Mattis responds to Trump criticism: 'I guess I'm the Meryl Streep of generals'
Former Defense secretary James Mattis responded to the President Trump calling him “the world’s most overrated general” during a meeting with Congressional leaders Wednesday.
At the Al Smith Memorial Foundation dinner on Thursday, Mattis opened his speech with a caustic blow about his deferment from the military during the Vietnam War.
"I earned my spurs on the battlefield; Donald Trump earned his spurs from the doctor” he said. [ooh, now that's a sick burn... ]
The general continued on with more Trump references, stating, “I’m not just an overrated general. I’m the greatest, the world’s most overrated," Mattis was the keynote speaker at the 74th annual event.
"I'm honored to be considered that by Donald Trump because he also called Meryl Streep an overrated actress. So I guess I'm the Meryl Streep of generals, and frankly that sounds pretty good to me,” Mattis continued.
But Mattis didn’t stop there with his jabs at the president.
“And you do have to admit that between me and Meryl, at least we’ve had some victories,” he joked.
Trump reportedly called Mattis “the world’s most overrated general,”during a tense meeting Wednesday with Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) among others. Schumer reportedly read a quote from Mattis’s Sunday appearance on “Meet the Press,” during which he warned that “ISIS will resurge” if the U.S. does not keep forces in northern Syria.
Trump pulled troops from the area last week.
“He wasn’t tough enough," Trump reportedly said at the Wednesday meeting. "I captured ISIS. Mattis said it would take two years. I captured them in one month."
Shortly following Mattis's remarks, Schumer, who happened to attend the function as well, showed solidarity with the general, tweeting, "While Donald Trump was having another rally, it was great to catch up with General Mattis—the Meryl Streep of generals."
Well worth a listen, at least to the first six minutes. Then some platitudes; but he's good on the subject of democracy and what it means at around 9 or 10 minutes.
I was always rather puzzled by his role at the WH: was he an enabler? Did he give Trump some much needed credibility? I hoped that he - as a man, not as a politician - took the role out of some sense of duty and stayed because he thought that he might sometimes be the necessary grown up. I wish he had sometimes given Trump a backhander but maybe we just have to think how much worse it could have been if he had not been there. We'll never know but maybe we've had a taste of that in the last few days.
Re: Okay, His Delivery Could Use A Little Work...
Posted: Fri Oct 18, 2019 1:51 pm
by Scooter
I think there were a few people like him who were there because they believed they could act as a steadying influence. And we saw little implosions that happened from time to time and appeared to be contained, likely after someone sat down and had a calming talk with El Jefe.
Now they are all gone, because they realized there is no reasoning with him in the long run, and we are seeing the result.
Re: Okay, His Delivery Could Use A Little Work...
Posted: Fri Oct 18, 2019 2:05 pm
by BoSoxGal
He’s not a professional comedian so I think he did alright with the jokes considering that - I especially loved the nod to Colonel Sanders.
But it was the rest of the message that brought me to tears; the damage being wrought in this country most all coming from within, and despite Mattis’s cautionary words evoking Lincoln’s wisdom on this subject, it seems very unlikely that anything in the coming impeachment or election process will improve the deterioration of political discourse that has been steadily unfolding since the rise of Limbaugh and FOX and a model for GOP behavior created by Gingrich’s Contract with America.
I’m not saying the left is blameless or that they haven’t taken the bait and met the lowered bar - they have. But I think the origins of this ugliness lie squarely with the GOP and unless it reforms there is no hope for a return to the kinder, gentler discourse we enjoyed before the mid-90s. The only good I can see that might come of Trump would be if he eviscerates the party entirely and leaves it bleeding out for a couple of election cycles so that it has no choice but to reform.
:]
