He obviously thinks he has more to say or he wouldn’t be coyly talking about how he won’t be silent forever. If he has anything worth saying he should say it now when it still has a chance to do some good for the country instead of waiting till after this whole ordeal is over when it won’t change anything meaningful.
5 Likes
He just tweeted about it. Called it totally false.
Ergo, it’s true.
ETA: Eric Trump promised to sue over the coverage. Bookmarking. They’re never going to do that, because it would subject said documents to discovery.
8 Likes
Maybe, it could all be about timing. Could it be that he is keeping his powder dry until the presidential tickets are set? Why, in our attention deficit society would you make yourself heard when it will just be gone in a news cycle. He is, and always will be, a master tactician.
2 Likes
“To sin by silence when they should protest, makes cowards of men.”
― Abraham Lincoln
He was a Republican, right?
9 Likes
It’s not great that he came out too early, but it’s not that big a deal. What really helps the fake news trope is when the rest of us join in overreacting to this stuff and freak out about it. Worth noting that the retraction was not because the reporting was necessarily wrong but because they didn’t do more work to determine if it’s right. It would be really good to know if this Deutsche Bank source is right. Hopefully MSNBC and others (maybe even Congress) will get on that ASAP. If it turns out O’donnell’s source is right then maybe O’donnell’s done us all a favor by bringing it to light.
1 Like
In the meantime, we are supposed to be reassured at the thought that in his heart he meant well.
What a hero!
Remember, he only took his shot- resigning- when Trump tried to jump over a clear redline national security issue of total withdrawal from Syria and leaving our Kurdish allies to be slaughtered.
He’s not going to use his likely single shot unless there’s another of those moments, when there isn’t another choice.
5 Likes
nope, there are no heroes on their side. they’re all scheming mouth breathers.
1 Like
Until Mattis’ book started getting air time I’ll bet a lot of us people who don’t have much of a mind sort of lost track of him and his former comments in the blizzard of bullshit that is dumped on the public on a never ending basis. He doesn’t owe trump silence and if he has information that could help the country out of this partisan stalemate he owes it to the country to reveal that information. It’s almost like he’s saying buy my book and I might give you the full truth later.
9 Likes
But does he have some knockout blow to deliver? That’s what I question and maybe he does too. Mattis himself put the finger on the fundamental crisis–for psychological reasons or because of conscious betrayal, Trump is blowing up our alliance system and coddling our enemies. That’s the elephant in the room, the undeniable evidence of his profound unfitness to say the least. What could Mattis add to that at this point? That he said crazy shit like, oh, I don’t know, why can’t we nuke the hurricanes? I question the assumption that one more revelation would tip the scales. What in the god-damn hell do we need to know that we don’t know now?
7 Likes
I’m a bit tired of old white dudes who pull their punches and hide behind some obscure notion of institutional honor while the fire burns all around us.
17 Likes
I agree. Look at the Yalta Conference in WWII…And I can diverge and not even talk about Stalin.
Britain was basically in a position where its agreement with the U.S. was tenuous at best, based on vastly different national goals.
Quite frankly, this Mattis story left me with a very good impression when I saw it for the first time.
For the reasons I stated above
1 Like
Either his resignation letter said everything he had to say - or it didn’t.
IF it didn’t - he should speak up now.
IF he’s waiting to play the card at the perfect moment - HE SHOULDN’T FUCKING MENTION HE’S HOLDING ONE.
Can I play poker with the man?
1 Like
I think he’s doing the same math that the rest of us are. If all that his input will do is enrage a lot of people but have zero impact as the wave breaks against Moscow Mitch’s barricades, then he’s not adding anything but more chaos. And he’d see anything that further undermines the functioning of the government without an actual solution as more dangerous than status quo and waiting for the election or a point much closer to it to act.
6 Likes
When both you and your opponent know what cards you are holding, there’s no reason not to gently remind them from time to time that you do have that card. Keeps them on good behavior.
5 Likes
He’s been tweeting about it this morning. Three tweets about O’Donnell already.
1 Like
Disgraceful. Look at the presidency he’s protecting. What a coward. He isn’t being faithful to his oath to protect the Constitution.
1 Like
Evidently Mad Dog sees life after Trump.
'Cause if he DIDN’T, a-victorious-in-the-2020-election-Trump would have his head on a Platter just for what he is saying NOW.
3 Likes
Mmmmmm nah. None of the folks in that admin are capable of being shamed or theatened into ‘proper’ action. Blackmailed into perfidy? Sure. Bribed into submission? Absolutely. But threatened by righteous retaliation? That dog won’t hunt.
2 Likes
“I know the malevolence some people feel for this country, and we have to give the people who are protecting us some time to carry out their duties without me adding my criticism to the cacophony that is right now so poisonous.”
Some folks might think that knowing what you know about malevolence toward the US would make you more inclined to speak out against having a total incompetent at the helm. And rather than criticism being poisonous some might view it as patriotic. My conclusion is that to whatever allegiances Mattis owes his silence it should not be accepted as love of country or patriotism. It is not.
2 Likes