Discussion: Trump Reportedly Picks Retired Gen. James Mattis As Secretary Of Defense

TPM Article Topics
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Too bad there is not a similar statute about serving as Attorney General after having been a confirmed racist within the last 7 years

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Yeah but they’d likely decide they could either ignore it or repeal it by passing another law, anyway.

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Draft dodging Trump assembling his junta. Flynn, Petraeus, Mattis, & Co.

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Yep.

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With James Gandolfini? All the way to the left?

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Actually, I’m cautiously optimistic here. Remember, the top priority has to be someone who will push back against the odious and dangerous Mike Flynn for Trump’s ear, and it seems like Mattis is the only one who’s proven he can do that. Furthermore, he’s smart and tough; he might well be a genuinely once-in-a-half-century exception like Gen. Marshall was. He’s rock-solid ethically and won’t take nonsense from the Admin.

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You win the TPM today. All of it.

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Folks shouldn’t yearn for that.

A team of rivals is one thing, but that noxious cauldron is going to be something strange.

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Careful with that notion

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All that military? Uh huh.

It’s strange like O Jesus this doesn’t look good.

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In normal times, yes. These are not.

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I’m not so sure, if only because Trump is such a buffoon he has no idea how the military works. Think he could even spell ‘junta’? He probably just has his remedial-military-school caricature ‘officers’ in his head and thinks Generals are ‘real men’ etc etc

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We absolutely should ‘yearn’ for someone who will push back against Flynn. Flynn is outright terrifying and a loathsome blunderer, but talks tough and you know who likes that.

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About Trump I believe you could be correct but he has advisers. People like Bannon.

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True. But watch out for lumping all the Generals we’re talking about here together. Mattis and Petraeus loathe Flynn, and that feeling is mutual. (I also definitely don’t think Petraeus should be picked, but we can only hope). The idea that Mattis would go along with whatever horrors Bannon daydreams about is thankfully ludicrous, and the fact that it isn’t for Flynn is why we need him there.

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Okie

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Not really known if that man is Mattis.

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A president elect who’s a Patton fan.

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Jeez. The body language in that pic sez alot about our next Sec of Def. and how dump will treat the guy…That look on his face is kind of unsettling…

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It is. Now I have to do the “All opinions expressed are my own, and are not those of DoD, DoN, the U.S. Government, or any entity associated with the U.S. Government or Department of Defense”–I am in the military, and I am fairly close with people who have directly served with both Mattis and Flynn. You may only have the word of a fellow TPMer, but these are people I deeply trust, and they deeply trust one and are terrified of the other.

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