“Don’t try it. It won’t work. You can’t take us out.”
Meaning, “Try it, we need a war!”
Mattis is one of the more effective, rational people left in our government. If anyone is interested there’s a good article called ‘The Mattis Way of War’ which reviewed his operational policies and management mechanisms in Afghanistan. Worth reading.
http://armypress.dodlive.mil/files/2016/09/Mattis-Way-of-War-Art-of-War.pdf
Dumbass - he doesn’t want to take us out, he just wants to punch the hell out of us. Which he has suddenly learned how to do since January. And good luck finding a response that doesn’t destroy two of our allies and put two of our “friends” on a nuclear footing.
There is just no good way to handle this, unless China and Russia take the lead.