James ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis Pens Stern Op-Ed Denouncing Donald Trump

Tempers are flaring in Washington DC this week, and not just out in the streets.

Lawmakers and Washington insiders have been absolutely seething this week as enormous protests continue to apply pressure on Capitol Hill’s elite, the White House, and other institutions.  President Trump has declared himself the “law and order” President, and his methods of persuasion are now drawing ire from all corners of The Beltway.

Predictably, a number of Democratic legislators have expressed their anger, which they seem to do every hour, on the hour when it comes to President Trump.  The real shocker was when General James “Mad Dog” Mattis spoke out...and viciously. 

In an extraordinary rebuke, former defense secretary Jim Mattis on Wednesday denounced President Donald Trump’s heavy-handed use of military force to quell protests near the White House and said his former boss was setting up a “false conflict” between the military and civilian society.

“I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled,” Mattis wrote.

You could recognize his anger in his writing.

Mattis had a scathing description of Trump’s walk to a historic nearby church Monday to pose with a Bible after law enforcement forcibly cleared Lafayette Square of mostly peaceful protesters.

He said he never dreamed troops “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.”

“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,” Mattis wrote in a statement published by The Atlantic. “We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership.”

Trump fired back via Twitter, calling Mattis “overrated”, and claiming that he had “fired” Mattis.  Mattis’ account of his departure from the White House differs.