twin Towers attacks.
What kind of an American President turns his back on the deaths of so many thousands of Americans who die in a tragic event on American shores?
What kind of an American President feels no sorrow over more than 2,900 Americans perishing in one of our national catastrophic events? What kind of American President doesn't understand, and feel pain, regarding the loss and mourning of thousands more of Americans who knew those additional 2,900 citizens?
How can he not even acknowledge and care that those additional 2,900 people died last year in the Puerto Rico hurricane?
How is such a callus person even remotely capable of being in a job that pledges to serve and protect 100% of Americans?
8
Yes, indeed; Trump only counting 2% of the fatality victims of the Puerto Rico hurricane last year would be like us only counting that percentage of the nearly identical fatality numbers from the September 11, 2001 terrorism attacks.
It is one of his most despicable behaviors.
2
General Mattis deserves the Purple Heart for all the slings and arrows of outrageous torment he has endured from this nasty 5th grader president he has tried to serve. His is a Greek tragedy: a good man, an important man, whose fatal flaw, under normal circumstances would be ennobling, is brought down by it.
I would hope that rather than go quietly into this good night , as most of the others tossed on Tump's trash heap, that Mr. Mattis would speak-out. A book takes too long. Our country is in dire danger and it is this higher power to whom he owes allegiance now.
4
Mattis is too good for this administration.
McMaster was, too.
Elite American military and diplomatic talent wasted by an incompetent POTUS.
Much respect.
9
What in heaven's name will it take for the Republicans to agree to implementation of the 25th amendment? Trump is no longer just a bad joke, he is headed for a true catastrophe.
2
@fortson61 If you think the Republicans care about disaster for the country and the world you're hopelessly naive. Go by what they do -- nothing, except for the rare outlier.
2
It has become exhausting being your neighbour to the north; there are times I want to just tune-out completely. Even though we do not subscribe to CNN or MSNBC it is always there, always frightening and always puzzling how this political nightmare continues on in your country.
My understanding is that Mattis is apolitical, and nonpartisan, so this now constitutes his downfall! I imagine Mattis consults with the best minds before considering their political loyalties. But, being a republican isn't enough anymore, you have to de a rabid republican before this president sees your value, or listens to your advice. Even then, you have display unwavering loyalty to him FIRST, and THEN defer to his worst impulses. If Mattis goes, who knows what will happen next.
Even sharing a border with you seems to offer increased risks these days. All any of us want is for this to end, so please vote in November to give us all a shred of hope.
53
@Holly I hear you, the entire world has been put at risk by Trump. If he preciptates world dischord or a war, it's not just America that will be impacted.
4
This presages what could happen if the GOP retains the House in November. It will be a green light for Trump to eliminate everyone in his cabinet who doesn't support him 100% and laugh at his jokes. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
4
I questioned weeks ago about how anyone with real integrity possibly work for Donald Trump? A woman in New Hampshire replied that the answer was simple, no one with any real integrity would. While I thought that was largely true; I paused and thought of men like Jim Mattis; who like John Kelly; really were the adults in the room. The major problem though has become obvious. When an out of control egomaniac like Donald Trump reads that; he cannot handle anyone who makes him look weak or inferior. When Steve Bannon made the cover of TIME magazine as the REAL reason why Trump won in 2016 (the Truth) ; it was not long after the Bannon was thrown under the bus; just like so many others ever since. When "anyone" steals Trump`s thunder or outshines him; that man or woman instantly has a target on their back. NO ONE is allowed to get credit for anything but Trump!
1
This new national security adviser who hates General Mattis - "Ms. Ricardel, a former Boeing executive who worked at the Pentagon during the George W. Bush administration" - looks and sounds like a clone of Betsy DeVos. Knowing that she & Bolton are working together under the control of D. Trump makes me feel so very much safer & so very much more confident that national security is in the hands of responsible adults. How about you?
2
Mattis is one of the few officials in the White House that isn't a creature of the Swamp. I guess Trump will let him go and replace him with another creature.
14
If Defense Secretary Mattis feels he can no longer "serve and protect" the nation and the Constitution, it may be time to resign with dignity rather suffer the fate of another Trump tweet in the back. If so, Gen. Mattis should tell the American people the truth that the nation should be on "red alert" due to an unstable, mentally unsound president who insists on surrounding himself with adoring, loyal "yes" men and women, and thereby be falling into the psychological trap known as "groupthink" where dangerous, irrational decisions may be rubber-stamped putting the nation at severe risk, as Gen. Mattis and others have warned, of World War III. If that's what it will take for the abetting and enabling Republican Congress to act, it may be too late. The "Fear" of an angry, irrational president running amok grows more palpable with every day.
6
@Paul Wortman. I wish Trump would fire Bolton. The last thing we need is hawkish people advising the president.
That is the very reason that we should vote for Democrat in November. Trump is becoming more and more dangerous and we can not rely on so called "adults in the White House", which probably stop existing if the Republic wins this Fall.
13
I recommend you vote smartly - not necessarily Democrat. There are plenty of Democrats out there who are just as nasty as Trump. Being Democrat, or Republican, does not make you good. GOOD is doing good. Vote for GOOD no matter which party he or she subscribes to.
1
I see no speculation in this article about who might replace Mattis. Which Fox celebrity has the inside track?
3
Trump - let's be clear, if you fire Mattis like you discard secretaries at the Trump Tower, you will prove to everyone how unfit you are - the 25th Amendment would be an absolutely correct remedy.
1
The story talks of "moderate Republicans". There are no moderate Republicans anymore. None. They have either left the Republican Party to become independents or, even, Democrats, or they've died.
Creatures like this woman Ricardel, who has lived in the slime of reactionary incestuous Republican manipulations and maneuvering, are the Republican Party now. And worse than her.
Mattis should resign. To the degree he alone stood between us and Armageddon, well it's time for him "to battle for the lord" and leave. Then we can see, the nation can see, the whole panoply of insanity that lies at the heart of a White House that introduces the bacilli of characters like Bolton and Ricardel into the highest precincts of our government.
Moderate Republicans? Hah!
2
Amazing. All us retired military folks must be liberals. The administration is truly through the looking glass.
8
I am tired of, and no longer credit, articles profiling anyone in the administration as "the only thing" or "last thing" standing between T and
1. Armageddon
2. Pandemonium
3. Himself
4. His worst instincts
5. The End of the World
These claims and profiles are self-flattering. The "adults" have no meliorating effect.
This, on top of "Anonymous?" Nope. Not having it anymore.
Resign, tell us what you know, publicly, and let Americans see the full effect of what they voted, or didn't vote for.
6
Spare me the “fear of losing their jobs” excuse from your sources. Anyone who can look in the mirror should leave that White House right now.
19
@Bob Jones I don't think Mattis is afraid of losing his job for his own sake, he certainly wouldn't need to worry about finding another job or his income. I think the issue is he knows he is needed to help prevent dire outcomes and to help keep the military from becoming politicised, which means things like military parades praising our leader, if you get my drift.
1
Funny that Bolton is such a hawk now but when the time for him to actually hear and fire shots in anger came he found a way to duck out. Now I can’t blame anyone for not wanting to go to Vietnam but dedicating himself to finding ways of sending OTHER people to do the job he once shunned make Bolton a collossal hypocrite in my eyes. The thought that he could be a replacement for Mattis scares me half to death.
6
If the condition of Mattis staying on the job and protecting the United States against the delusional self-aggrandizing lunatic in the White House is smiling more, I say do it. The country, our alliances and global security depend on it. Is that not the most pathetic situation we now find ourselves in as a once-great nation?
4
Soon there will be no responsible adults in the Trump Administration.
4
Trump must've read Woodward's book. No, wait, Trump doesn't read. Bolton must have told him what was in Woodward's book. No, no, wait again, Bolton doesn't think past the 1950's. Woodward must have explained to Bolton what was in his book about Mattis, and then Bolton must've told Trump.
Since it's not something which could have been swiped off Trump's desk, until Trump is distracted by the next bright shiny object, Mattis's head will be on the block.
Hurricane Maria lie story, anyone?
5
Trump is dangerously incompetent. The Woodward book lays it out in frightening detail. It's well past time for the 25th Amendment. Otherwise, we'll soon be at war with Iran and maybe North Korea, as well.
2
"Mr. Trump has largely tuned out his national security aides as he feels more confident as commander in chief."
If a mentally deranged president feels such confidence, everybody should be proportionally worried.
4
As the character of DJT continues to impress, let us recall to mind which Americans were sufficiently impressed with DJT to vote him President of the United States. The least educated, for sure, but it's another crowd I wish to indite - the white Christians of America. Mormons, Catholics, and Evangelicals. It's the news that America NEEDS TO HEAR - over and over, if necessary. It's the republicanism of white Christians with their tax-exempt status. They elected DJT. Let us not lose sight of this sad fact concerning the primary practitioners of our nation's national religion (if they will). This is why Christianity is dying. Hail the living loving Lord. Down with bigotry.
18
@Tracy Rupp
Religion first, my bottom line second, country third.
(the first two interchangeable)
That's today's American Conservatism.
1
“Secretary Mattis lives by a code that is part of his DNA,” said Capt. Jeff Davis, who retired last month from the Navy after serving as a spokesman for Mr. Mattis since early in the Trump administration. “He is genetically incapable of lying, and genetically incapable of disloyalty.”
My gut tells me that most of us live by the same fundamental code!
What is not normally found in the DNA of the average human being is the Donald Trump DNA - which is genetically incapable of telling the truth and genetically incapable of loyalty to anyone.
The reasons given for why Trump has become disenchanted with Mattis and wants to fire him sound like the tale of 16 year old "mean girl" and her rival for Homecoming Queen.
This White House - a reality show or a daytime soap opera?
1
Looks like Mattis didn't really know what it would be like to work with a Mad Dog until he agreed to work under Donald J. Trump.
4
I have basically no compassion for anyone with real expertise and resumé that chose to work for this administration. They inflated themselves as some kind of saviors and protection from the horrible human being this president is. They all want to be protectors of our democracy, they can’t, then, they write a book. If these, “more thoughtful” cabinet members had an opportunity to show their strength, they should had resigned after Charlottesville or they had never taken a job with a man who grabs women.
2
@DREU This isn't about employees staying at a job they detest but constantly complain about. This is about a leader who knows the world leadership and fragile relationships that could at any time result in devastating war. We've all heard co-workers complain about their job to the point we wish they would just leave if they find it so terrible. That is not what is happening here. This is about people working hard to prevent disaster in spite of a combative world leader that can't comprehend the seriousness of and the need for the best in that role which Mattis now occupies.
2
The change needed is a new Commander in Chief.
6
This brings to mind that widely televised early cabinet meeting which turned into a pathetic boot-licking display. The only one who refused to join in was Secretary Mattis. He used his turn to reaffirm his loyalty and devotion to the men and women of the armed forces instead of groveling before the dear leader.
Over time, it's become abundantly clear that Donald has a natural aversion to complex issues and people of character and integrity, especially if they are willing to challenge him. James Mattis is such a person. It's not surprising that Trump wants to get rid of him.
2
It looks like someone else may need to lead the military coup.
Trump should resign after calling half of america names. He’s a sociopath and has called all of us names by now, in private. Everybody knows the problem is Donald Trump though republicans pretend they do not
20
@observer Well, the republicans thought Sarah Palin should stand second in line to lead the United States, and now they've been supporting Trump. I can't comprehend their definition of leadership.
1
The original Birther has now devolved into the "Deather". Vociferously denying the death toll in PR. Next he will be claiming that Obama and Clinton are entirely to blame. It's just a matter of time and tweets.
Seriously.
5
25th Amendment
or
Impeachment.
Otherwise, the USA is toast.
12
If Jim Mattis has only an iota of self-dignity and self-worth, he’ll get out of Trump’s putrid sphere of felonious mendacity — pronto.
8
What a cocky statement.
The Marine General has more dignity and personal integrity than most of us in this nation.
2
Dangerous ground when a president undercuts his top general.
1
Trump is slowly ridding his administration of any competence in favor of people who are loyal to him. Their choice is Trump - or America. He is a traitor to the country.
He needs to be impeached, if not jailed.
4
Article : Mattis was too right of Obama and too left of Trump. So he's a Centrist, keeping the US military out of the politics. EXACTLY where a good military man and Defense Dept. Chairman should be!
But for a wannabe dictator with wild popularity, this is too much. "Off with his head!" says the Mad King.
2
So let’s get this straight: the man advocating MORE troops to Afghanistan is the adult in the room? Literally, you can’t make this nonsense up.
5
Please, Mr. President, please and pretty please with cream and sugar on top, fire Jim Mattis.
It's the best thing you can do for your country.
2
He actually wanted Congress to vote on striking Syria, supported the Iran nuclear deal and refused to go on Fox and Friends.
Lock him up!
2
One of the leaders of state in recent history to overestimate his military strategy skill set at least had served in the military in war time conditions. Eventually he too stopped listening to the experienced professionals who were trying to guide him. Thankfully Chancellor Hitler didn't listen to his generals and we know where that got him. Unfortunately Trump seems to be making the same mistake of assuming he knows more than the professionals in spite of never even spending a day in military service.
1
I think back to the Cabinet meeting when Trump brought the reporters in as each member fawned over the President in the most disgusting obsequiousness. All except Mattis. I knew then he would never last.
3
In the military, the Trump administration is what would be known as a 'toxic command environment'
9
Trump is said to be growing weary of Mattis. Mattis is said to be growing weary of Trump. Why doesn't Mattis resign?
1
Oh great. Last competent person in the Trump Administration will soon be gone.
3
I’m hoping that as President 4/5’s gets rid of more of the adults in the room, more of the boot-licking members of Congress and the public will finally wake up to how uninformed and dangerous he is to America and find some way to rid us of him.
3
what is the subject of this article?
chaos in the White House, driven by the capriciousness and ignorance of the President, and his demands for personal political loyalty from all his underlings, even to the exclusion of good sense or sanity.
Trump is President of a minority of Americans, perhaps no more than 30% of voters, and rules to appease them exclusively, using reality TV and conman tactics.. he acts more like the leader of an occupying force from the aggressive Kingdom of Stupid than president of the USA.
for this we got rid of mad King George III?
4
Mira Ricardel appears to be the poster girl for what Eisenhower warned us of, The Military Industrial Complex that makes money off of war and killing.
6
So a four star general has to kowtow to a uneducated real estate salesman. When the general leaves by being pushed it will be the chance for the Dotard and his followers to really make a mess of things.Stand my for some really dumb moves over at the White House. Military Service loyalty is a fact, loyalty to Trump means keeping a overpaid job with little interest in citizens
2
I read Ms Cooper's piece here with mouth agape. The only decent and knowledgeable individual in this Cabinet, a man who will defend his country first before professing "loyalty" to an unhinged and mercurial individual, is now being threatened. As we get closer and closer to the truth of Russian interference and possible Trump collusion during that god-awful 2016 election, this vile so-called president still insists on bringing our country down. His power, his narcissism, his profound stupidity, his amorality is all that counts. And to "hold on to their jobs" not one of his White House sycophants dare speak up to him? But just as power hungry and unethical as Trump et al are, his Republican Congress is not far behind. Where are they now to protect Mr. Mattis who is the only one who is trying to save us from catastrophes on a global as well as domestic front? Pathetic, disgraceful, corrupt....the whole lot.
5
Who would believe a publication that never identifies their sources, they just use rumors or exaggerations or fabrications ?
1
@Patrick McCord "*Never* identifies their sources"?
Or do you mean there was that one article where the source was not identified?
2
Resign Man!
Anyone who at this point is still working for this criminal is going to go down with him as a criminal.
Get out, do it for your family at least.
154
@Blunt-Isn't Mattis working for the good of America which he has sworn an oath to protect?
And that includes the GOP.
1
@Blunt Mattis is a bachelor. His family IS the military.
Mattis is a knowledge, non-partisan, talented, reasonable, Patriotic-American, adult...
OF COURSE stumpy wants him gone....
Marines put nation before all.... and are capable of killing with their bare hands... and falling on their swords.
… careful stumpy.... remember what Brutus did to Caesar...
4
Your loyalty is to the people of the United States and the Constitution, sir, not to the president.
Leave before you really get trashed in the mud.
1
Mattis was that thin line between sanity and crazy town---if that line is erased--get ready America---
3
We are one man away from having all right wing nut jobs in Trump’s administration. One man away from this country’s self-implosion.
3
As soon as he departs the WH and if he dares to tell the truth about it, Matthis will be branded a traitor by the chief traitor. He will then be replaced by someone loyal to the chief traitor PERSONALLY, rather than the office or the nation. Enough. It is well past time for this charade of a president to be removed. It is unlikely that his beloved death penalty can be applied to him, though it should be, but full investigation of his lifetime of criminal activity and full restitution to the society and nation he has so damaged must be made.
4
Aside from Mattis' stupidity in the Theranos scandal and his support of Elizabeth Holmes, he is by far the most well-prepared and mature adult in this administration. Why on earth he would even want to continue in that cuckoo's nest of idiots is beyond me. The longer he stays, the more tainted his reputation will become.
Generals Mattis, McMaster and Kelly are ALL traitors to their country for serving Vlad Putin's Stooge-in-Chief.
3
In short, Trump is a threat to national security. He believes the Pentagon and the military exist to serve his personal and political interests. He needs to surround himself with lunatics like Bolton and political suck ups like Ricardel. Since Republicans in Congress continue to shirk their duty to the country and the Constitution, perhaps it’s time for a military coup?
1
We've known all along, without any recent revelations, that the few "adults in the room" in the Trump administration are the only thing preventing our republic from sliding into really chaos. What many people don't seem to grasp is that this presence of the adults in the room is not a given. It was Trump's own incompetence and the fact that neither he nor his team really expected to win, and the resulting dumpster fire of the transition and the early days of his government, that prevented him from packing the cabinet full of unquestioning loyalists. But he has definitely been learning (just compare his more recent appointees, like Bolton and Pompeo, to the earlier ones). Which really means that if he's given a chance to govern unchecked much longer, specifically, if the GOP manages to keep the house in November (let alone, if Trump himself manages to get re-elected in 2020) - he will definitely be able to put together a cabinet made up entirely of mini-Trumps, with no adults of any kind nowhere near.
And then we are really screwed, pardon my Russian.
3
Forcing Mattis to resign would remove a Cabinet official who might support implementing the 25th Amendment procedures to remove the White House occupant.
Trump must know about #tfa and will conduct a purge of Cabinet officials whom he suspects would support his removal from office. It takes eight cabinet officials to invoke the 25th Amendment. In addition to Mattis, Cabinet members Sessions, Coats, Haspel, Haley, Azar, Chao, Wilkie and Kelly are also possible 25th Amendment implementers. The reignations of Sessions and Kelly would greatly reduce the possibility of his removal from office.
12
It may seem contrary coming from a liberal progressive but philosopher-warrior Mattis would make an intriguing republican presidential nominee or candidate. The debates alone could be thoughtful and educational.
5
Now, lets ask ourselves a simple question.
What would a delusional right wing administration do when facing critical criminal investigations and when losing public support?
They would desperately try to create a distraction. Fire the last person who keep this country from going into a war.
10
"For Mr. Trump, getting rid of his popular defense secretary would carry a political cost. Mr. Mattis is revered by the men and women of the American military. Most of the rest of his fans are people Mr. Trump does not care about: Democrats, establishment Republicans and American allies."
Nah, Delusional Donnie will just tweet that he knows more than the generals and the Secretary of Defense.
Problem solved, right?
5
Superb nuanced reporting. With a grandfather and father who were Marine officiers for a combined 45 years, I can attest to the time-worn "code" of the great virtues of country, duty, and honor. They too were "wiry," battle-ready even at an old age, in contrast to Mattis' corpulent boss. Dumas wrote that an officer is like a father with greater responsibilities than an ordinary father. It is only a disciplined model life which grants he or she the right to demand faithful service from others. From his perch in a polished dutiful world, Mattis must cringe at the undisciplined petulant ways visible to us all.
4
Donald Trump and John Bolton are both armchair warriors.Both declined the service when they were young and instead took education deferments.Many of their compatriots offered to serve.They do not even honor the troops who are serving now in Afghanistan and Iraq- neither has been there for a visit during their term.They cannot even honor the Chief of Staff, General Mattis who has a long and distinguished record as a marine in the military.Their understanding of the military is shallow and self serving.General Mattis took an oath to protect the United States, not to be a yes man to Trump.
6
For the average Trump supporter, these internecine squabbles are carefully structured to give the appearance of a good cop, bad cop presence, thus alerting the world that the Trump plan for decreasing American military presence in Europe, requiring allies to cover there own security costs in navigating hazardous corridors & sea lanes & resisting & countering economic intimidation from trading partners with ulterior motives will continue under the spotlight of unpredictability.
The base is not fearful or perplexed & remains faithful. This may be as close to "revolution" as the military industrial complex has found itself in modern times. Most of us know, however, that the status quo is impervious to nearly anything. This is a blip on the "deep states" radar.
2
An important point to remember is that Mattis and MacMaster, as seasoned military men, opted to serve in Trump’s administration. They knew what he was like; they’d seen the Access Hollywood obscenity, they’d heard the excess of his utterances and read his tweets. They knew Trump for what he is. Yet, they still chose to be subordinate to a churl. Mattis still remains in his role.
One might argue it was because of patriotism, a sense of duty to the office of President, an extension of a lifetime of loyal service. Or it may have been opportunism, an opportunity to stamp another personal agenda on America’s political biography. Mattis is not a Democrat, nor is MacMaster. What they resemble most are pragmatic ultra conservatives led by a madman with whom any semi rational person would dissent. Just because Mattis is at odds with a twerp doesn’t mean that he’s a Puritan at heart.
13
Or it could mean that Mattis wants to prevent Trump from unnecessarily sending men and women into harm's way
1
Sec. Mattis is a legend celebrated for his intelligence, integrity and patriotism. While it's extremely comforting that he is in the WH with the unstable POTUS, I feel he should step forth and publicly share his concerns about DT and then resign.
31
I respectfully disagree, Mattis is the one person who must stay on in this administration. Mattis is the only person looking out for our troops and not using them as political props.
Mattis more than anyone could lead the charge for removal. It may be best for him to be fired, but that's a task of picking poisons. Based on this and many other accounts, a full scale trump meltdown seems more imminent by the day. Maybe the best outcome would be for the R's to have a bloodbath in the midterms, turn their backs on trump, who then spends the remainder of his term sulking on the golf course and holding ever diminishing rallies. If he's replaced by Pence and the R's lose the House we could just have gridlock until 2020. That's the most hopeful scenario I can think of.
4
In the Trump Administration, the word "democrat" is the label increasingly given to anyone who is doing their job professionally.
In this sense, the term is actually quite accurate, as it does not refer to the Democratic Party, as Trump intends it to, as an insult, to gin up his supporters' hatred of that Party and to push the bogus "deep state" meme, but rather to democracy - to government officials who do their jobs as they are supposed to be done in a government of laws, not men.
In this sense, like Robert Mueller and his team, democrats are in fact, conservatives and Republicans as well as progressives and Democrats, and others as well.
They are democrats, not because of party, but because they understand, are loyal to, and serve the Constitution and the rule of law. They are democrats, because their loyalty is to country, including the principles that are the foundation of our political system, principles that Donald Trump is incapable of grasping, even if he wanted to understand them.
The number of democrats in the Trump Administration is dwindling. If General Mattis goes, will his replacement be a democrat? Or will the military become just another propaganda tool used at the whim of Donald Trump, for the purpose of his political and personal promotion?
Is General Mattis a democrat at heart, as Mr. Trump suspects? The answer seems to be, yes. Just not in the way that Donald Trump can understand.
6
Although his change in attitude is being presented as part of the petty capricious nature of Mr. Trump, any President would be unhappy at Secretary Mattis' attempts to circumvent his Commander in Chief as described in this article, and would thusly be considering a change. The Pentagon should be under civilian control in any case, and if the President could find a competent person who is not a military careerist to take over, the change could restore some badly needed balance to its uniformed leadership.
1
Agreed but unfortunately Mattis is the only competent person the President has left. Based on the people the President has around him the chances are much greater that an incompetent ideologue will replace him. That's exactly what happened when McMaster was pushed out.
1
The plan for Trump's re-election is in process. When he launched missiles at Syria, his approval rating went way up; everyone fell in behind him. Now, he's moved more people into key positions, people who will support military action against Iran. Mattis stands in the way--he will not facilitate military action taken solely to bolster an election campaign. So he will be out soon and someone more malleable and less hampered by a political war involving significant risks to US military personnel will be brought in wield a rubber stamp.
16
I know I am being extreme. But if Defense Secretary is fired, then he should become in charge of a mutiny or coup against Trump because he is an autocrat who should not be the Commander-in-Chief. He won a rigged election to be President just like his Russian counterpart Putin. We have become no better than a tin-pot dictatorship. Overthrowing the elected Government is what happens in those countries. But overthrowing Trump and his cronies by Jim Mattis and his good men of the military would actually save our Democracy, our Republic. Waiting for the Senate to stop Trump is like asking for the moon. I know - farfetched and not happening. Yet I can fantasize, right.
4
I haven't always agreed with Gen. Mattis's stands on certain items but I do understand that he is one of the adult voices in the room.
Hopefully like Sessions he will defy the president and continue to keep his job, protecting America.
5
This would be a disturbing loss for the country. Ricardel, a Croatian-American and Boeing sales executive, was part of Trump's transition team, and it was Steve Bannon who insisted that she be appointed.
Mr. Mattis is almost the only trustworthy person left in Trump's administration with the possible exception of Kelly as chief of staff who seemed to have racist tendencies in his comments on the black congresswoman and his support for the idea of family separations when he led DHS.
The national security of the United States and its critical alliances are in extreme danger under an unstable president and his Dr. Strangelove cast of characters.
Who will watch the watchmen?
11
@smb
Who will watch the watchmen indeed. Certainly not our corrupt Congress. Certainly not our increasingly politicized Supreme Court.
3
As Trump goes down, our military rises. In most governments one would be very leery of such a divide between a president and the military. But we need to know we are protected by people like General Mattis. With Trump’s mental illness and addiction to minute by minute chaos, we hope our military will always do the right thing in defense of the nation.
2
The Republicans in control of Congress are playing with an explosive device of a President in order to get their way. They will sell their souls and America itself to destroy regulations that protect the public, give tax cuts to the obscenely-wealthy that ultimately will force the the government to slash programs like Medicare and Medicaid, and to obtain for their corporate donors anything Wall Street and the military-industrial complex desires.
When does government policy that kills its own citizens by denying them health care and other necessities of life become murder?
And when this unstable, virtually unhinged President decides to use atomic weapons or do something ghastly beyond we can now imagine just because he can, then what?
It's obvious Donald Trump has absolutely no restraints when it comes to what he will do. In fact, almost everything he does has been from bad to terrible for America and the world.
Who doesn't fear some kind of horrific event is coming from a Presidency in which Trump is the most powerful human being in the world, with a Congress simply unwilling to control him.
How do the Republicans Senators and House members sleep at nights unless they too are sociopaths?
21
All presidents age quickly in office as the weight of the responsibility sinks in. Not Trump. He is energized. Everyone else is exhausted. He seems incapable of thinking through his decisions and the consequences.
4
@kat perkins - Trump just seems frantic and deranged. He's puffier than ever before and he looks unhealthy.
He is energized by the power that he can wield to create chaos.
2
@kat perkins Have you looked at Trump lately? Even his orange is getting more flaky and mottled, like old roofing shingles. I pray General Mattis has the strength to endure so the U.S. will have a DOD roof when this is insanity has played out.
“It’s up to the president of the United States to decide what he wants to do.”
Well, this statement seems ominously ambiguous. The Pentagon isn’t that important though, right?
13
Note to Trump's cabinet: This is a ship that is sinking, time to get off while there are still lifeboats left. The end is going to be really ugly.
5
Bring on the "global tumult". Let's hope this time the Fox News believing, Trump loving GOP Base, the disciples of blood and soil, finally and permanently emerge from the miasma of right wing lies, hate, fear and grievance in which they have so willingly immersed themselves.
4
“...he feels more confident as commander in chief” is the most frightening description of Trump ever. If ever a man deserved to be humbled by his job, it should be Trump. Nothing says mentally deranged more than this statement.
26
If I were chairman of the GOP I would say, "Lets hold on to the crazy Prez until the midterms. Then we need to jettison Trump, sooth the electorate, and get an electable candidate for 2020."
Mattis should hang on; long term he has more chance of lasting until 2020 than Trump..
4
How is it, that men of supposed integrity, experience, and even wisdom, such as Rex Tillerson and General Mattis, believed they could effectively control Baby Boss? Perhaps it is the hubris of themselves having been at the helms of large, generally focused, procedurally-driven organizations. Spending time trying to figure out How to disrupt "The Disruptor" has led to their frustration, only partial effectiveness, and sadly, their downfall. It has been painfully obvious to many, even before they were selected for their positions, that Baby Boss only wanted to surround himself with Yes Men; why could they not see it?
1
It is difficult to imagine, much less anticipate, that one cannot reason with an unreasonable person when that unreasonable person is the president; therefore, one relies on logic and reason, which a president should possess.
1
Trump is consistently replacing those that disagree with him with lackeys. When he is finished, he will have a well oiled machine that responds to his wild behavior with accolades to the chief. He already is close to that. Mattis is just another military man who realizes the danger posed by a Trump. Replacement has turned out to be all Trump is about. Stack the deck with accolade generators so his ego gets it's needed strokes. He is doing the same with the courts. If he is not stopped soon, the damage could be irreparable. He is setting us up for wars on several fronts and those with a brain left can see it coming. Are we having fun yet? We just keep winning.
6
Our country is in the midst of unraveling.
If Mattis is fired, don't be surprised when Trump suggests placing the U.S. army under the command of the Russian army.
True to form the Democrats will cry foul and fund-raise. The Republicans will remain silent.
And the Republican base will applaud Trump's shrewd show of "leadership" after learning of the decision on Fox News.
What a waste.
4
A military leader trying to base strategy on facts instead of FOX "news" reports and game show perceptions is now recognized as a patriot and "adult in the room."
That's how low Trump has lowered the bar for what counts as a national savior.
52
Finally, a Marine who actually sounds like a Marine(I mean a good Marine).
Semper fi Secretary Mattis. Your genetic predisposition to truth and loyalty are what this country needs a lot more of.
BUT do not let either stop you from leaving this horror of an administration. Protecting the military and our alliances (and reducing the risk of nuclear war), admittedly are pretty important! Still, letting the house of cards collapse is worthwhile as well. That also is loyalty to country. The longer these people are there, the more long term devastation they will scour our country with.
3
Mattis' concern for the country is making it hard for him to leave. Who comes after? Someone who's willing to let Trump push the red button because "Apres moi, le deluge"? Who knows what possibilities lurk in Trump's cornered-rat mind? Men like Mattis may be our only protection.
8
It is dangerous when Trump, who avoided
being drafted, knows nothing about the military
operation except shoot any one ignores his experienced and thoughtful secretary of defence.
Can't wait till Trump is out of the white house
and put on trial. However, the greatest danger
remains the voters. Knowing the character
flaws of Trump they still voted for him. Good
reason to fear them given their vulnerability
to a demagogue and extremist.
11
My favorite thing in the article..."increasingly concerned that he is a Democrat at heart."
And by Democrat, Trump means rational.
25
Trump was a Democrat until he realized that he could ride the unquestioning support from the radical right all the way to the WH.
2
Trump's insistence on having loyal cabinet members could be his undoing. If he tells Mattis to go, he is not only jeopardizing the well being and safety of our country, he will be unleashed to pursue his nutty and ill-informed ideas and actions dealing with serious security matters. Heaven help us if we have an unfettered president operating on what he heard on Fox News to decide on critical matters of national security and foreign relations. It could be our undoing as well.
4
Rule # 1 - whatever Trump says ,the opposite is true.
Trump stated that “We’re very happy with him. We’re having victories people don’t even know about.”
Trump is not happy with Mattis and in typical Trump fashion claims that were are having victories that no one knows about-- which is nonsense but is good enough for his gullible, uninformed supporters.
Remember Trump's advice to Billy Bush when Bush questioned the ratings of the Apprentice. " Just tell them and they'll believe it.'
6
The only hope for sanity is to take back the House and Senate in November. VOTE!
27
I think that it is abundantly clear from Ms. Cooper's deep, excellent reporting that General Mattis's remaining days as Defense Secretary are quite limited. The authoritarian-bent Trump demands and expects an unprecedented personal, unqualified loyalty from all who serve in his Administration, or rather his Organization, and the ethical, principled, and patriotic General will have none of this democratic distortion.
Not mentioned in the article was how Trump's illegal and criminal hair-brained scheme of assassinating Assad of Syria was, thankfully, thwarted by General Mattis, as shockingly set forth in Bob Woodward's book. We can expect that with Mattie no longer in the Cabinet, Trump will most likely return to this highly charged topic, and quite possibly as a planned major "distraction" from the accelerating Mueller Investigation. The international consequences of Trump having ordered this extra-judicial killing are indeed frightening to contemplate.
19
In looking objectively at the policy differences between president Trump and Secretary Mattis I’m inclined to side with the president. If the North Koreans viewed a halt in family members accompanying troops to South Korea as a precursor to war what did he expect them to do, start the war he was afraid of? Maybe launch a missile toward San Francisco? Why isn’t Mattis concerned that rushing every two bit country in eastern Europe into NATO might be viewed by Russia as a precursor to war? More importantly, why should America bind itself to protect them if Russia decides to annex some part or all of them? How does spending the blood and treasure that would be required to defend them benefit us? And if we don’t intercede what does that say to our foes and allies about our commitment to treaties? If Mattis has concerns about withdrawing from the Iran Deal it’s difficult to see what they are. The impact the withdrawal is having upon their economy is devastating to the Mullahs not only in their ability to finance terror and hegemony across the middle east but in fomenting civil unrest among the populace.
It’s been said that Mattis doesn’t like to be called “mad dog”. Whether or not the nickname fits is being increasingly overshadowed by the perception that he has become an “old dog” that can’t learn new tricks in an increasingly asymmetric world.
@tim k
Trump's great summit with North Korea was one of the supreme failures of his presidency. He bought into the lies and even did a promo for NK. They continued to develop several nuclear missiles in the meantime.
NATO helps us. This is not a one-sided relationship but an alliance that has preserved peace for decades. They provide intelligence, air and land space, and mutual goals.
Putin is the former director of the KGB. Buying into every half-baked idea of the Trump administration means buying into Putin's way of looking at things and his pulling the strings on his puppet Trump. Look at that disgusting sycophantic joint appearance at the meeting of the two of them where Trump actually thought a co-investigation of Russia's cyber attack on our election was a good thing, as was turning Americans over to Russia for questioning, including a former ambassador.
Someone like Trump is an idiot and moron as his own cabinet members have said. His ties with Russia are out in the open, and Putin himself said at the press conference that he had his officers help Trump get into office.
3
I'm in the process of reading Bob Woodward's new book (well past halfway) and it's frightening. The level of detail and thoroughness of the reporting amply show Trump's true character and severe limitations. He's impetuous, self absorbed, emotionally stunted, prone to hours long rants, and totally unaware of his intellectual shortcomings. Nor is he willing to listen to experts (even on his own team!) and learn anything new.
Mattis could choose to leave voluntarily before he's fired (likely in a tweet), but he's still a member of the cabinet. As such, he and likeminded members could and should invoke the 25th Amendment.
Bill Clinton was impeached over a lie about a consensual affair, so the Republican bar for 'high crimes and misdemeanors' is quite low, but impeachment is a long process. Time is of the essence, and a charge of unfitness by the majority of the cabinet would bring the matter to a head in a matter of days. The process would still play out politically, as it should, but congressional Republicans would be forced to take a stand and hopefully act before the midterms.
I believe Mattis is an honorable man, but he can no longer control the president's worst impulses regarding military or national security matters. He and the other high level resistors should act now for the good of the country.
35
Perhaps Mattis will have a chance to activate his plan.
1
Grown men chuckling while children are being traumatized. Trump tears down a few centuries of democracy. I honestly don’t know if I wish Mattis to stay or leave. It must be soul crushing for any decent person to work in the White House.
9
@kat perkins - I noticed that as well. I can't believe the evil we are being forced to witness. Why aren't more people speaking out against this?
1
This is just getting crazier and crazier. I can't imagine what it is like for Jim Mattis to work in the environment that is described. He is truly an American patriot to put up with it. He is putting his country first.
54
Well said. I’m amazed Mattis has stayed so long, no doubt out of a sense of duty to the country. He seems like a fine professional and person, and so it’s no wonder he would eventually come to odds with the Orange One.
Jim Mattis deserves better than to put up with this after such a distinguished career. While I would hate to see him leave because I do believe he is “one of the adults in the room”, he’s entitled to some dignity and respect.
What does scare me is the idea of Bolton becoming SOD. Bolton is to the right of Clarence Thomas and Attila the Hun. And we don’t need another administration official being a shameless cheerleader for Trump like Mike Pompeo. Our country is not being served.
Here’s hoping the Dems roll in November, take the House, make Trump’s life miserable for two years, and we can rinse and not repeat the 2016 election, going back to having people fit for the presidency in the Oval Office.
1
I agree with the poster who says this is a terrifying article. Trump is following the dictator's handbook down the line, looking to replace anyone whose loyalty is to the nation and the Constitution and not total fealty to Donald Trump.
I am TERRIFIED that when Trump loses the election in 2020 he will unilaterally declare the election was rigged and invalidated, and that HE really won. And who will stop him if he has the control of the military and FBI through totally loyal thralls, who are willing to use force and violence to enforce it? Even a Congressional impeachment and conviction will be unenforceable and we will be no different than Putin's Russia.
We have watched Trump replace independent thinker after independent thinker in the Executive branch with loyal thralls. And Mattis controls the military forces, directly. It was Mao Ze-Dong who said that real power comes out of the barrel of a gun. Every dictator believes this...and uses it.
67
@Dadof2. The next president will have him forcefully removed by the military if necessary. He does not get to call that particular shot.
1
I doubt trump has the intelligence or energy to stage a successful coup. More likely he’d stage a fun,media friendly war that will be as disastrous as anything else he’s done
1
@Dadof2.. the new president would be sworn in and Trump would then be irrelevant. He would no longer “have control” of the military or FBI. The system would work.
Time and again, Trump wields a flamethrower against the rare person of competence and character, and against decency and the truth. Unfortunately, it looks like Gen. Mattis will be no exception.
10
If Mattis truly believes this administration is a danger to the security of our country, he should resigned now. As a civilian, he could put his energy and expertise into campaigning prior to the mid-terms not for the Democrats per se, but to join a bi-partisan effort against Traitor Trump and all republicans who have enabled this truly awful president. Maybe he (and the majority of us) will sleep better after November. There should be many forums that a well respected expert such as Mattis could use to educate Americans about the lasting damage to national defense and foreign policy this administration is doing to this country. It appears to me that his earlier efforts to "control" Trump are now less and less effective and he should join the effort to turn Congress in the mid-term elections so we can remove Trump from office asap.
2
Here’s the big difference between Mattis and Trump: Mattis is well known for his vast personal library of books, whereas Trump doesn’t know how to read. The relationship was doomed to fail.
31
So much for Gen. Mattis. Who's left? We're running out nannies over at the White House.
It's a comfort of sorts that the President is held "over a barrel" by somebody, anybody.
9
Look at the record, everyone who has been associated with The Donald ends up being cast aside or becoming a laughing stock. That is true in spades for anyone who shows competence and any degree of honesty and integrity.
All areas of government are important but two areas are crucial for the future of the country; 1) foreign/defense policy, and economic/financial policy. Mismanagement at the Defense Department can produce catastrophe in a single day.
I don't know much about Mira Ricardel but if she is an associate of John Bolton that doesn't speak well for her. John Bolton is famously known as a "kiss up and kick down," type of guy. He is an example of the "chickenhawk" that republicans love so much. He is an advocate for war and aggressive action but during the Vietnam War he enlisted in the Maryland Army National Guard to avoid more hazardous combat. Maybe I am wrong, but I think that anyone who is hot for war should be willing to join the army and fight. He fits right in with The Donald who is known for deferments and bone spurs.
I suspect that Mira Ricardel and John Bolton both excel in backstairs and gutter politics. They will probably be good at telling The Donald what he wants to hear and pretty effective at undermining Secretary Mattis. They probably have someone waiting in the wings to take his place. Do you think that it will be someone who will give wise counsel about war and peace?
8
Mattis, and Kelly, for that matter, should take their "fate" into their own hands and resign, preferably together, to make a statement about the futility of trying to get through to their boss. Trump is unmanageable, and not only are they wasting their time working for him, they're ruining their reputations.
5
"The fate of Mr. Mattis is important because he is widely viewed — by foreign allies and adversaries but also by the traditional national security establishment in the United States — as the cabinet official standing between a mercurial president and global tumult."
Jim Mattis is deeply respected by the military. They know he values their service. They know he cares about the troops, as any good commander would do.
I am reminded that in Vietnam, there were unpopular officers who were "fragged" (were killed by having a grenade rolled under their bed) by their own troops.
One wonders whether the military will perform the political equivalent of "fragging" a replacement Secretary of Defense who is seen by the troops as not supporting them.
5
“He is genetically incapable of lying, and genetically incapable of disloyalty.”
The person quoted was likely thinking of loyalty to an individual, specifically the President, but let's not forget that Mattis' true loyalty should not be to any individual. His loyalty should be to the country and values he thinks he and it stand for.
It should be clear to all that the president only values himself. I hope those are not the value Mattis holds most dear as well.
12
Get Bob Woodward's book - you will be amazed that Mattis lasted this long with this raging 4-year old the US calls a president.
17
Secretary Mattis has only himself to blame. One can’t feel pity for someone who chose and continues to direct his own fate. If Sec. Mattis is subverting the will of the elected president then he should be fired. He wasn’t elected. He was hired to do a job. If he’s not doing the job or if he’s secretly working against his boss then he needs to go. This isn’t the way government is supposed to work.
44
@Ron Foster His responsibility is to the country and the Constitution, not Trump. This is slso in Trump’s oath of office, which he’s clearly abrogated.
1
@Ron Foster "This isn’t the way government is supposed to work. " I believe many agree with this sentiment. Where there is likely some conderable distance between you and me is our assessments of DJT's culpability in the "workings" of the current administration.
I agree on principle. But do you really want Trump leading the DOD and all the other cabinet departments? That’s not the way an administration is supposed to function either, with cabinet members becoming shills for the president.
2
James Matthis is one of the very few sensible people within the administration who really serves America and protects its people. He bends over backwards to prevent an ignorant, impetuous, injudicious, vicious and anti-constitutional commander-in-chief from doing harm to the country, its allies and the wider world.
James Mattis’s departure will only encourage Trump to surround himself with hawkish yes men. Perhaps Trump has something malicious up his sleeve – to wage war against Iran or even North Korea, if his young pal, Kim Jong-un doesn’t dance to his tune. He needs to vent his frustration on those involved in the Russian probe and seeks to divert public attention from it.
12
Good God. Asking the defense secretary to appear on Fox and Friends to praise the president's agenda?
Congress, when will you put a stop to this madness? You got your GOP playbook -- immoral tax cuts and ballooning deficit -- now it's time to save some last shred of American principles.
747
@Jules
Add in the weakening of environmental protections the denial of Climate Change and the reduction consumer protections, the ACA the financial system on and on. The ones who will benefit from all this are the top 10% leaving the rest to try to make out in daily life.
I had hoped things would be okay and perhaps get better but I am terrified over what is happening to my country.
9
@Jules There's nothing new, or illegal, about appointees pushing the administration's agenda on TV shows. The problem with this administration is the agenda being un-American..
You make a good point. Congress, which is supposed to be a check on the president, is not doing that job. And when Kavanaugh gets appointed to SCOTUS, the right will control the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. I don’t think that’s what the Founding Fathers intended. Quite the opposite in fact.
2
In the mid-80's, I reported to the marketing/sales VP of a small tech company, who was bi-polar. I did not learn this until ten years and a career-change later. He generated about 20 new ideas every day and wanted his staff to act on them immediately. The key to success was in discerning the ONE good idea, and ignoring the rest, while making him look like the genius he thought he was. (Thankfully, the BlackBerry had not yet been invented.) Of course, the stakes were not nearly as high. If Mattis is the last remaining buffer, the GOP had better decide whether to sit idly on their hands so that Trump is surrounded only by his yes-men, or show some gumption to shore up what remains of the Presidency.
27
It is almost certain the House will have a Democratic majority come January. With Mattis dismissal the last link in a restraining chain of the maniac in the White House will be gone. That will be the time when we will find out if whatever passes for GOP moderates in the Senate will continue to have the vapors or will wake up and assume their responsibility as a bastion against Presidential incompetence and abuse of power. Two years of unrestrained Trumperies will make the last two years seem like the calm before the hurricane lands.
58
@serban
I was one of the few that told folk that Mrs Clinton might not become POTUS. I was called crazy after the 2016 election so many did not believe what happened my response was didn't you understand what the folk who felt left out were saying? That usually stopped the conservation.
To be clear I didn't like either candidate but I felt Mrs Clinton was the better candidate. I hoped that Mr Trump would be a good POTUS but I am now worried over what is happening.
1
A country with a large, three-pronged military holds two visions of the world; both compete for resources, supply chains, capital, and power. Make no mistake, the issue is not the personality conflicts that befall every relationship and associate of Trump, in government or out—nor is the Trump/Mattis clash about military assessments or strategy. The discord is built into Trump's core: zero preference for peace, high preference for self enrichment, displays, and privilege.
Trump never values lives as moral or material coin; money and wealth, not people matter to him. He speaks of rising financial markets and increasing low-paying jobs. But he never mentions peace, or increasing the education levels of Americans, lowering their disease and death rates by expanding healthcare, mobilizing to reduce opiate addiction (and deaths), or expanding social values such has honor, respect, courtesy, empathy, and loss, or creating housing.
In discounting the tragic loss and undercounting of the dead in Puerto Rico as a political fraud, his politics inflicits suffering and pain.
The Defense Department holds three things dear to Trump: money/wealth, violence/death, and fear—three things Mattis resists. Mattis refuses to reframe the military or NATO as a balance sheet; he will not discriminate or order the deaths of Americans needlessly; the military is to be called on--not used as a threat. Three things Trump wants!
263
@Walter Rhett
Nice assessment.
21
@Walter Rhett Very good comments. This points out the problem with The Donald. He inhabits a world of turmoil and chaos and infighting and looks at everything in terms of himself and win/lose, profit/loss. He has no concept of how to establish and pursue a foreign/defense policy or any other kind of policy.
37
@Walter Rhett
"Trump never values lives as moral or material coin; money and wealth, not people matter to him. "
You know who would agree with you, Mr. Rhett?
Don Junior, who said when he was 12, right after his parents divorced: "You don't love us. You don't even love yourself. All you love is money."
This is a terrifying article. I respect but don't deify the military, and I am now praying that Mattis stays in his post. Here is a career officer with nonpartisan, apolitical gravitas, and we have to worry about whether he laughs enough at the president's jokes. What kind of psychopathic child occupies the White House? I ask myself this at least three times a day.
And how bizarre for Trump to wonder if Mattis is "a Democrat at heart"—in the words of Colin Powell, so what if he were? Trump is perpetually running for the nomination of his party; he actively rejects his role as president of us all.
There is an immense disconnect when top military officials are more dovish than civilians in the administration. That is always an indication of irrational chest-thumping foreign policy. Military brass know what war is. Whereas, John Bolton drew a draft lottery number that was likely to send him to Vietnam, so as he was graduating from Yale, he enlisted in the Maryland Army National Guard and later the United States Army Reserve to avoid more hazardous combat. No doubt he would say that, as Trump does of avoiding taxes, that's just smart. But the same does not apply to risking the lives of others.
In my 61 years, I have never seen such a display of empty ego, rampant ignorance, and clueless corruption as we witness daily in this administration. Hope the signs that it's falling part are true, because I do not want to spend the last quarter of my life in a world of Trump's making.
943
Well said. In the same vein, every day since Election Day I find myself asking: “How did this man ever become president?” He is a nightmare.
if Trump continues on course, the last quarter of your life is already over, as it is for the rest of us. he is a clear and present danger.
5
@C Wolfe
You wrote exactly what I wanted to say, but you did it much better. At 62 years, I've seen what you've seen and nothing compares to the destruction this administration and this GOP Congress has brought upon our precious country.
I especially liked your phrase "I respect but don't deify the military." And therein lies many of the country's problems. Too many flags and prayers and not enough common sense and knowledge of history.
5
mattis seems to be a bit subversive, self willed, and wants to implement his own agenda. a commander in chief probably wouldn't want that kind of insubordination. who's to say mattis is right? from what i can see, he isn't necessarily.
7
Which agenda would that be, exactly? Sanity?
4
@n. yabiz
This has never been about who is right. It is all about who is sane.
I agree. Mattis may be a fine General. But he is aligned with the foreign policy status qou that wants to spend more money and expand our military presence around the world.
The new NATO forces agreement cited in this article is a good example. As are the new missle systems in the Baltic. Billions of additional funding to protect a wealthy Europe from a Russian ground invasion...Which of course we really can't do, never could. It's all about the nukes.
France and the UK have Nukes. We should keep them in the nuclear umbrella and keep a few bases open for forward deployment.
If the Europeans are truly worried about the Russians, they would be spending much more of their own money defending themselves.
You can't blame them for being smart and letting the American taxpayers willingly pay their expenses.
It has to stop at some point. Now is fine with me! Mattis and Bolton, this new breed of hawkish liberal Democrats and old cold war Republicans need to get of the way first.
"Ms. Ricardel, a former Boeing executive who worked at the Pentagon during the George W. Bush administration, has a reputation for being as combative as Mr. Bolton."
The accompanying picture says it all: a totally scary person.
We already know about the linkage between the defense industry and the military: more money and more war.
120
Why is it that people who have never been in the military nor commanded troops on the ground are the most hawkish and ready to put our sons in harm’s way for their political purposes?
5
@george eliot
The key phrase for me is "Boeing executive"- I think that says it all.
5
@george eliot
If she was such a hotshot leader, she would have seen to it that Boeing met its obligation to clean up the Santa Susanna Field Lab years ago.
If I wasn’t scared yesterday, I am now.
70
The levy will burst immediately or shortly after the mid-term elections. No matter which way the Nov. 6 results fall, Trump will turn his Gatling gun on Sessions, Mattis and more. Meanwhile, for lack of a more accurate description, the noose will continue to tighten around his presidency.
47
@Rob Dudko The problem for Trump will be that none of his replacement nominees will get confirmed. That will leave only himself and Kushner to run DoD.
1
@Rob Dudko
But the two people who have the power stop this deranged president, Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell, just sit by quietly and watch this mad man destroy our country.
1
As a old Viet Vet, I always felt a degree of comfort he was one of the adults in the room. Mattis actually reads and studies pending issues as opposed to Trump who has the attention span of a teenager and a comparably matched level of comprehension! Anyone who that can throttle back Trump, is a Godsend for our currently floundering nation.
130
Actually, condescending toward teenagers; most of whom are better read,
and able to speak in an articulate manner with a more comprehensive
vocabulary. Admittedly, it wouldn't take much!
2
@Jim
Did you have to insult teenagers?
1
@Jim
Please don’t insult teenagers.
As we have a President totally unsuited by experience, temperament, intellectual ability, or principles for his office and who wants only utterly loyal subordinates less capable than himself, I propose to him the perfect candidate to replace Mr. Mattis -- Eric Trump!
20
Jarrod’s probably too busy “fixing”the rest of government and the Middle East.
As soon as I started reading Woodward's new book, "Fear",I knew the tensions with Mathis would skyrocket as Trump, too, learned contents of the book.
51
Yep, read that particular chapter yesterday about Mattis's entrance to the administration.
1
Thinking of Mattis and Trump sharing a burger dinner in the White House such an odd image, but not as odd as what the departure of Mattis would mean to a certain sense of stability. Only just....most of the time Trump has been in office, it has been, well, one thing after the other. I just cannot accept that he was elected president, but the headlines of Manafort et al and their current place in the Mueller investigation brings me back to the ugly reality.
18
"Mr. Mattis sat stone-faced rather than chuckling at his boss’s jokes during a June 21 cabinet meeting, held as migrant children were being separated from their parents at the southwestern border."
Just glance at the troubled face of Don McGahn in the left back side of the picture over the caption above.
Anyone who politely disagrees with our Narcissist-in-Chief risks becoming permanently tainted and branded as disloyal to the narcissist. It's nothing but pure toxicity.
Trump's con-game has been clear from the start.
This is not a joke. Never has been.
The adults in the room have an adult conscience.
"Mad Dog" was praised at first, but many of us knew where it was headed from the start.
Mattis has honor, Trump has none. Mattis is trustworthy, Trump is not.
Honorable people know Trump needs to be removed. The question remains if democracy (as it currently stands) can stand up to the con-man.
357
Only Trump can make me feel sympathetic towards, or even admire, people who I might otherwise disagree with or even despise. Mattis fits into the former, Sessions the latter.
54
I can't feel sorry for people who clearly should have known better than to accept Trump's appointments. what were they expecting? were they blinded by their own hubris, like Manafort?
everyone of them is like something out of a Greek tragedy. saying yes a Trump offer is practically an admission of guilt. just two words describe the kind of people who would
be happy to work for Trump (eg, against the rest of us): Ross and Mnuchin.
Sessions was one of the very first of Trump's Congressional supporters, clearly hoping to get the Grand Dragon appointment as Secretary of State.
a pack of snarling hyenas fighting over the carcass of America.
1
“It’s up to the president of the United States to decide what he wants to do.” Good luck with that. Mattis is, as far as I can tell, best represented by Gunnery Sgt. Thomas Highway, in contrast to Trump who believes himself to be R. Lee Ermey's Gny. Sgt. Hartman crossed with Nicholson's Colonel Nathan Jessup. When he looks in the mirror (and that's a lot of the time) he doesn't see the large component of Capt.'s Crunch, Queeg and Kangaroo. In "normal" times Mattis would be seen as a hawk, but that ship has sailed. Bolton is just slightly left of Stephen Miller and has a long history of stirring things up.
I think on some level Mattis would be relieved to get out of Dodge, though no doubt he worries (as we all do) what happens when you leave the sandbox in the hands of the diapered denizens of doom. Now that Trump is feeling his oats as supreme commander of everything, I'm sure he'd pick a suitably compliant Gomer Pyle/Sad Sack to replace him, and fudge the security clearance as needed. I actually hope Trump tries his endgame move while Mattis is still there, because the military may be all that stands between America as we know it and it turning into a gift shop featuring Trump branded merchandise and trinkets. Faux gold plated chintz doesn't go with my feng shui.
21
I enjoyed the film and pop culture references.
No doubt that Mattis's days are numbered. I think he will be canned soon after the mid-term elections and replaced by the new Secretary of Defence Sean Hannity.
27
@Steve
Alex Jones currently doesn’t have any assignment.
2
It's a very frightening to think of Jim Mattis being pushed out. He is the rare competent, sensible and honorable member of this administration's cabinet. We desperately need his sane and experienced leadership.
47
Why is Sec. Mattis, or Gen. Mattis Sec Defense of not addressed by his proper title in this article? He has honorably served this nation for almost fifty years and to not do so is disrespectful. It would give more gravity to his comments,, and acknowledge his position and history. Sec. Clinton would never be addressed so.
''Mr. Mattis, who is vehemently protective of the American military against perceptions it could be used for political purposes.''
Does that mean a nullification of an election by military backed coup?
'' If G.O.P. Loses Hold on Congress, Trump Warns, Democrats Will Enact Change ‘Quickly and Violently’'' NYT 8/28.
To quell the violent leftist riots and the supposedly stolen election will troops be ordered into the streets to maintain order?
Is that scenario in discussion in today's White House?
7
@Lawrence: if you notice they refer to Trump as “Mr.” as well. I believe it is an NYT style that has been used a great many years.
The Trumpers Next Assignment
Having pored scorn (and worse) on John McCain, a decorated veteran, now the Trumpers must do the same to Defense Secretary and four-star Marine general Jim Mattis because Don the Con thinks he is not loyal enough.
Mattis, who has been an incredibly steady hand at Defense, fails the test of lap-dog and suck-up loyalty Trump demands.
Trump supporters will once again fall in line behind Mr. Bone Spurs to malign a true public servant and weaken our country (further) in the bargain.
MAGA!
43
@Eric Lamar
Mr. Mattis is just about the only person left in the administration keeping President Bone Spurs from turning us into a Russian client state.
1
How interesting that the two men who have seen war up close are less hawkish than the two who have not. Coincidence? I think not. Bring back the draft and see how quickly Americans change their views on welfare for defense contractors.
126
I read an opinion piece in Slate by Dr. John Sommers Flanagan regarding Trump’s psychological makeup that explains why Trump’s decisions seem so bizarre to us normal people. Great insight but now I am wishing away the next 2 years.
6
The title of this article should read: “Fraying ties with Mattis put Trump’s future in doubt”.
Once the last of the stable adults have left the room, the spiral into chaos will tighten.
15
It must be magic working for or in this administration. They all remind me of crows getting into fights - all of the time - trying to hack out each others eyes. But this is even worse. The damage it has done to the world and to the citizen of this country is almost unimaginable. The world and in particular the USA have not been made safer under this fearless leader and his "advisers".
15
The most jarring thought in this column, was that Oliver North could be the Trump nominee to replace Mattis. Remember O.N. in Vietnam took his Sundays off, to go hunt Viet Cong for fun. His sordid past is well summarized in this article. This is going to take 60 hours of Senate review and precious bandwidth to try to confirm him. And 60 hours more of cable news to talk about it, meanwhile deflecting us all from the Mueller investigation.
26
@Boweezo
Nerve wracking, but fitting that Trump would think another walking ego who is essentially, loyal only to himself, who craves the center stage and has the quintessential trait necessary to serve Trump - ability to lie straight-faced - would be a perfect addition to this awful reality show.
5
None of the satellites may shine brighter than the sun they orbit.
Mattis shines because of his competence, professionalism, demeanor, and Patriotism.
The loyalty he has EARNED from his subordinates for his virtues and character must be the envy of the C in C.
President Washington convened a cabinet to surround himself with experts. He viewed these men as more knowledgeable then him and thus an asset to him and the nation in creating law and policy. Rump on the other hand will tell you he is the smartest man in the room, to him the role of the cabinet is to praise his decisions.
Mattis can't play that game, its not in his character. From what we have seen when he leaves there will be no tell all book either. Its no his character.
As qualified people leave thier replacements will have three qualities. They will be "yes men," they will be more extreme in their views, and they will be less qualified.
Men like Mattis will be missed by those who have the best interest of our country at heart
64
I suspect that one of the primary differences between Mattis and the military hawks that Trump has surrounded himself with is the fact that Mattis understands the military, and its limitations.
86
Mattis is having difficulties in part because he won't appear on Fox and Friends, whose title suggest a kid's show? I guess that makes sense in an administration whose leader has the impulses of a 5 year old and who doesn't like his defense secretary because the latter is seen as the adult in the room.
49
Many believe Mattis provides the balance to many national security issues.
With legal issues facing Trump with the Manafort, plus many other indictments pending...would Trump decide as a distractor to "declare war" or attack..for example, Iran or Syria.
Hopefully, Mattis would push back..but, if Trump has his way, a replacement might not....
16
When the historians have to write about this period, in addition to the corruption, they should just be guided by the phrase in this article summarizing the ethos of this era: “the capricious whims of an erratic president.”
Donald, the boy king.
34
Frankly, I tire of this type news reporting. If I were the POTUS I would solicit all sides of every issue, surrounding myself with differing opinions. The position of today’s Democrat is easy to predict: simply determine Trump’s position and criticize it. What are we coming to? Has it ever occurred to anybody that Trump may like Mattis because he has differing views?
5
The whole point is that Mathis is apolitical, and Trump is catering to the Fox and Friends crowd.
30
@Confused
It has very much occurred to me that Trump does not like differing views as evidenced by pick of Bolton. Bolton agrees strongly with Trumps opinion that our allies are not important. This article articulates very well how Trump wants his cabinet to publicly praise him. And why Mattis is losing his voice in this administration.
1
@Confused - yes you are, but understandably so. Trump not only fails to solicit all sides of an issue, he doesn't even listen to (or read) any factual background that would help him understand what a particular issue entails.
Of all the dysfunction and neuroses in this White House, the diminution of Gen. Mattis's voice concerns me most. He and his staff and the Joint Chiefs have been the steady rocks in this crumbling administration, and certainly the most rational thinkers regarding the use of force and maintenance of balance among allies and opponents.
If Gen. Mattis leaves, to be replaced by an unstable political actor like Bolton and his ilk, our nation and the world will be in greater danger than ever before.
83
Trump is slowly destroying the careers and reputations of anyone who comes near him, including family members. Even if you don't like or agree with them, they're professionally cooked. Some have allowed themselves to be exposed for the lightweights they always were and others have put all of their worst traits (think Bolton and Giuliani) on continual display. I am sorry to see the Trump storm cloud come hovering over Mattis, too.
39
If the general is so incapable of lying & disloyalty how does he explain living around trump where his whole life is based on lying and disloyalty , if he really want to be loyal to his country , he should resign and really explain who is trump and why it is time for congress to start procedure to remove him , because of the danger he bring to the nation , now he will not only exit with grace , he will be view as a real hero , could work on a 2M book deal , or the alternative is to stay , being view as an accomplice to the president and ruin his life for ever.
I know what I would do , keeping in mind that trump will push him aside when he has enough of him , same as all the other , loyalty doesn't make any sense for someone like Donald trump , Mr Mattis use your quality where they can be understood and make a difference.
Maybe if you positioned yourself well in the crowd and stay long enough you may get your roll of paper towel at the throwing game.
7
American hubris has not been able to provide a military solution to the ethnic sectarian civil wars raging throughout the world. Despite annually spending as much as on it's as the next 8 nations combined. Including 9x Russia and 3x China. Neither James "Mad Dog" Mattis nor Donald "Bone Spurs " Trump have a credible policy.
Since 9/11/01 a mere 0.75 % of Americans have volunteered to wear the military uniform of any American armed force. And they have been ground to emotional, mental and physical dust by multiple deployments in forever wars without effective and meaningful strategy and tactics. While the rest of us play brave honorable patriots by rising to stand for the national anthem and saluting the flag at sporting events. That has been the Trump family tradition.
Trump working consists of watching Fox News in the morning and evening and then playing golf most weekends. Trump fighting means tweeting and speaking. Keeping Trump occupied in his play pen and sand box is Jim Mattis most useful way of protecting, preserving and defending the Constitution.
Defense is meant to be a deterrent. Once the shooting starts things have gone awry. Perhaps one of those big game hunters Don, Jr. or Eric Trump could be coaxed into being Secretary of Defense. MAGA!
9
With Mattis fired Trump will lose the Senate as it relates to foreign affairs, which is the only thing Trump can do on his own.
5
@dave
I hope you are correct - but the GOP overall seems to simply find another rationalization for standing behind him. Trump + Bolton: may take us closer to the edge of war on more fronts.
6
@dave
Trump is an expert at domestic affairs. Ask the exs and Stormy.
1
This is a deeply disturbing description of Mr.Trump's differences with General Mattis.Many of us have been assured that there is a wise, even scholarly, Defense Secretary in charge.This General has led his troops in Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria and has deserved the loyalty of his troops and the chain of command.That he cannot be respected by Mr.Trump tells us more about Trump than Mattis.Trump and Bolton look to foment trouble with allies as well as foes.We need to realize that the Pentagon is being led by a wise man whose mission is to keep us safe.His mission is not to be a yes man to Trump.
60
Trump ruins everything and everyone HE Touches. It's the natural law of Trump Contamination. It's untreatable, inevitable and life long.
Seriously.
37
@Phyliss Dalmatian
You nailed it Phyliss. He’s a bonafide jinx.
2
Genera Mattis is one of the last adults in the room. I hope somehow he can stay in place not only to protect us, but the world at large. We don't need another "F.O.T", Friend of Trump, in a high leverl cabinet positon that they have no qualifications for whatsoever.
34
@JWMathews The world at large has to be protected from the U.S.A. not just from Trump.
10
A coup seems inevitable. My bet is the patriots would Suspend the constitution, dump the electoral college and hold direct elections. Then they could restore current constitution. Hopefully bloodless: we value life dearly but same goes for our democracy of 350 million citizens.
8
We need strong and patriotic leaders in the Pentagon like the Trump men, Pence, Bolton, McConnell, Ryan, Kushner, the Kochs, etc. who are not burdened by the experience of ever having served in the military and can thus be objective when sending American working and middle class teenagers and twenty-somethings to die and be maimed when killing and maiming the working and middle class teenagers and twenty-somethings of other countries. Because he is retiring from Congress and now readily available to serve, I recommend the Trump loyalist/obsequient Paul Ryan as Mattis's replacement. No one looks better and tougher with an American flag lapel pin shining brightly on his suit than Ryan.
183
@Cowboy Marine. Can we also send Cory Gardner for consideration? He really looked cute wearing a new from Murdoch’s barn coat when he ran for election and he has a particular talent for hiding behind Trump in photos.
3
@Cowboy Marine
Snark noted. :)
Thanks for lightening the mood
2
@Cowboy Marine
Nicely put. But I fear not all readers will appreciate your Swiftian talent.
1
The 'adults in the room' of the Trump administration are an endangered species. They can't last. Individuals like Mattis will either get exasperated being responsible for an irresponsible president, get fired by Trump when he resents being a charge at the 'adult day care center,' or become so marginalized as to be absent. Those who remain increasingly are just ideologues happy to have the ear of an unfit man in the White House.
10
I'm assuming that Trump brought General Mattis in as the Secretary of Defense purely because of his nickname. After all, who wouldn't want a Defense Department run by a retired Maine general called "Mad Dog", especially if you have the whims and desires of a 12 year old. The only problem is that the general is far from a mad dog and is, in fact, a well educated, articulate and well read observer of world affairs. As with all members of the military, Mattis took an oath to "support and defend the Constitution" which certainly suspercedes and loyalty that Trump believes he is owed personally by members of his administration. General Mattis is the last adult in the room as it regards defense and foreign affairs. I fear his departure.
37
Mattis may be wrong about Trump. He compares Trump to a "fifth or sixth grader" but by the time a child attains that grade level the temper tantrum stage has largely been outgrown. Trump is more like a two year old where everything is about me, and displeasure is met with intense temper tantrums. Mattis is, indeed, the adult in the room and one of the few adults in the Trump Administration generally. Hopefully, the Democrats won't blow it this time around and will regain control of the Senate and House. I fear if this happens, though, Trump's "fake news" comedy bit will extend to "it was a fake election" with millions if not billions of illegals with an anti-Trump agenda sneaking into voting booths around the country. Should power in the House/Senate flip, my fear is that Trump, whose mental stability is questionable at best, will totally lose it.
20
@Mike I taught fifth and sixth graders and felt it was an insult to all the children I taught to compare Trump to them. My kids were bright, thoughtful, and could pronounce anonymous.
5
“Hopefully the Democrats won’t blow it?” I believe the issue is not the Democrats blowing it, but the electorate, the millions who sat out the last election, the ones who believed both candidates were equally bad and voted 3rd party.
1
Prior to his experiences as President-- Trump's business experiences were limited to fairly unquestioning family support, frequent capricious decisions and little real management/administrative experience or successes. Many of his chosen associates clearly were involved with questionable activities thus putting him in some degree of jeopardy as well. It is baffling as to why one could expect this to change in serving as President.
23
@Rebecca
And 5 bankruptcies....
When Trump nominated Jim Mattis, many of us breathed a sigh of relief. We should all of us have the opposite reaction, if Trump ousts one of the only competent members of his cabinet.
688
It'll be even harder to sleep at night if/when Mattis goes. I have a tremendous respect for his service our country, particularly in the past couple of years.
That interview with the high school-aged writer (talk about cub reporters!)is amazing; well worth the read.
54
Not long after I was named to a CEO position, one of my senior managers was asked by someone for his thoughts on "the new guy." After a moment of thought, the senior manager responded "Tom knows what he doesn't know." I took it as a compliment, and it reflected my management philosophy of surrounding myself with folks who had strengths in areas where I might be weak, or not as knowledgeable as I thought I should be. Clearly, Donald Trump has no idea of the many things he does not know, but worse, he doesn't appear to care.
494
@Tom Garlock
I agree. Trump has abysmal meta-cognitive skills. Dunning and Kruger wrote their very famous paper about people like him. He is the Dunning-Kruger president.
13
While not surprising, this report is very troubling. The Op-Ed told a story the resistance from within. The story is encouraging but would telling it make maintaining the resistance much more difficult? And then this. Very troubling.
11
"Mr. Trump has largely tuned out his national security aides as he feels more confident as commander in chief."
His delusions are becoming more fixed, and more dangerous. The man who never read a security brief, doesn't know any history, and never listens to his aides, now needs no information at all.
Vote. Smash the pumpkin.
614
@cheryl Trump is becoming more and more dangerous as he fumes in the White House like Captain Queeg utterly absorbed in his own delusions.
Trump is the most dangerous man in the world right now as he lashes out at any critic or perceived enemy.
Trump has made himself the Enemy of the American People.
1
My first thought when I read the first paragraph of this column: this sounds like a John Bolton push.
Bolton has to be one of the more creepy Administration officials who has never met a war he doesn't like.
In reading the rest of the column it just added to my opinion of John Bolton.
He is the one that should go, not Mattis.
791
@Jean
My sneaking feeling as well. Bolton is going to get his imprint on everything that the US is doing internationally, militarily and diplomatically. Altho' using the word diplomatic in relation to Bolton -- it's jarring.
39
@Jean
Actually Bolton has met a war he didn't like: in Vietnam, where he avoided serving.
30
@Jean
What does it say about about a person’s mental insecurity state, when a person always has their arms folded across their chest when amoung knowledgeable and secure people.
6
The reckless warmongers have their knives out.
120
Mattis stands between trump and world war 3
163
If my country actually makes it through this trying time of having a Russian stooge sitting in the White House, it will because of people like Mattis, who are stunningly competent and hard working.
Trump obviously studied, in that he studies, the success George W. Bush had in becoming a "wartime President", success that came at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives and a disrupted Middle East. Perhaps the only way that Trump is able to survive his tenure in office, is by having a foreign war that will force everyone, including his political enemies, to join his team to defeat...the enemy.
To serve America as a member of the uniformed armed forces is a difficult task, and when one does that one needs to have a sense that the leaders are smart and actually care about their lives.
Take it from this Vietnam Veteran, a war can go to hell mighty quickly when the troops finally get a glimpse of the greed and stupidity at the top, if indeed that is the case. General Mattis is an honorable and competent leader, and I hope he finds a way to stay on, for the health and safety of both his country, and his troops.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
255
@Hugh Massengill, this is the best comment I have read all day. Thank you.
Everyone seems to tiptoe around Trump, including the NYTimes. NYT pulled many punches in this story. The “White House” didn’t demand a ban on trans people serving in the military. Trump did, in a tweet. We don’t fear “tumult”, as if this was a game of leap-frog. We fear global disaster and war. We don’t worry about Trump’s “capricious whims” (oh dear, pass the smelling salts). We fear his deranged, egomaniacal demands.
Be strong, NYT. Tell it like it is, as ugly as that (and Trump) can be.
857
@John Ranta
The White House belongs to the American people. When Trump tweets and speaks the NYT should read Mar-a-Lago or Bedminster or Trump Tower says or speaks.
Trump's ignorant, immature, incompetent, inexperienced intemperate insecurity plus his being Putin's dummy pet puppet is the threat to preserving, protecting and defending our Constitution.
1
@John Ranta This is the language of the mainstream media. Along with credibility, you get euphemisms and undeserved niceness when dealing with vicious, amoral national figures.
So that's where we are. If you can't 'chuckle at the President's jokes' for the cameras, in the face of his orders to commit inhuman acts of spite and barbarism, then you're just not longed for Trumpworld.
I hate to sound like my teenaged daughter's social circle, but all I can say is 'OMG.' Because I think we've seen this movie before, numerous times. It never has a happy Hollywood ending.
Countless hundreds of thousands of Americans have fought and died to stop the wheels set in motion by 'leaders' like Donald Trump. Now he's somehow become the occupant of the Oval Office; and it's follow orders with a smile, or off with your head.
98
Wait, please tell me there is more. Secretary Mattis didn’t laugh at Pres Trump’s joke? It’s almost as if the NYTimes is attempting to give the allusion that the administration is falling apart, by assuming the Sec Mattis has lost favor with the president. An extremely popular figure to Republicans and moderate Democrats. It wouldn’t be to help create a Blue Tide, the NY Times would never try to do that, they only report the facts...
2
. . . because the Times has been wrong so often on Trump internal problems. If you believe them, we’d have seen the departures of 2 press secretaries, 2 National Security Advisers, a Secretary of State, EPA, Trump lawyers, so many others. It’s all so unfair.
15
The facts are that Mattis is going to quit or be fired, according to WH sources. And the administration isn’t in “disarray,” it’s imploding.
And that’s not what “allusion” means.
15
you must not have read the rest of the article or been following this story very long the writing is on the wall!
1
Trump wants a cabinet full of worshipful sycophants. Like his Vice-President. And why not. Only one voice counts. Trump. And he solves complex problems by instinct and feel. No need to review complex position papers.That takes away from TV time.No need to worry. Trump is in charge.
32
This is a highly literate administration. Secretary Mattis has a personal library of 6,000 books. Between him and the President, they have read an average of 3,000 books.
93
Just because Mattis is ‘literate’, (God, I sure hope he’s at least literate), certainly doesn’t mean that Trump is literate. Trump’s non-reading ways are well documented. And there is nothing ‘literate’ about the way Trump speaks. Heck, after listening to Trump speak, one is left to wonder if the man is able to read at all. Remember, this is the guy who uttered, in front of a microphone, that “a lot of people didn’t know Abraham Lincoln was a Republican,” and that “more and more people are starting to recognize the achievements of Frederick Douglass.” I could go on. These are not the words of a “highly literate” person. Remember the author of Trump’s book, “The Art of the Deal,” said that he doesn’t believe Trump has ever read a book in his adult life. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is our president.
10
Which ones has trump read? How many exactly?
5
@Harold Hill -Tony Schwartz, the author of Trump's 'The Art of the Deal,' said a Trump presidency would be 'Terrifying' over 2 years ago. He also said many times, that he doubted if Trump probably never read a book.
1
How many different ways can the Fifth-Grader-in-Chief compromise national security before his cowardly enablers in Congress take action to protect the country?
With his typical ignorance and rashness, Trump has placed Secretary Mattis in the untenable position of having to focus more on defending the military from political interference and irresponsible decision-making than on defending the nation and its interests. As much as Trump likes to believe that he projects toughness, the truth of the matter is that he only makes America weaker with his every bullheaded utterance and action. Mattis seems to understand the situation all too well and finds himself caught between a rock and a hard head—as do we all.
If Mattis is ousted and we find ourselves with one less "adult in the room," this nation will be that much more vulnerable to catastrophe. And Trump and every one of his feckless enablers will soon enough have the stain of blood on their hands. History will ensure that it never washes out.
51
"...people Mr. Trump does not care about: Democrats, establishment Republicans and American allies." That represents the vast majority of this country and a significant portion of the remainder of the human race.
133
If Mattis leaves the U.S. will start yet another war, likely with Iran, cheered on by Bolton, Pompeo and Israel. This new war will be unfunded, just like that of Iraq and Afghanistan, thanks to tax cuts and a gutless Congress which will remain silent. And the middle-class, who will be funding the war while suffering from stagnant wages, rising interest rates and tariffs, will be financially gutted. Meanwhile the wealthy capitalists will do just fine with their investments.
165
@June Coining a old 60s phrase: What if they started a war and nobody came? Which is to say, if Trump and Bolton declared some awful military adventure, perhaps Pentagon leaders or even rank and file soldiers would simply refuse to go. Given the recent history of US led wars I see that a serious possibility. Fool me once shame on me. Fool me twice—can’t get fooled again.
8
This Mira Ricardel person and Bolton are both leftovers from the Bush Jr. administration. It's worth keeping that in mind, because these fanatics have been around before and the US has been under the leadership of an incompetent President in the fairly recent past. Trump, of course, carries incompetence to a completely new extreme, but the point is that the assault on international law, diplomacy and common decency that is embodied in Bolton and people like him has been part of the American playbook before. There is a lot of continuity between the Bush and Trump White Houses on many aspects of foreign policy, even if there are differences in areas like trade. Mattis may be one of the only competent and honorable people left in the Trump administration. I hope he can hang on.
83
I'm torn between whether or not I want Mattis to be pushed out. On the one hand, it might continue to push politics to the tipping point, with the rank-and-file GOP finally souring on Trump. On the other hand, it could unleash very dangerous actions by the White House. While these actions might eventually trigger Trump's power, is it worth the danger?
Unlike the GOP Senators who hold their nose about Trump and say that the means are justified by the end (right-wing Supreme court justices, deregulation that benefits big business , lower taxes on the wealthy), I'm not sure that I can say the same thing. I'm not willing to risk a Trump-initiated WW3. I have to hope that Mattis sticks it out until Trump loses power, as his base finally tires of his ego, lies, and duplicity.
28
Mattis is the only good part of this administration. He is a protection for the country and the world from idiocy. If he leaves, it gets even scarier than it currently is.
Hopefully the administration realizes the political risks of getting rid of an intelligent, competent and popular Secretary of Defense.
15
"He'll stay right there." Says Mr. Trump.
Funny, I heard exactly the same thing regarding Rex Tillerson.
Adios, Mr. Mattis.
37
This latest kerfuffle isn't about Mattis. As always, it is about Trump and his inability to take any advice from anyone. Trump is happy only when his advisers fawn over him, agree with him, and demonstrate awe and wonder at his incredible "stable genius."
This was fine when he was the CEO of a small, private, family-run business. He placed his kids as his staff, and they no doubt spent their days telling Daddy how wonderful he is.
A true leader knows that he or she is nothing without their team, their subordinates. Only a mad dictator believes in "Only I alone...."
149
Why should Trump keep a low energy mad dog when he has a hyper rabid one like Bolton available? especially one who knows little more about defense than he. After all Bolton has so much more to offer. Like Trump he avoided the draft by joining the National Guard when his draft number came up, bragging in his high school year book that he did not "want to die in some Southeast Asian rice field." He should visit the Vietnam War memorial to get to know a lot of people who felt the same. Later, a la Trump, he claimed his cowardice was all the Democrats' fault because he feared that after winning the war, of course only if He had he enlisted, "Teddy Kennedy" would only give it back to the Vietnamese. One has to sympathize with our President knowing Mattis like he does as a general who would loyally serve under an ignorant bully.
27
@Dan Trump did not serve in any branch of the service, and he definitely did not serve in the National Guard.
5
General Mattis should be commended for his service, especially while attempting to temper trump. However, it is clear to the entire world that trump cannot be tempered and is utterly unfit for office. Whether or not Mattis remains in office, it is past time for Republicans to demonstrate some leadership and start the process to remove trump before serious damage is done to this country and further damage is done to our standing in the world.
99
It's too bad the public can't bet on the outcome of 'anonymous', or other unsourced speculations by the MSM that aim primarily to discredit this presidency, and also to paint his cabinet and supporters as crooked, dumb, miserable or all three. And only a day after the Nikki Haley ruse...
2
The free press doesn’t exist to stroke Trump’s fragile ego. That’s what Faux News exists for. And Trump does a fine job discrediting himself without help from anyone else.
22
No need to paint them as corrupt. They just are.
20
@Henry...dude, you nailed it. "Crooked, dumb, miserable or all three.". That is as precise a description of the crowd who "works" at the White House as could ever be imagined. Don't try to tell me about how cheerful all of them are, every day. They aren't. Anyone with a grain of sense is stressed out, in the photos that I've seen. That does tell us how much sense John Bolton has, but we already knew that if we were paying any attention at all.
3
How many millions did the Never-Trump republicans spend to warn about this sort of capricious insanity?
10
No doubt Trump is already looking around for the Mattis replacement by cruising the TV channels with his remote control device. Along the lines of the New Sycophants John Bolton and Larry Kudlow, Trump will be looking for someone who has the untethered freedom of a talking head to blow off steam on Fox News, spouting all kinds of conspiracy theories and urging insurgency all over the world. Oliver North comes readily to mind. He ticks so many boxes. He was associated with the Reagan administration. He's was treated "unfairly" during Iran-Contra. He's a former Marine and so has a modicum of military cred and, of course, he is a controversial one-time arms trader who loves the NRA. Trump likes folks who've survived their shady past. As he has survived his own--to date.
The question is: would the lame duck post midterm 2018 Senate just go along. Probably yes. There seems to be no madness of King Trump that the GOP won't sign off on.
199
Shame on Gen. Mattis for joining this den of thieves in the first place. He has a chance at redemption by resigning and confirming the madness of Trump and the danger to democracy.
Maybe even some of the most wild-eyed Trumpistas will believe a military man with a distinguished record.
18
Trump likes to insure he is in control by removing any administration staff and cabinet members that are well versed in their responsibilities. He then can convince himself that he is in charge. All he has done is remove those who might disagree and replace them with sycophants. This is a deeply flawed approach to governing.
262
It is a recipe for disaster.
1
Story after story after story of a rash feeble and unknowing Trump lurching from one ridiculous decision to the next. His only guiding principle a bizarre narcissistic childish need to appear somehow superior to all others.
44
What a sad irony, career officers in Mattis and McMaster who have seen duty and know of war firsthand are being marginalized by chickenhawks Trump and Bolton. We never learn, do we?
295
So Yin and Yang, someone genetically incapable of lying juxtaposed with one genetically incapable of telling the truth.
Poor Mattis is going to end up with stress related illnesses. Trump has no conscience so he will just keep on lying and praising himself.
And heaven help us all...
138
Whenever Trump issues assurances (He'll stay right here") you know your days are most certainly numbered.
27
Should Mattis be pushed out, it will be no surprise. He is completely the opposite of his boss. He is well-read. He seeks to avoid conflicts, not create them. He tries to avoid the spotlight in contrast to a man addicted to ratings. Running the Defense Department, Mattis recognizes that success comes only from effective teamwork and team leadership. In the Oval Office,the only team is best defined as "Me, Myself and I."
However he departs, he can at least leave with his head held high and deserving of our respect.
350
It's a shame that it has come to this. Secretary Mattis, I'm sure, has his faults, and is certainly to the right of me politically, but he appears to have a grasp on how the world actually works and how to effectively manage the incredible complexity of military geopolitics. Unlike the current occupant of the presidency, who appears to have constructed a dangerously simplistic and uninformed view of the world and to believe it with utter and complete delusive certainty. And, he will insist on being surrounded by people who are willing to join in the shared delusion. I fear this will not end well for any of us.
399
I think both Mattis and Dunford need to leave. They are insisting that the US stay in Syria where we are not wanted and where our presence is illegal.
They want to continue the Syrian was and are trying to militarily stop the clearing of IDLIB. Idlib is full of terrorists - al Quaeda, Al Sharoun and other groups of terrorists. Why do these two general want the US to support terrorists and prevent them from being killed.
They still have ambitions to involved the US military in a Syrian War with the goal of taking out Assad. They are insane to involve the US in another war in the Middle East -- all of which have turned out to be failures.
Leave Syria, let the Russians and SYrian Army deal with Idlib. Do we really think we have a duty to protect terrorists?? I don't care what broader plans the two generals have - We must get out of Syria and if Dunford and Mattis are opposed to that plan - then fire them.
3
It sounds like you come from the Iran, Russian, Syrian side? Mattis and Dunford have incredible experience, education, knowledge and moral and ethical compasses. Best of the best.
11
@ judyweller
Leaving Syria is leaving Kurds to be decimated by Assad and Turks. I can’t imagine we could work with anyone out there after that. Our position in the world is already the weakest in 100 years.
“I don’t care what broader plans...” is precisely the Trump’s ignorant thinking.
4
@CarolinaJoe we have to stop playing policeman of the world. Our engagement in the Middle East has been nothing but a fiasco - an expensive fiasco at that.
We have too many needs at home to continue spending billions on the US miliary wars of choice. We have destabilized an entire region by our military actions starting with the Iraq war. We must start pulling out and the Kurds can take care of themselves. I really don't care what happens to these pseudo allies = we cane leave some equipment with them = BUT WE NEED TO BRING OUR TROOPS BACK HOME.
James Mattis on the chopping block is a sobering thought indeed. This is the potential departure of the last semblance of reasoned, judicious decision-making in the White House.
457
Mr Mattis is wise questioning Trumps warped mind processes. Rex Tillerson left after Trump revealed his lack of knowledge and readiness to order US troops into Venezuela not long ago. He did not want to go down in history as a war criminal like George Bush, Chaney now Trump and the American troops will be tried. Even though he won't be present at a trial he is still a war criminal and that is a bad status to hold for the rest of your life. The GOP need to learn to compromise and end their bully mentality and daily lies.
19
Bolton's influence and policy can only be described as fanatical, not hawkish.
605
@merchantofchaos-I'd call it disastrous, paranoid, vindictive and out of touch with the real world. Unfortunately, Bolton's deputy and twin, the hawkish and mendacious Mira Ricardel is equally dangerous and in a position to derail and block the appointments and mandates of sounder professionals with wiser experience who approach their jobs understanding the gravity of their positions and the oaths they swore to uphold.
3
The departure of Mattis will signal to the rank & file in our military that Trump is utterly unworthy of following . . . .
Honor, duty, country. None of that exists in the White House.
Time to disregard and ignore this so-called president. And his lackeys like Bolton -- who, like Trump,is simply another opportunistic coward.
509