James Mattis Denounces President Trump, Describes Him as a Threat to the Constitution

 Mattis rocks.

Ashes ashes

It was a nice republic while it lasted.

uh... it was alright

 ///___

Maybe it's time to revisit those articles of impeachment.

Who?

Nice of him to finally admit what the rest of us knew back in 2015

Better late than never I guess.

> Who?

Mad Dog Mattis. Trump's former Secretary of Defense. 

fuck that guy. 

IN UNION THERE IS STRENGTH

I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled. The words “Equal Justice Under Law” are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demand—one that all of us should be able to get behind. We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values—our values as people and our values as a nation.

When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. 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 any thinking of our cities as a “battlespace” that our uniformed military is called upon to “dominate.” At home, we should use our military only when requested to do so, on very rare occasions, by state governors. Militarizing our response, as we witnessed in Washington, D.C., sets up a conflict—a false conflict—between the military and civilian society. It erodes the moral ground that ensures a trusted bond between men and women in uniform and the society they are sworn to protect, and of which they themselves are a part. Keeping public order rests with civilian state and local leaders who best understand their communities and are answerable to them.

James Madison wrote in Federalist 14 that “America united with a handful of troops, or without a single soldier, exhibits a more forbidding posture to foreign ambition than America disunited, with a hundred thousand veterans ready for combat.” We do not need to militarize our response to protests. We need to unite around a common purpose. And it starts by guaranteeing that all of us are equal before the law.

Instructions given by the military departments to our troops before the Normandy invasion reminded soldiers that “The Nazi slogan for destroying us…was ‘Divide and Conquer.’ Our American answer is ‘In Union there is Strength.’” We must summon that unity to surmount this crisis—confident that we are better than our politics.

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. 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. 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.

We can come through this trying time stronger, and with a renewed sense of purpose and respect for one another. The pandemic has shown us that it is not only our troops who are willing to offer the ultimate sacrifice for the safety of the community. Americans in hospitals, grocery stores, post offices, and elsewhere have put their lives on the line in order to serve their fellow citizens and their country. We know that we are better than the abuse of executive authority that we witnessed in Lafayette Square. We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution. At the same time, we must remember Lincoln’s “better angels,” and listen to them, as we work to unite.

Only by adopting a new path—which means, in truth, returning to the original path of our founding ideals—will we again be a country admired and respected at home and abroad.

fuck that guy.

heat - not to insult you, but perhaps you need help

is he a centrist?  do you hate all military? did he defeat Sanders>

LLTD call out thread approaches

is he a centrist?  do you hate all military? did he defeat Sanders>

participation in the war in afghanistan, iraq, responsible for syria and yemen as head of us central command under obama, well known to have pushed obama towards possible military confrontation in iran, supported the saudi genocide in yemen, the list goes on and on...in any moral nation under any moral government he would be executed along with the rest of the war criminals that led those wars.

and now after a lifetime of using military force in other countries he wants to preach restraint? cmon

Do you like the military right now?

Good for the old mad dog.   That is encouraging.

Wonder how much of the rank and file military would tell Trump to fuck off if they were ever given orders they felt were morally unacceptable?

>>>>and now after a lifetime of using military force in other countries he wants to preach restraint?

Maybe the guy has a soft spot for fellow Americans?   His questionable history aside, everything he said today was spot on.

Do you like the military right now?

not for a single moment since 2001. i remember having a sort of cute little kid political opinion about the gulf war based on the 1min summary my mom gave me at the time - i was probably 10 or so - i thought it was ok based on basically nothing, as a child. that was the last time i had any support for the military at all. 

i very much support the idea of a force that defends our soil, and helps specific american citizens running into trouble abroad to make it to safety and return home, not a force that operates either covertly or by force in other sovereign nations that may or may not want them there, nor do i support the entire intelligence paradigm of spies running covert intelligence operations without the consent of the soverign nation they are operating inside of.

i do not support using military force overseas for any reason than to go after a specific target with congressional approval and approval of the sovereign nation they are operating in.

So you wouldn't have been in favor of carrying the war into Germany to remove Hitler?

It was only a threat and it worked. The governors enacted their national guard like he ordered and the everyone knew he wad serious so they toned it way down. 

since when did these Floyd protests turn into anti trump protests? 

He has denounced what happened. He wants justice for Floyd's family and he wants something done about it.

it was pressure from trump, his Initial response at the press conference that got the cops arrested and charged so quickly. they were quickly fired and the one guy was charged now I think the 3 others are as well. With the police union and all the red tape it usually would have taken way longer. 

The only reason they are fired and arrested so fast was thanks to president trump.

Do you honestly believe it would have been faster with obama or any other president?

Not me. they would be suspended with pay while under review.  But not with trump

Everyone's figuring out that Trump means business and he's probably serious enough to send in the troops and no one wants that. That's why the governors took action with national guard the next day.

  So that is the difference. ..and WHY the violence has toned down. .

because of trump.

It sure the fuck wasn't because of the Elizabeth Warren photo op walking with the demonstrators that helped the situation

Trump is fucked.  

Gregg is fucked

it's too hard to read his posts 

it hurts my head

Gregg please take your meds or conversely stop taking drugs

you take some of that slap Delusional hallucinations

on your own face please 

or not not

you are a blithering idiot

And G-rog is his little tit pig.  LOL!

 >>>>>He wants justice for Floyd's family and he wants something done about it.

I want some of what Greg is smoking.

because of trump.

Everything is broken.

That is encouraging<<<

It is encouraging, but I still wonder at the end of the day will Mattis' voice be any different than Nicole Wallace or Wolf Blitzer?

Yeah, it's supposed to work a certain way ... in so far as Mattis being a weighty universally respected voice to influence the outcome, but in the end, if Trump is a compromised asset, Putin isn't just going to fold because Mattis spoke up.

Trump has ascended to "First Order Enemy of State"... and should be dealt with accordingly. 

G-rog gets a feeding.

So you wouldn't have been in favor of carrying the war into Germany to remove Hitler?

i guess i would add "to support allied nations actively being invaded by hostile armies" to the list of cases in which i'd possibly support some kind of military action

i do support military action to end the genocide of the holocaust, but overall i do not think the USA should be tasked with shouldering the human, cultural and financial burdens of going to war with every country or group that attempts any sort mass murder of its citizens outside of acting as a part of some kind of unified international military force such as the UN, or fighting with allied nations actively being invaded/attacked in some way by the nation perpetrating crimes/murder on its people.

also if US soil is attacked by another nation, i would support taking the war to that nation - i didnt mean to imply id only support war on US soil.

lltd what's your obsession w/ the term centrist? 

do your homework man. 

trumpism plays so well for the liberals going forward -- pelosi/schumer, all those corporate mother fuckers -- if they win again anytime soon that is, which is of course a possibility -- they'll say, well at least it's not trump's extreme agenda -- and the lltds and ras's of the country will lap that shit up. 

perhaps i was offended

by you calling me a "centrist",  but in reality, it humors me

perhaps you know not of what you speak

getting rid of TRump, trumps everything else - deal with it 

I enjoy quoting it almost as I enjoy quoting the great THom - Republicans think, democrats feel - i love the absurdity an attempted creative insult!

who knew you had so much power

lolol

it's ok, lltd. 

just know the centrists are why we have trump. 

democrats pushing the lesser of two evils BS for decades lead us to trump. 

it's tough for the liberals to come to terms w/ that tho.