General Mad Dog Mattis 'angry and appalled’ as he unloads on Trump

[DontTreadonMe7]

General Mad Dog Mattis 'angry and appalled’ as he unloads on Trump, says president ‘does not try to unite the American people'

Gregg Re1 hour ago
Former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis on why his book isn’t a 'tell-all'

Jim Mattis says those of us who serve have the responsibility to keep the military apolitical.




James Mattis, who served as President Trump's first Secretary of Defense, excoriated the president in a statement to The Atlantic published on Wednesday -- urging Americans to "reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution."
Mattis has largely stayed out of the public eye since resigning in December 2018, when he opposed Trump's abrupt troop pullout from Syria. The retired Marine Corps general had said he wanted to give the administration an "opportunity" to govern, rather than criticize the president in the press.
On Wednesday, though, Mattis made clear that Trump's response to the nationwide protests over the in-custody death of George Floyd had spurred him to act.
Specifically, Mattis appeared to object to authorites' decision to clear away protesters in Washington D.C.’s Lafayette Park on Monday before Trump's visit to the historic St. John’s Church, which rioters had burned the previous night. The United States Park Police denied using tear gas to disperse the protesters, despite various media reports, and authorities have said they cleared the park because of violent outbursts and not to make room for Trump.
“When I joined the military, some 50 years ago,” Mattis wrote, “I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens—much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside.”


President Donald Trump walks past police in Lafayette Park after visiting outside St. John's Church across from the White House Monday, June 1, 2020, in Washington. Part of the church was set on fire during protests on Sunday night. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

More generally, Mattis took issue with Trump's efforts as a statesman and leader.
“I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled,” Mattis wrote to the outlet. “The words ‘Equal Justice Under Law’ are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demand—one that all of us should be able to get behind. We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values—our values as people and our values as a nation.”
Mattis continued: “Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.”
Mattis' remarks were published hours after dissent appeared to be brewing anew in the Pentagon. Defense Secretary Mark Esper flatly told reporters that despite Trump's remarks earlier this week, he is not in favor of the president invoking the Insurrection Act in order to send the U.S. military to quell violent protests. Some top Republicans have also said the military should become involved given the scale of the riots overtaking major U.S. cities.
"The option to use active-duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort and only in the most urgent and dire situations," Esper said. "We are not in one of those situations now. I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act."
In his statement to The Atlantic, Mattis also took aim at Esper, directly criticizing Esper's recent call for governors to "dominate the battlespace."


Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis listens to a question during his appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations, in New York, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2019. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

"We must reject any thinking of our cities as a ‘battlespace’ that our uniformed military is called upon to ‘dominate,'" Mattis wrote. "At home, we should use our military only when requested to do so, on very rare occasions, by state governors. Militarizing our response, as we witnessed in Washington, D.C., sets up a conflict—a false conflict—between the military and civilian society. It erodes the moral ground that ensures a trusted bond between men and women in uniform and the society they are sworn to protect, and of which they themselves are a part. Keeping public order rests with civilian state and local leaders who best understand their communities and are answerable to them."
Mattis' remarks drew mixed reactions. Former Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill tweeted: "Mattis. Finally. But with eloquence that should wake up many who are in a political coma. He was a warrior for our nation. This will have a big impact on our military. And hopefully on Republican elected officials who have mountains of respect for him."
SECRET SERVICES AGENTS WOUNDED; TRUMP RUSHED TO BUNKER UNDERNEATH WHITE HOUSE
"Mattis resigned in protest because Trump wanted to withdraw troops from Syria," countered journalist Michael Tracey. "He has no moral high ground."
"It is a good time to recall, as well, that pretty much our entire media and military pundit class pushed to keep troops in Syria on the grounds that their withdrawal would lead to the *immediate* genocide of Kurds," wrote The Federalist's Mollie Hemingway. "That didn't happen. A few days later, they dropped the story."
Trump has not yet responded, via tweet or otherwise, to Mattis' remarks.
Fox News' Ronn Blitzer contributed to this report.
Gregg Re is a lawyer and editor based in Los Angeles. Follow him on Twitter @gregg_re or email him at gregory.re@foxnews.com.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mat...merican-people

[merovingian]

ESAD Mattis. CFR fag. If you had any balls you'd still be supporting TRUMP.

[Earl Sinclair]

Shows even the Marines got infiltrated.


Earl

[jmthomas]

Once they get above colonel, they become politicians.

Few General Staff officers are actual leaders, most are 'yes men', padding their resume heading toward a fat 'consultant' gig upon leaving the military.

[consteacher1]

moronic elderly snowflake...prep and pray, the end has arrived.

[Earl Sinclair]

Once they get above colonel, they become politicians.

Few General Staff officers are actual leaders, most are 'yes men', padding their resume heading toward a fat 'consultant' gig upon leaving the military.

Yeah, I once got written up by a 4-star admiral because I lectured him on how to use a secure phone. He was DUMB AS ROCKS.

Yes, you read that correctly, written-up by a 4-star admiral. My captain was REALLY pissed, but I refused to take Article 15 and demanded court martial, as I was in the right.

( mostly - perhaps if I'd not used baby-talk that would've not pissed him off so badly )


Earl

PS( Nope, didn't get a court martial. The admiral - William J. Crowe was trying to bypass regulations and I wouldn't do it. Even an admiral can't cross certain boundaries: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_J._Crowe )

PPS( That was one of TWO 4-star admirals I pissed-off. Commander 6th Fleet was the other one. At least in THAT case, I was just a messenger, not a cause )

PPPS( Unfortunately, my job was to maintain equipment used by the highest-ranking officers, up-to-and-including SECNAV and SECDEF )

[always learning]

the academys are the worse they are nothing but prep schools for politics........my last CO in the army and the main reason I got out was or had to be afirmative action program saying he was dumber than a rock would of been an insult to rocks........he was black, a biget and a predijuce wanna be...........I was a drill sergeant at ft. dix and this guy would pressure white female trainees into sex and he would party with his black nco's..............when I alerted the chain of command about this all the pressure was placed on me not the perps...............this was in 1977 and it has only gotten worse...........right up the road from me is a naval graduate and a marine with 13 years in service married to an enlisted female he was an 03 and now I have him living up creek from me.................these guys in uniform such as the bag of crap in this thread should be wearing knee pads and have their lips botoxed for the good it would do them...........people like this guy is and will continue to be the down fall of our once great military

[Plainsman]

His fondness for Afghan dancing boys is how he received his nickname. I shit you not.

[Earl Sinclair]

As long as we're bashing high-ranking officers, I'll relate about two COs I had at the same command. First, was Captain Arnold - he was on his twilight tour ( for non-military - that's the last station before retirement ). He knew he'd never make admiral, and was OK with that. Though he was clearly a heavy drinker, he was also a geek / nerd and loved doing his thing and running his computers. Our command - NAVCAMSMED in Naples, Italy, directed all the computer traffic for the US Navy throughout the Mediterranean and southern Europe. Arnold oversaw the deployment and switch-over of main computers from an IBM-300 to a UNIVAC 90/60. WHAT A JOB that was! Holy crap. ( I have other sea stories about that ).

He was a pleasure to work for, and I actually saw him competently wield a soldering iron on several occasions. Article 15s obviously pained him, and he felt that having to do them was a failing on HIS part, and not the miscreant sailor. ( I beg to differ )
At about 18 months in my tour, Arnold retired, and was replaced by Captain Hagan. Hagan was far far younger than Arnold, and knew or cared NOTHING about what we did. He wanted to be on a ship, and let us know that frequently, and felt little more than contempt for ALL land-locked sailors. At the time, females "sucked-up all the shore billets and shouldn't be in the Navy in the first place ) - yeah, a little inconsistent.

Anyway, as I've relayed before here, I submitted a proposal that would've saved our command millions of dollars per year. After a long delay, he called me to his office and started yelling at me. Apparently, if a shore command was big enough ( aka spent enough money ), it would be counted toward getting promoted to Admiral.

He said that he'd be DAMNED if a pesky 2nd Class Petty Officer was going to prevent that. He pulled out a case from his desk, put it under my nose and opened it with a flourish. Inside was a pair of Rear Admiral Shoulder boards.

I met far more Hagans than Arnolds in my time, and I met a LOT of them because of my NEC ( specialty ).


Earl