General Mattis Comes Out Against Trump - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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#15097303
A highly respected retired U.S. Marine Corps general "Mad-dog" Mattis has come out against Trump:

Ryan Pickrell and David Choi of Business Insider wrote:Former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, who has largely kept silent on the president, issued a blistering statement Wednesday criticizing President Donald Trump and even suggesting he's a threat to the US Constitution in a call for Americans to come together to oppose his actions.

"I have watched this week's unfolding events, angry and appalled," Mattis said in a statement given to The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg.

He said that the president is actively trying to divide the nation.

"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," the legendary former Marine Corps general said. "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," he continued in the letter first published by The Atlantic. "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 praised protesters as "people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values—our values as people and our values as a nation" and sharply criticized Trump's militaristic response to the protests.

"When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution," he said. "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."

"We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution," Mattis added.


https://www.businessinsider.com/mattis- ... ent-2020-6

It doesn't look like Trump is getting much support from the military and folks in the Pentagon. I applaud General Mattis. The U.S. military serves the American people and not a dictator or dictator wanna be like Trump.
#15097309
Politics_Observer wrote:A highly respected retired U.S. Marine Corps general "Mad-dog" Mattis has come out against Trump:



https://www.businessinsider.com/mattis- ... ent-2020-6

It doesn't look like Trump is getting much support from the military and folks in the Pentagon. I applaud General Mattis. The U.S. military serves the American people and not a dictator or dictator wanna be like Trump.


Mattis can go suck a dick, or two. He should have spoken early, even as he was serving this guy. There are rumors than many of the cabinets spoke of pulling the 25th amendment. Instead, we got a lot of innuendo and hearsay.
Vidman is a real hero and he was not even born here... That says a lot.
Even if they did not have the support, they should have called a press release and state it, shine the light so that people and congress were in the spotlight. Raise the stakes for the impeachment trial.
So now... all of these assholes can go fuck themselves. Bolton, Mattis, Tillerson, Jeff Sessions, all of them.
#15097313
@XogGyux

I personally would have NEVER agreed to serve in a Trump Administration if I were in Mattis's position. Why put yourself through the torture carrying out the orders of a man who doesn't have the best interests of the country at heart and who knows could very well be compromised by the Russians?
#15097317
Politics_Observer wrote:@XogGyux

I personally would have NEVER agreed to serve in a Trump Administration if I were in Mattis's position. Why put yourself through the torture carrying out the orders of a man who doesn't have the best interests of the country at heart and who knows could very well be compromised by the Russians?

I agree, certainly for the civilians. For the Rex Tillerson, the John Kelly, etc. but I don't know if the military guys get to choose. Do they? I don't really know. He could have resigned early on but I can understand the "well at least if I am in I might be able to put some control" at least early on, when people still believed this maniac was controllable. Some people still don't realize it, this guy is corrosive, there is a high likelihood that if you interact with him and allow him to enter your world you either end up in jail, destroy your career, reputation, credibility, etc.
#15097321
@XogGyux

Military guys don't get to choose at least speaking from the perspective of an enlisted soldier. Once you have signed the contract, you have to do your time no matter who the commander in chief is and go where they tell you to go. I THINK (but I am NOT sure) that some officers can resign their commission if they don't owe the government any years of service given that the government might have paid for their college education in return for a particular number of years of service.

However, in the case of General Mattis, he did have a choice because he was retired from the Marine Corps and was officially a civilian. When he served Trump he did so in the capacity as a civilian is my understanding. Therefore, he did have a choice if wanted to serve in the Trump administration or not given he was no longer on active duty. Some members who served as officers in the service are better qualified to answer that question as far as if officers can resign their commission at any time so long as they don't owe the government any sort of service for paying for their education in return. I can't speak how things work exactly for officers given I never served as an officer.
#15097324
Anyway, unless this guy is ready to spill some beans that could bring Trump down or change some minds in the senate and/or voters, I don't give a fuck what he has to say. He had plenty of times to say something when it mattered, it seem it is quite late now, our country is literally on fire, our citizens abused by police and perhaps the military.
Seems 2nd amendment bitches that spent their lives talking about oppressive governments are nowhere to be found now. Let's remember this the next time they start crying about their AR15th.
#15097380
Politics_Observer wrote: Why put yourself through the torture carrying out the orders of a man who doesn't have the best interests of the country at heart and who knows could very well be compromised by the Russians?

He, Rex Tillerson, Reince Priebus, and a few others figured they would run the show. I'm glad Trump keeps changing it up.

XogGyux wrote:Some people still don't realize it, this guy is corrosive, there is a high likelihood that if you interact with him and allow him to enter your world you either end up in jail, destroy your career, reputation, credibility, etc.

There is a love cult and hate cult surrounding every president, and many of the presidents just ignore slights on them by people who serve under them. Trump doesn't. If you lash out at him, he lashes out right back. I think its funny.

XogGyux wrote:Seems 2nd amendment bitches that spent their lives talking about oppressive governments are nowhere to be found now. Let's remember this the next time they start crying about their AR15th.

Most people who own AR-15s want the riots put down. Gun sales are up 80%. Liberals in big cities are scared now.
#15097389
blackjack21 wrote:Most people who own AR-15s want the riots put down. Gun sales are up 80%. Liberals in big cities are scared now.

No. Most of those people have spent the better part of a century crying that this would be a violation of their second amendment, a 2nd amendment that is necessary in order to protect the country against tyrant abuse of power by the government.
They have been living in a fantasy where they are "the good guys", the "heroes". They have been living in a fantasy that does not exist. Don't get me wrong, the last thing this situation needs is a bunch of idiots showing up their guns in protests, but it is a hypocrite and expected. It had nothing to do with 2nd amendment, it had nothing to do with patriotic duty to put a check on government overreach and/or anti-tyranny. It has everything to do with a bunch of child-men that want to pretend they are GIjoes.
#15097390
This the tyranny that the 2nd Amendment fucks have been talking about all this time. They're trying to take away the 1st Amendment and all those people willing to protect their 2nd Amendment rights are silent, because they're really a bunch of craven cowards.

No. Liberals are not afraid of the cowards. You're such a shill, @blackjack21.
#15097395
XogGyux wrote:No. Most of those people have spent the better part of a century crying that this would be a violation of their second amendment, a 2nd amendment that is necessary in order to protect the country against tyrant abuse of power by the government.

Putting down insurrections is pretty much fundamental to any society, including democratic republics.

Godstud wrote:Liberals are not afraid of the cowards.

They are afraid of the rioters. You aren't here day-to-day so all you get is some newswire stories. Democrats let prisoners out of jail--a little coronavirus furlough. Those criminals are now rioting and looting.

In a nearby town, they stole 50 cars from a new car lot--broke in to the dealership, broke into the key register, and just started driving off with $100k Dodge Hellcats.

Dodge Hellcats stolen in brazen looting of San Leandro dealership
Rioters help themselves to at least 50 vehicles, including $90,000 muscle cars

Most of them were the high end cars. That's over $4M in inventory losses. Cops simply aren't enforcing the law, because the DAs refuse to prosecute. It's straight up anarchy here. It has nothing to do with George Floyd. It has a lot to do with being forced out of work by the government, and everyone just saying "Fuck you" now. They're doing whatever the fuck they want.
#15097457
Perhaps Mattis just wanted to give Trump a chance, just like the people who voted for him. Now that he's been there and done that, it means a lot coming from him now as opposed to not accepting the position and criticizing.

Politics_Observer wrote:It doesn't look like Trump is getting much support from the military and folks in the Pentagon.

In my experience, in every close circle of the military, people still have a fond admiration for Trump.
#15097544
@Strikeman

Strikeman wrote:In my experience, in every close circle of the military, people still have a fond admiration for Trump.


I don't know, those soldiers that were in Syria didn't seem too fond of abandoning our Kurdish allies after they did the vast majority of the fighting and dying battling ISIS. Speaking as a veteran of Afghanistan myself, I have NEVER been fond of Trump AT ALL. As a matter of fact, BEFORE he was elected I viewed him as a threat to our republic. Bear in mind, there are a lot of people in the military who don't voice their honest opinions on a President politically for a multitude of reasons, especially when you consider which demographic wields the most power within the military establishment.

So don't think you are always getting an honest accurate representation of how much the military supports Trump as a whole. Another thing to bear in mind is the race element. Not everybody serving in the U.S. military is white and they might not support Trump for various reasons but they don't come out and say so because that could ruin their chances of promotion, ruin their career or earn them a less than honorable discharge that could haunt them the rest of their lives.

At the time I was serving, Obama was President and a lot of whites in the military didn't like Obama. But there was a whole lot more than just white people who were serving in the military at the time. There were also some white liberals like myself who were serving that DID support Obama. However, I didn't always express those opinions to soldiers who I had to rely on to watch my back while on patrol in Afghanistan. Know what I mean?

My goal was to get along with those soldiers even if I didn't agree with their opinions politically so that I could get home alive while serving honorably. I kept my political opinions to myself, especially considering a truly professional army is supposed to be apolitical anyway for very good reasons.
#15097630
I'm sure it was Mad Dog's inner civil libertarian that compelled him to denounce Trump and not the fact that Trump pulled out of Syria against Mattis's objections and then fired his ass before he was due to resign. Mattis doesn't give a fuck about civil liberties or the constitution, he's just settling an old score.
#15097859
@Sivad

Sivad wrote:I'm sure it was Mad Dog's inner civil libertarian that compelled him to denounce Trump and not the fact that Trump pulled out of Syria against Mattis's objections and then fired his ass before he was due to resign. Mattis doesn't give a fuck about civil liberties or the constitution, he's just settling an old score.


Is he? Well, it looks like General Mattis is not the only one who thinks the same. John Kelly also agrees with General Mattis and agrees with him:


John Kelly Agrees with General Mattis


Sarah Westwood of CNN wrote:Former White House chief of staff John Kelly said Friday he agrees with former Secretary of Defense Gen. Jim Mattis' stark warning this week that President Donald Trump is "the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people" as nationwide protests have intensified over the death of George Floyd.

"I agree with him," Kelly told Anthony Scaramucci, former White House communications director, during a live-streamed interview.

"There is a concern, I think an awful big concern, that the partisanship has gotten out of hand, the tribal thing has gotten out of hand," Kelly said. "He's quite a man, Jim Mattis, and for him to do that tells you where he is relative to the concern he has for our country."

Kelly's comments come after Mattis, who has widespread support among Senate Republicans for his long military service to the country, contended this week that Trump "does not even pretend to try" to unite the country and is instead engaged in a "deliberate effort" to divide the country, while lacking "mature leadership."

The pointed remarks from two of Trump's former top officials follow more than a week of nationwide protests across the country calling for justice for Floyd, a black man who was killed last week by a white police officer in Minneapolis.


The article continues:

Sarah Westwood of CNN wrote:"I think we need to look harder at who we elect," Kelly said on Friday. "I think we should look at people that are running for office and put them through the filter: What is their character like? What are their ethics?"

Kelly, who left the White House under contentious circumstances in January 2019, also clarified that the President did not fire Mattis as secretary of defense.

The comments from Mattis were a significant moment for a man who has kept mostly silent since leaving the administration. The retired Marine general had been pressed many times to comment on Trump, troop policies, the Pentagon, and other current events and had always refused because he didn't want to get involved and be a contradictory voice to the troops. Instead, Mattis always insisted he had said everything he wanted to say in his resignation letter.


https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/05/politics ... index.html

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