On Wednesday afternoon, during what Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer described as a “meltdown” by Donald Trump, the president is rumored to have called James Mattis the “world’s most overrated general”.
The remark came during a meeting with senior lawmakers, advisors and officials, following a stinging rebuke from the House, which voted 354-60 to condemn Trump’s decision to withdraw US forces from positions held by America’s Kurdish allies in Syria. That decision opened the door to a cross-border incursion by the Turkish military which has left hundreds dead and more than 200,000 displaced.
Trump would later tweet out a picture from the meeting which he captioned which something about “Nervous Nancy”, but the visual appeared to show Pelosi scolding Trump, his advisors and Republicans. The look on the president’s face was mercilessly lampooned on social media.
Schumer later confirmed reports that Trump besmirched Mattis, who resigned in December in no small part due to the president’s abrupt announcement that he intended to draw down the US presence in Syria entirely.
That announcement was seen as an overt concession to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and it effectively set the stage for what’s happened over the past two weeks.
Well, on Thursday night at the Alfred E. Smith dinner in New York, Mattis roasted Trump with a potent combination of humor and earnest criticism.
“I’m not just an overrated general. I’m the world’s greatest overrated general”, Mattis quipped, after enjoying a standing ovation as he stepped to the dais. “I’m honored to be called that by Donald Trump, because he also called Meryl Streep an overrated actor. So I guess I’m the Meryl Streep of generals”.
“I tried to bring some peace and order to the places with no organized government, chaotic and warring factions, irrational fears, and toxic hatred”, he went on to say, adding that although that was “hard work, it wasn’t until I started working in Washington, D.C., that I realized how easy I had it overseas in the combat zone”.
Mattis also called the president out for the coward that he is.
“I earned my spurs on the battlefield; Donald Trump earned his spurs in a letter from a doctor”, the general said, adding that “the only person in the military that Trump doesn’t think is overrated is Colonel Sanders”.
Nothing further.
This in a way shows leadership. It may aid in constricting the throats of some misguided vets, and may open the throats of other vets whose credible influence on their fellow citizens may otherwise may go unheard.
You would be hard pressed to come up with a better way to lower a President’s approval rating amongst vets than to turn on the Kurds, and General Mattis, all in the course of a week or so.
I’m really hoping that we start to see a significant change in public opinion so we can convince enough Republican senators that voting to expel Trump will be the politically expedient thing to do. It’s already clear that it’s the right thing to do, but that doesn’t seem to be enough.
Drip, drip, drip… wait a while for the “splash” – just a happened with Nixon.
The elegance of Mattis, while totally on target with insults, is still missing the point that the majority of GOP/trump groupies are blind to reason, facts and evidence. Honorable people like Mattis have to be more explicit to confront the inherent evil associated with a person that claimed he could kill someone and not lose votes. It’s highly likely the Senate will dismiss any notion of impeachment and vote away any actions presented by the House. Within minutes, Moscow Mitch and the goose-stepping regime of the Senate will betray America, making impeachment moot. As trump suggests, watch the polls to see if killing someone matters, watch to see if hypocrite care if the First Lady has an abortion on a live Fox news show — see if the GOP cares if they get re-elected. Meanwhile, watch to see if the trump tax returns are actually audited by IRS — watch to see more evidence pile up, but watch to see if anyone cares. At this point, people are numb, confused and oblivious to all the moving parts that will be condensed into Articles of Impeachment, and then watch as that legitimate legal process breaks down. The equally sad part of this drama is to have an incompetent Democratic party that has no ability to lead or counter the GOP machine — how was it, that the GOP maintained such crushing power during the Obama years? How is it now that the Democrats have no candidate in place to win an election or succeed with impeachment? Why are American sitting back so passively as-if this is a daily soap opera that doesn’t impact them and the future of America? Why, are people like Mattis tossing out soft-pitch jokes that might play to the right people on a few blogs?
“Why, are people like Mattis tossing out soft-pitch jokes that might play to the right people on a few blogs?”
You are the kind of person I very much dislike. Your way overrides any other’s way. You’d be happy if Mattis took out his Colt 1911 and blew Trumpy’s brains out? The power of humor is lost on you.