While I have never been a part of the cult of James Mattis, I do, nonetheless, respect him, and I respect his judgment. For the last few months or so, I have been waiting with increasing disappointment for him to speak out against the malice and incompetence of the orange fascist at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. One hundred eight thousand are dead. Less than five thousand needed to die. Forty million are unemployed. Less than 4 million needed to be. The President of the United States, two days ago, ordered an attack on our fellow citizens WITH TEAR GAS. He blasphemes a holy book, so many Americans claim to love, all for a photo op so he could look tough. 3.5 years of norms of government being violated, police literally getting away with murder, corrupt officials robbing the public treasury, and betraying the United States to another foreign power. That should be reason enough to be white-hot furious with anger.
And for months, there had been only silence – until today, that is.
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 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.” He goes on, “We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution.”
More than a tad bit late, but welcome nonetheless. Welcome to the party, pal!
I urge you to read the full text of Gen Mattis’ statement here:
IN UNION THERE IS STRENGTH
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.
When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens—much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside.
We must reject any thinking of our cities as a “battlespace” that our uniformed military is called upon to “dominate.” At home, we should use our military only when requested to do so, on very rare occasions, by state governors. Militarizing our response, as we witnessed in Washington, D.C., sets up a conflict—a false conflict—between the military and civilian society. It erodes the moral ground that ensures a trusted bond between men and women in uniform and the society they are sworn to protect, and of which they themselves are a part. Keeping public order rests with civilian state and local leaders who best understand their communities and are answerable to them.
James Madison wrote in Federalist 14 that “America united with a handful of troops, or without a single soldier, exhibits a more forbidding posture to foreign ambition than America disunited, with a hundred thousand veterans ready for combat.” We do not need to militarize our response to protests. We need to unite around a common purpose. And it starts by guaranteeing that all of us are equal before the law.
Instructions given by the military departments to our troops before the Normandy invasion reminded soldiers that “The Nazi slogan for destroying us…was ‘Divide and Conquer.’ Our American answer is ‘In Union there is Strength.’” We must summon that unity to surmount this crisis—confident that we are better than our politics.
Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.
We can come through this trying time stronger, and with a renewed sense of purpose and respect for one another. The pandemic has shown us that it is not only our troops who are willing to offer the ultimate sacrifice for the safety of the community. Americans in hospitals, grocery stores, post offices, and elsewhere have put their lives on the line in order to serve their fellow citizens and their country. We know that we are better than the abuse of executive authority that we witnessed in Lafayette Square. We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution. At the same time, we must remember Lincoln’s “better angels,” and listen to them, as we work to unite.
Only by adopting a new path—which means, in truth, returning to the original path of our founding ideals—will we again be a country admired and respected at home and abroad.
From The Atlantic Magazine Website -03 June 2020. Links are to other Atlantic articles.
Mattis is one of the few individuals in America who can turn people’s heads. Both Democrats and Republicans criticize him at their peril. That is why this statement is so important. Hopefully, it can provide a window for our cowardly Senators to reconsider their misguided vote to acquit this monster back in February. It is especially apt that it comes on the same day that Tom Cotton, who as Charles Pierce calls him, is, “the bobble-throated slapdick from Arkansas,” decides to go full Nazi in an editorial in the New York Times.
Pro tip: Never go full Nazi. Even if you are as stupid and worthless as Tom Cotton is.
This is a clear shot across the bow – that has already gotten Trump triggered. He’s tweeting about it.
All glory is fleeting……….
Gen Mattis is crying no salt tears, of that I am sure.
But I hope he reloads his weapon and begins to fire for effect now.
The barbarians are already at the gate. Discretion is hardly the better part of valor at this point.
He said he would remain silent, but would speak at some point. Like you I was waiting and kept hoping that it would be sooner rather than later. Let’s hope folks listen now, especially those in the WH and Senate! I just hope we live to see the end of this nightmare. xo