Comments on: Is Mad Dog Mattis Getting Cold Feet? https://gregladen.com/blog/2017/01/12/is-mad-dog-mattis-getting-cold-feet/ Thu, 12 Jan 2017 19:56:58 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.8 By: Wow https://gregladen.com/blog/2017/01/12/is-mad-dog-mattis-getting-cold-feet/#comment-456385 Thu, 12 Jan 2017 19:56:58 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=23497#comment-456385 Wouldn’t it be better to go with someone who’s actually suited for the job, though? And NOT one who has been too recently in service to take the job based on the rules about military personnel in the civilian service?

He may be better than some who Trump could dump in the running, but that is so low a bar that to get any lower you’d need to dig a trench.

]]> By: jane https://gregladen.com/blog/2017/01/12/is-mad-dog-mattis-getting-cold-feet/#comment-456384 Thu, 12 Jan 2017 18:59:58 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=23497#comment-456384 Mattis does NOT possess any noticeable amount of empathy for Muslims who desire self-determination. However, he does possess a working brain and an understanding that the U.S. military is not omnipotent. This puts him in a different class from every other Trump appointee whose position is remotely connected to “security” or -snerk- “defense”. Even a warmonger like Elliott Abrams says Mattis should be confirmed so he can try to keep Trump from doing things that are catastrophically stupid. For example, letting Rex Tillerson convince him that we not only deserve more access to the South China Sea than China does, but can take their access away by force. Because war with China would be a cakewalk, right?

]]> By: Bruce Jensen https://gregladen.com/blog/2017/01/12/is-mad-dog-mattis-getting-cold-feet/#comment-456383 Thu, 12 Jan 2017 15:26:42 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=23497#comment-456383 Based on what little I have read of Mattis, he may be the ONLY one on the Trump list who HAS a conscience. That quote about being polite and killing everyone – let’s be realistic – that is a military man’s view of war. Would we expect it otherwise?

However, his other stated positions on various topics leads me to believe that the man is intelligent, principled, honest, scrupulous and that he possesses empathy…obviously a poor fit for the Trump administration.

]]> By: Wow https://gregladen.com/blog/2017/01/12/is-mad-dog-mattis-getting-cold-feet/#comment-456382 Thu, 12 Jan 2017 15:10:21 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=23497#comment-456382 Or trump won’t accept anyone who doesn’t do exactly what trump wants. Someone who would ask trump what he’s doing.

]]> By: BBD https://gregladen.com/blog/2017/01/12/is-mad-dog-mattis-getting-cold-feet/#comment-456381 Thu, 12 Jan 2017 14:56:57 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=23497#comment-456381 Whatever the exact cause or causes of this no-show, I suspect it confirms that Mattis will not take shit from Trump or anyone else on the team.

This was never going to work.

]]> By: David Whitlock https://gregladen.com/blog/2017/01/12/is-mad-dog-mattis-getting-cold-feet/#comment-456380 Thu, 12 Jan 2017 14:49:57 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=23497#comment-456380 Maybe they asked him to plan a Reichstag fire event and they are holding him incommunicado because he said “hell no”.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichstag_fire

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