Marine General James Mattis Denounces Trump
No sorry here, I refuse to call Trump President. It is time for this bum to leave.
Breaking his silence . . .
General Mattis denounces the president for dividing the nation, and accused him of ordering the U.S. military to violate the constitutional rights of American citizens.
General Mattis: “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. We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution.’”
James Mattis Denounces President Trump, Describes Him as a Threat to the Constitution The Atlantic
Retired Admiral Mike Mullen (Chairman Joint Chief of Staff).
“It sickened me yesterday to see security personnel—including members of the National Guard—forcibly and violently clear a path through Lafayette Square to accommodate the president’s visit outside St. John’s Church. I have to date been reticent to speak out on issues surrounding President Trump’s leadership, but we are at an inflection point, and the events of the past few weeks have made it impossible to remain silent.
Whatever Trump’s goal in conducting his visit, he laid bare his disdain for the rights of peaceful protest in this country, gave succor to the leaders of other countries who take comfort in our domestic strife, and risked further politicizing the men and women of our armed forces.
There was little good in the stunt.”
I Can Not Remain Silent, The Atlantic
There is more to their statements which I am not going to include here. Follow the links.
I have never experienced a General denouncing a President during my cognizant lifetime. I have read about MacArthur and his battle with Truman. I do not believe this type of commentary ever went to the open level. Both of these commentaries are beyond the norm for flag officers
Too little too late. Sadly, it will make no difference. For those of us with eyes to see, this was all obvious. To the Trumpenproletariat, these are simply two more members of the “deep state” who have outed themselves.
I’ll be impressed when Trump’s approvals drop to 25% and the Congressional GOP speak publicly against Trump. Otherwise, these are two more trees falling in the woods.
Not meaningful.
Only political junkies (<1% of voters) are paying attention.
I agree 100% with Joel.
In the immortal words of Tupac Shakur from 1992:
“I see no changes, all I see is racist faces
Misplaced hate makes disgrace to races
We under, I wonder what it takes to make this
One better place, let’s erase the wasted
Take the evil out the people they’ll be acting right
‘Cause mo’ black and white is smokin’ crack tonight
And only time we chill is when we kill each other
It takes skill to be real, time to heal each other
And although it seems heaven sent
We ain’t ready, to see a black President
It ain’t a secret don’t conceal the fact
The penitentiary’s packed, and it’s filled with blacks
But some things will never change
Try to show another way but you stayin’ in the dope game
Now tell me, what’s a mother to do?
Bein’ real don’t appeal to the brother in you
You gotta operate the easy way
I made a G today, but you made it in a sleazy way
Sellin’ crack to the kid, I gotta get paid
Well hey, well, that’s the way it is”
He was somewhat wrong about Obama, but pretty much spot on for everything else. This isn’t just a police force problem, this is institutionalized racism from the top down. Education, finance, housing, welfare, government, you name it, all has issues. We can start with the police, but we also have to focus on education.
MS:
I wrote on this issue (last lines) somewhere else on AB also. Something I was writing a decade ago. Never finished it after 10 pages.
For the poor white man in the 19th century, poverty added the injury of being socially invisible when compared to a man of wealth or prominence. Society not acknowledging their presence created a class of insignificance effectively shamed into oblivion as a class not worthy of notice. Adams did not speak of the black man and Slavery took it one step further creating a stigma worst than that of poverty and more shame inducing. Slaves were economic chattel to be disposed of at the discretion of their owners without observance of their being at a separate class lower than that of the poorest white man. While not as overt in the 20th century, the distinction of black slave versus poor white man has kept the class system alive and well in the US in the development of a discriminatory informal caste system. This distraction of a class level lower than the poorest of the white has kept them from concentrating on the disproportionate, and growing, distribution of wealth and income in the US. For the lower class, an allowed luxury, a place in the hierarchy and a sure form of self esteem insurance.
Mattis could have least named his column accurately. It should be “I Can Not Remain Silent Any Longer.”
For two years you watched this absolute clusterfuck of a human being screw this country into our current position.
You get no credit now.
I agree with Joel and EMichael. No credit now. Yeah, nice he is speaking up but where was all the General bravery before it now became safe to be a conservative speaking out against Trump?
At least the never trumpers showed some guts as to bucking their party.
Then again, the republican congress members still haven’t figured out how to protect themselves from the Oh so painful wrath of a tweeter rant!
Maybe they never got the message: Sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me.
Daniel, some of those names also contain credible threats.
It happened in my community of 10K people, and had to be a local making the death threats. I would like to think it was just a threat, but I can’t blame the victim for taking it seriously enough to cancel the protest he was organizing.
I don’t disagree with EMichael, Joel, and Daniel; nonethless I would just like to point out that cynicism and I” told em so”‘s are not particularly useful right now. It’s not enough (in my opinion) to point out the flaws off those that flawed clearly but have not met their due, for three reasons:
1- the best form of justice is the success of those who are actively trying to do good;
2- If too much time is spent saying well “they have their problems too/ everyone is flawed” and other (correct) “buts…” then apathy and nihilism spread, which are just as deletorious as the worst impulses of this administration;
3- It’s a numbers game. Do what you can to get better people into positions their needed and let others do theirs, the hope is that these articles pick up a few people who then pick up a few people. Best case scenario is that T loses support amongst military peoples to the point that those who voted for him on that reason learn that he is not really pro military, worst case is that nothing changes. I find this to be an acceptable range of possibilties.
idriss:
This was two amongst a dozen I posted here. As from a Military family, I find it highly unusual for flag officers to come out and criticize a sitting president, calling him out for what he is. Also, if you are less than 30 years in service, you are still subject to the UCMJ. I do not recall this happening to any other president.
I recognize the name. What brings you to wander back to Angry Bear?
And that’s why I appreciate you posting them concurrently with posts such as the one you linked with regards to Kamala Harris (which works with point 1 I had). I agree on her strength as a VP, though she has rightfully been criticized as a prosecutor, that makes her all the more well- equipped to deal with and predict the pragmatic difficulties that accompany any criminal justice/ policing reform (everything is a tradeoff after all).
Also, correct me if I’m wrong, I think a fair amount of officials have skirted the UCMJ by basing their criticisms on policies and not policy makers, but it seems to be the consensus that Mattis’s open criticism of motives to be very novel. Hopefully, this wakes up people who thought that this administration’s relation with the military was fundamentally solid and mutually beneficial.
And yeah, I believe I was around this blog before. I’ve mostly been on a self-imposed hiatus from all (non-music) forms of social media for 3 years because I felt I needed a reset. Since the isolation I have done a lot more personal writing which made me miss economics reading and argumentation which dropped off during law school for me, so wander back I did.
Good to see you’re still finding the good in these matters Bill.
Idriss:
You obviously know me from somewhere, maybe from BOTF, Moneybox, The Fray, etc.
Angry Bear does accept guest posts of merit if you feel the urge. We do have quite a few economic people here as well as other expertise.
I do not care for courts or prosecutors for reasons you may know of if we are familiar. In any case, hang around a bit.
Many of the commenters are my equals or better in their areas of expertise. It is a challenge
What to do about the collaborators?
ken:
Not much to be done. They have labeled themselves for what they are. It will be handled informally I suspect.
ken:
Nice article in The Atlantic. History Will Judge the Complicit
Thanks, Run
Post WWII France was what I was alluding to. If you haven’t yet seen, Un village français ,A French Village, is a Masterpiece/Classic (MHZ)
Here’s a link to Applebaum’s Fresh Air interview from yesterday 6/4
https://www.npr.org/transcripts/869722081
ok
@Michael Smith,
Amen brother.