Free Republic

Friday on CNN, host John King played a clip of a new interview between former Trump administration communications director Anthony Scaramucci and former chief of staff John Kelly. Kelly was commenting on former Defense Secretary James Mattis denouncing the Trump administration for using Washington, DC police and National Guard troops to clear out protesters from Lafayette Square for Trump’s visit to St. John’s Episcopal Church.

James Mattis, the esteemed Marine general who resigned as secretary of defense in December 2018 to protest Donald Trump’s Syria policy, has, ever since, kept studiously silent about Trump’s performance as president. But he has now broken his silence, writing an extraordinary broadside in which he denounces the president for dividing the nation, and accuses him of ordering the U.S. military to violate the constitutional rights of American citizens. “I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled,” Mattis writes. “The words ‘Equal Justice Under Law’ are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is...

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump Probably the only thing Barack Obama & I have in common is that we both had the honor of firing Jim Mattis, the world’s most overrated General. I asked for his letter of resignation, & felt great about it. His nickname was “Chaos”, which I didn’t like, & changed to “Mad Dog”... ...His primary strength was not military, but rather personal public relations. I gave him a new life, things to do, and battles to win, but he seldom “brought home the bacon”. I didn’t like his “leadership” style or much else about him, and many...

President Trump denounced former Defense Secretary James Mattis on Wednesday, saying at a cabinet meeting he "essentially" fired the former Marine Corps general from the top Pentagon post. "What's he done for me? How had he done in Afghanistan? Not too good," Trump said, according to a Bloomberg News journalist, who reported a quote relayed by a colleague in the room. "As you know, President Obama fired him, and essentially so did I," Trump said at the meeting, attended by Mattis' replacement, Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan.

President Trump was livid. Why, he asked his advisers in mid-July, should he go along with what he considered the failed Obama-era policy toward Iran and prop up an international nuclear deal he saw as disastrous? He was incensed by the arguments of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and others that the landmark 2015 deal, while flawed, offered stability and other benefits. He did not want to certify to Congress that the agreement remained in the vital U.S. national security interest and that Iran was meeting its obligations. He did not think either was true. “He...