Saturday, June 6, 2020

Trump: Pretend General vs. Real General & Bone Spurs vs. 44-Year Combat Vet

Tweeter-in-Chief vs. Retired Marine Corps General
(The Grand Face Off)


Mattis vs Trump: No contest

Trump piles one lie on top of another, then another after that, and then still another after that and so forth, and bingo another … the man is incorrigible. Case in point from The AP:

Trump skews history by saying he fired Mattis

Introduction: When Jim Mattis announced his resignation as defense secretary, Trump thanked him for “tremendous progress” in helping to rebuild the military and for “retiring with distinction.” Times changed and so did Trump's story about losing his Pentagon chief.

Trump now claims he fired Mattis, says President Barack Obama did the same and takes credit for nicknaming him “Mad Dog” Mattis.

None of that is true.

After leaving the administration, Mattis let it be known that he was biting his lip about Trump's leadership. He only hinted at his concerns — even in a recent book — until his recent statements this week opening up on “…the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try.”

Trump lashed back in routine Trump fashion and also in true Trump fashion, skipping the truth and facts along the way:

TRUMP TWEETED (of course): “Probably the only thing Barack Obama & I have in common is that we both had the honor of firing Jim Mattis, the world’s most overrated General.”

THE FACTS: That’s not what happened in either case. Mattis resigned as defense secretary in protest over Trump’s decision to pull U.S. troops from Syria, giving two months' notice. The retired four-star Marine general announced on December 20, 2018, that he would step down in February 2019.

Another Trump tweet: He praised Mattis as a “great help” in getting allies to put up more money for their military obligations, adding: General Jim Mattis will be retiring, with distinction. I greatly thank Jim for his service!”

But the matter didn’t sit well with Trump because three days later he abruptly said he was bringing in a replacement on January 1, 2019, and not waiting until the next month.

Also Barack Obama didn’t fire Mattis, who served as head of the Central Command in that administration. Mattis departed a few months earlier than expected in 2013, in part because of disagreements over Iran.

TRUMP tweeted again:His nickname was Chaos (FYI: That was Mattis' military call sign in Iraq) which I didn’t like, & I changed to Mad Dog.”

THE FACTS: No, Trump didn’t change Mattis’ nickname to Mad Dog, as he often claims to have done. Mattis had been called that for more than a decade before joining the Trump administration. Mattis had that moniker dating back at least to 2004, when he was commanding general of the 1st Marine Division. 

He attributed the nickname to the press, though old press accounts said that’s what his troops called him in Iraq. He had Chaos as his military call sign Chaos when he was a Marine Colonel in Iraq.

My 2 cents: Recall Trump said: “I know more than all the Generals” for what: Skipping Vietnam with a phony “bone spurs” medical excuse from the family doctor? 

In 2016, then-candidate Trump made it clear that he believed himself to be more knowledgeable than the military’s leadership saying: “I know more about ISIS than the generals do, believe me,” (Bragged in November 2015). 

They don’t know much because they’re not winning,” (Reiterated in June 2016). 

Proof meet pudding – case closed. 

Thanks for stopping by.

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