Rubio: Mattis resignation shows US headed toward ‘grave policy errors’

cpwill · Dec 24, 2018

Tangmo said:
No comment needed or offered...

General Mattis Crosses Potomac With 100,000 Troops; President, Senate Flee City

By Dick Scuttlebutt

WASHINGTON — In an unprecedented turn in American history, retired Marine Gen. James Mattis, several months after being dismissed by the President as secretary of defense and exiled to his estate in the countryside, marched on the national capitol early Tuesday morning with an army over one hundred thousand strong.

This number includes at least ten infantry legions, several aviation and artillery legions, and multiple cavalry cohorts.

“I come in peace, by myself, in order to hand-deliver a Memorandum of Concern to the Commander in Chief and the Senate,” said Mattis in a press conference. “I am moving on foot at a leisurely pace, with no ill will. If these American citizens choose to take a stroll with me, then who am I to turn down their companionship?”

The contents of the so-called memorandum are unknown, but are rumored by Mattis’ close advisors to contain paragraphs addressing unconstitutional acts by the administration and the Senate. Alarmed by the amassing of troops sympathetic to Mattis over the last week at Fort Myer, the Senate, the President, and various generals attempted to call in various combat divisions to Washington to defend the city.

These included the 101st Airborne, 82nd Airborne, 10th Mountain, and 3rd Infantry Divisions, in addition to the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force. “We even attempted to contact NAVSURFLANT and SUBLANT,” confided one Senate aide as he packed his Datsun to flee southward. “All we got was laughter and then static.” The summoned units all either ignored their movement orders, or by the next morning had joined forces with Mattis’ ad-hoc command.

Mattis was apparently done waiting, and crossed the Potomac on landing craft, escorted by an honor guard from MARSOC.* However after setting fire to the National Archives and sabotaging key infrastructure, the cabinet and most members of the Senate fled south toward Charlottesville and Charleston in cars, vans and whatever other vehicles they could commandeer.

The President has not been seen since early yesterday morning, but sources inside the State Department confirm that he is on a scheduled goodwill trip to Saudi Arabia, which was kept from the press for safety reasons. His travel schedule has not been released to pool reporters.

https://www.duffelblog.com/2013/12/...mac-100000-troops-president-senate-flee-city/

*Marines Special Operations Command

Published Dec 24th, 2013.

But yes, a good one

. All Hail First Citizen Mattis.

Sent from my Moto G (5S) Plus using Tapatalk

marke · Dec 24, 2018

cpwill said:
1. They didn't. Key portions of them voted against Hillary.

2. If Obama's policy of cut-and-run was so bad, why is Trump doubling down on it?

Sent from my Moto G (5S) Plus using Tapatalk

Especially since majority public opinion does not guarantee common sense or good judgment, select groups lining up on one or the other side of the aisle opposing democrat or republican presidents should not imagine they have better understanding than the elected officials and their scores of advisers elected to make hard decisions.

marke · Dec 24, 2018

Tangmo said:
The whole thing is slip sliding away.

Public opinion has always been fickle. One week the mobs were worshiping Jesus in the streets and the next they were clamoring for His execution. Such moronic behavior is common among men.

Tangmo · Dec 24, 2018

marke said:
Especially since majority public opinion does not guarantee common sense or good judgment, select groups lining up on one or the other side of the aisle opposing democrat or republican presidents should not imagine they have better understanding than the elected officials and their scores of advisers elected to make hard decisions.

The anti-democratic republic advocated by American Conservatives/Republicans fails when its low intelligensia doesn't know what it's doing and is grossly ignorant besides.

Trump declared Isis defeated on his own, i.e., arbitrarily, summarily, singularly, suddenly. Trump consulted no one other than Erdogan who told Trump to clear the decks in Syria. After Trump stamped this he then pleased Moscow by doing it half-assed in Afghanistan to begin with.

Trump's wild whim of timing and precipitous action came without consultation. Brett McGurk the anti-Isis coordinator on the scene was not consulted in Trump's spontaneous declaration and pronouncements. McGurk had in fact just said to locals the US was committed to remain to assist in the fight. This stuff is the standard Trump Chaos that is his thick signature.

Trump's flash attack on the Pentagon came directly out of his Executive Coloring Book. The book is a gift from Republicans in Congress that's inscribed, "Yours forever." Trump also knows His Fanboys will support him on everything always and forever with rare exception.

Tangmo · Dec 24, 2018

marke said:
Public opinion has always been fickle. One week the mobs were worshiping Jesus in the streets and the next they were clamoring for His execution. Such moronic behavior is common among men.

The US armed forces are not a mob.

Neither are they commanded by Jesus.

This flawed thinking is another reason for the failure of the anti-democratic republic advocated by American Conservatives/Republicans who have much in common with Putin. The rule of Putin and the oligarchs is no alternative either. American Conservatives/Republicans also need to get through their skulls Putin is Russian. Putin is nationalist Russian first, foremost, above and beyond everything else in life. America is a sh!thole country as far as Putin is concerned. And its populated by Americans. You might want to chew on that.

cpwill · Dec 24, 2018

marke said:
Especially since majority public opinion does not guarantee common sense or good judgment, select groups lining up on one or the other side of the aisle opposing democrat or republican presidents should not imagine they have better understanding than the elected officials and their scores of advisers elected to make hard decisions.

I can certainly agree that the Vox Populi is prone to demagoguery and over-simplification of difficult issues.

In this instance, however, all those officials and advisors were pretty much unanimous in that this is a strategic error, an unforced self-own, a betrayal of our allies, and a mistake that will leave America less safe, and American interests degraded.

You can't appeal to expertise in defending Trump on this one. Those with the most expertise in this issue are against him.

But I can't help but notice you didn't answer the question? If Obama's policy of cut-and-run was so bad, why is Trump doubling down on it?

Fletch · Dec 24, 2018

cpwill said:
It's not just "people". It's the very national security experts Trump himself appointed; people with decades of success in this arena. Either Trump is a moron who can't appoint a single decent cabinet head, or he's a moron who can't listen to the advice and expertise of others. Either way, he's a moron.

That Trump is President doesn't mean that his decisions can't be atrociously destructive. It means his decision to do things like double down on Obama's errors are even more destructive.

Sent from my Moto G (5S) Plus using Tapatalk

I dont necessarily disagree with that. My point was aimed at the comments by Stavridis. In his column, he was essentially speaking FOR Mattis or pretending to. And when he injects things like Charlottesville into his narrative, he exposes himself as nothing more than a political hack. If he has an argument for us staying in Syria, he should make it. He didnt. Instead, he just launched into the type of anti-Trump screed worthy or a segment on the Don Lemon Show. I might care what he thinks about Trumps decision to leave Syria. I dont care one bit about his opinion of Trump or why he believes Mattis left.

marke · Dec 24, 2018

Tangmo said:
The anti-democratic republic advocated by American Conservatives/Republicans fails when its low intelligensia doesn't know what it's doing and is grossly ignorant besides.

Nonsense bigoted poppy-cockery. By their own dim reasoning the democrats claim the ignorant Americans voted for the 'ignorant' Trump in large numbers to beat the 'intelligent' wicked woman in the last election. That is stupid. The wicked woman was not smart to let Americans know she thought they were stupid and deplorable.

marke · Dec 24, 2018

Tangmo said:
The US armed forces are not a mob.

Neither are they commanded by Jesus.

This flawed thinking is another reason for the failure of the anti-democratic republic advocated by American Conservatives/Republicans who have much in common with Putin. The rule of Putin and the oligarchs is no alternative either. American Conservatives/Republicans also need to get through their skulls Putin is Russian. Putin is nationalist Russian first, foremost, above and beyond everything else in life. America is a sh!thole country as far as Putin is concerned. And its populated by Americans. You might want to chew on that.

I know Putin is evil, just like Hitler, Mao, Marx, Stalin, Castro, Chavez, Obama, Clinton and thousands of public figures were and/or are.

marke · Dec 24, 2018

cpwill said:
I can certainly agree that the Vox Populi is prone to demagoguery and over-simplification of difficult issues.

In this instance, however, all those officials and advisors were pretty much unanimous in that this is a strategic error, an unforced self-own, a betrayal of our allies, and a mistake that will leave America less safe, and American interests degraded.

You can't appeal to expertise in defending Trump on this one. Those with the most expertise in this issue are against him.

But I can't help but notice you didn't answer the question? If Obama's policy of cut-and-run was so bad, why is Trump doubling down on it?

Trump may be wrong to bring our troops home instead of keeping them there to attempt to forge and maintain a peace. World unrest threatens all nations in the world regardless of their geographic location, but the US cannot be everywhere at the same time attempting to enforce civilized behaviors in rogue nations.

cpwill · Dec 24, 2018

marke said:
Trump may be wrong to bring our troops home instead of keeping them there to attempt to forge and maintain a peace. World unrest threatens all nations in the world regardless of their geographic location, but the US cannot be everywhere at the same time attempting to enforce civilized behaviors in rogue nations.

Our troops aren't in Syria to try to forge some kind of peace, though we have certainly been willing to punish the worst of behaviors in Assad (namely, gassing his own civilians), and our position there would have (had we not stupidly decided to abandon it) would certainly have allowed us to shape whatever ceasefire form eventually takes place in alignment with our interests. They are there to keep a boot on the neck of ISIS so that they don't recover the ability to launch attacks in the West, keep our allies from being eradicated by our enemies, and balance their expansion.

Nor is it "trying to be everywhere". It's "being where needed to keep a boot on the neck of Islamist radicals who, if not suppressed, will go right back to launching attacks in the West, including CONUS".

And it's not really a "May Be". It's an "overwhelmingly likely to be". We are choosing to lose the war on ISIS. We are choosing to abandon our only allies in that region, demonstrating the value (none) of an alliance with the U.S. We are choosing to abandon the field to Iran, Russia, and Assad. We are choosing to double-down on Obama's worst foreign policy error.

cpwill · Dec 24, 2018

Fletch said:
I dont necessarily disagree with that. My point was aimed at the comments by Stavridis. In his column, he was essentially speaking FOR Mattis or pretending to. And when he injects things like Charlottesville into his narrative, he exposes himself as nothing more than a political hack. If he has an argument for us staying in Syria, he should make it. He didnt. Instead, he just launched into the type of anti-Trump screed worthy or a segment on the Don Lemon Show. I might care what he thinks about Trumps decision to leave Syria. I dont care one bit about his opinion of Trump or why he believes Mattis left.

I can understand that. Certainly Mattis made it clear why he left. My point was simply that the portions you are attempting to breeze over aren't exactly an isolated critique.

This is the list of issues he says Mattis has had to deal with:

...The string is long and undistinguished: the denigration of NATO, an institution Mattis correctly reveres; Trump’s response to the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville as Mattis led the most racially integrated organization in government; the fictitious migrant caravan “invasion” and the deployment of nearly 6,000 troops to string barb wire over Thanksgiving and Christmas; the major drawdown of U.S. forces from Afghanistan; the support to an implacable foe of the United States, Vladimir Putin, at a shameful press conference in Helsinki; and the seemingly endless stories of moral failure from the Commander-in-Chief himself...

Which one of those are you saying didn't happen, that Mattis didn't have to deal with the fallout from?

Because, if all those things happened, and if you think that listing some (and only some) of the history of fires that the President has started and which Mattis has had to deal with is an "anti-Trump screed", then your problem isn't really with Stavridis. It's with Trump, but you're not willing to admit it.

In the end, his point pretty much overlaps' with Mattis'; our President isn't tough with our enemies, and is disrespectful to and betrays our allies, creating chaos in our foreign policy and endangering the nation.

But, then, my point was that it is hardly Stavridis saying that the President is wrong to double-down on Obama's worst foreign policy failure and cut-and-run, abandoning the field to our enemies; rather, it is pretty much everyone who Trump appointed to a national security billet who said that.

The same people who opposed Obama being a weak bitch in front of our enemies are lining up in opposition to Trump's decision here. Why do you think that is?

marke · Dec 24, 2018

cpwill said:
Our troops aren't in Syria to try to forge some kind of peace, though we have certainly been willing to punish the worst of behaviors in Assad (namely, gassing his own civilians), and our position there would have (had we not stupidly decided to abandon it) would certainly have allowed us to shape whatever ceasefire form eventually takes place in alignment with our interests. They are there to keep a boot on the neck of ISIS so that they don't recover the ability to launch attacks in the West, keep our allies from being eradicated by our enemies, and balance their expansion.

Nor is it "trying to be everywhere". It's "being where needed to keep a boot on the neck of Islamist radicals who, if not suppressed, will go right back to launching attacks in the West, including CONUS".

And it's not really a "May Be". It's an "overwhelmingly likely to be". We are choosing to lose the war on ISIS. We are choosing to abandon our only allies in that region, demonstrating the value (none) of an alliance with the U.S. We are choosing to abandon the field to Iran, Russia, and Assad. We are choosing to double-down on Obama's worst foreign policy error.

You may be right - or not. I am happy to leave our foreign policy in the hands of Jesus and pray He will move in our national support to do the right thing and not the wrong thing.

Fletch · Dec 24, 2018

cpwill said:
I can understand that. Certainly Mattis made it clear why he left. My point was simply that the portions you are attempting to breeze over aren't exactly an isolated critique.

This is the list of issues he says Mattis has had to deal with:

...The string is long and undistinguished: the denigration of NATO, an institution Mattis correctly reveres; Trump’s response to the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville as Mattis led the most racially integrated organization in government; the fictitious migrant caravan “invasion” and the deployment of nearly 6,000 troops to string barb wire over Thanksgiving and Christmas; the major drawdown of U.S. forces from Afghanistan; the support to an implacable foe of the United States, Vladimir Putin, at a shameful press conference in Helsinki; and the seemingly endless stories of moral failure from the Commander-in-Chief himself...

Which one of those are you saying didn't happen, that Mattis didn't have to deal with the fallout from?

Because, if all those things happened, and if you think that listing some (and only some) of the history of fires that the President has started and which Mattis has had to deal with is an "anti-Trump screed", then your problem isn't really with Stavridis. It's with Trump, but you're not willing to admit it.

In the end, his point pretty much overlaps' with Mattis'; our President isn't tough with our enemies, and is disrespectful to and betrays our allies, creating chaos in our foreign policy and endangering the nation.

But, then, my point was that it is hardly Stavridis saying that the President is wrong to double-down on Obama's worst foreign policy failure and cut-and-run, abandoning the field to our enemies; rather, it is pretty much everyone who Trump appointed to a national security billet who said that.

The same people who opposed Obama being a weak bitch in front of our enemies are lining up in opposition to Trump's decision here. Why do you think that is?

But Mattis didnt leave because of those things, so listing them is simply a partisan swipe at Trump. Stavridis can do that if he likes but in his piece he is pretending he is speaking for Mattis when he is not. If Mattis has a beef with Charlottesville or the 'endless stories of moral failure' he should say it, not this hack. And if Stavridis has an argument for staying in Syria and Afghanistan, he should have spelled it out. He didnt. Instead he simply penned another hit piece on Trump which are a dime a dozen. There should be a discussion of Syria and Afghanistan in this country and if Stavridis goal was to start such a conversation, he blew it.

American · Dec 24, 2018

Unitedwestand13 said:
He can also shut down the government by making impossible demands for what needs to be in the bills he would sign.

Trump could have signed the spending bill that the senate unanimously passed that would kept the government open until February.

But since that bill did not fund his wall, he openly declared he would not sign it.

Don't make me laugh in your face. $5B ain't **** in a $3.5T budget. :lamo :lamo Dems could afford to fly $150B to Iran. Dems are lying sack of ****, and ought to be flogged.

Mr Person · Dec 24, 2018

cpwill said:
Our troops aren't in Syria to try to forge some kind of peace, though we have certainly been willing to punish the worst of behaviors in Assad (namely, gassing his own civilians), and our position there would have (had we not stupidly decided to abandon it) would certainly have allowed us to shape whatever ceasefire form eventually takes place in alignment with our interests. They are there to keep a boot on the neck of ISIS so that they don't recover the ability to launch attacks in the West, keep our allies from being eradicated by our enemies, and balance their expansion.

Nor is it "trying to be everywhere". It's "being where needed to keep a boot on the neck of Islamist radicals who, if not suppressed, will go right back to launching attacks in the West, including CONUS".

And it's not really a "May Be". It's an "overwhelmingly likely to be". We are choosing to lose the war on ISIS. We are choosing to abandon our only allies in that region, demonstrating the value (none) of an alliance with the U.S. We are choosing to abandon the field to Iran, Russia, and Assad. We are choosing to double-down on Obama's worst foreign policy error.

Liked except for the last bit. Nobody predicted a reformed terrorist group in Syria would decide to invade Iraq and create a caliphate. The worry was about not-quite-destroyed terrorist groups within Iraq reforming, leading to another insurgency. That didn't happen. What did happen was very bad, but was not the thing predicted.

One must also note that to prevent this without foresight, Obama would have had to refuse to honor the agreement the previous administration entered. That would have its own consequences, the vast majority unknowable

No matter what is said about Obama, we owe the Kurds. We may need them in the future but that shouldn't decide it. We owe them. They bled with us. I think it is abhorrent to turn them over to slaughter in this fashion. It seems terrible to me, to do this to them.

*ok I can say something about Obama. I find it abhorrent that he/they did not make a massive push for streamlining legal immigration, especially with respect to people like those Afghanis who worked with our troops against the Taliban, only to be dumped into years of red immigration tape, many killed horribly.

Thoreau72 · Dec 25, 2018

Fletch said:
I dont necessarily disagree with that. My point was aimed at the comments by Stavridis. In his column, he was essentially speaking FOR Mattis or pretending to. And when he injects things like Charlottesville into his narrative, he exposes himself as nothing more than a political hack. If he has an argument for us staying in Syria, he should make it. He didnt. Instead, he just launched into the type of anti-Trump screed worthy or a segment on the Don Lemon Show. I might care what he thinks about Trumps decision to leave Syria. I dont care one bit about his opinion of Trump or why he believes Mattis left.

So far, I've been unable to find anybody that can make a persuasive argument for us to stay in Syria. Everybody seems to be crying about it, but nobody can offer a compelling reason for staying.

Sweden · Dec 25, 2018

JoanDavis said:
McCain was a WAR HERO! And in 2008 most rightwing republicans voted for him to be President. Just because McCain put his COUNTRY before the interests of the crooked trump , people like you have disrespected him, attacked him, celebrated his death and much much worse.

I am a liberal but I RESPECT McCain more than all you unpatriotic traitorous trumpsters.

The sooner Cadet Bone Spurs is thrown in jail the better for the WHOLE WORLD.

Being a war hero does no necessarily make one the best equipped to promote peace.

Rubio: Mattis resignation shows US headed toward ‘grave policy errors’

cpwill

marke

marke

Tangmo

Tangmo

cpwill

Fletch

marke

marke

marke

cpwill

cpwill

marke

Fletch

American

Trump Grump Whisperer

Mr Person

A Little Bitter

Thoreau72

Sweden