General James Mattis rips into Donald Trump
Yesterday Donald Trump trashed his former Secretary of Defense James Mattis during a closed door meeting with Democratic leaders. Trump called Mattis “overrated” and other insults. These details then promptly leaked out to the media, as tends to happen. All eyes have since been on General Mattis to see whether he would fire back – and he just did.
James Mattis appeared at a public event today and decided to throw Donald Trump’s words back at him, saying “I’m not just an overrated general, I’m the most overrated general,” according to NBC News. He went on to say “I’m honored to be considered that by Donald Trump because he also called Meryl Streep an overrated actress. So I guess I’m the Meryl Streep of generals, and frankly that sounds pretty good to me.”
Of course this isn’t what people want to hear when it comes to James Mattis ripping into Donald Trump. The American public wants Mattis to call out Trump as being unfit for office. The public wants Mattis to reveal the crimes and improprieties that he surely witnessed Trump committing during his time as Trump’s Secretary of Defense. But this is nonetheless a good thing, for two reasons.
First, the fact that General Mattis is publicly ripping into Donald Trump at all is a sign that Mattis has had it, and it suggests that Mattis may be close to dropping the hammier on him. Second, note that Mattis is a lifelong military man, yet he referred to the Commander-in-Chief as “Donald Trump” and not “President Trump.” In this context it matters. Mattis has had enough. Hopefully he’ll continue speaking up in more substantive fashion.
