A STAGGERINGLY RECKLESS DECISION BY A STAGGERINGLY RECKLESS POTUS

From Daily Kos:


Defense Secretary James Mattis, a former Marine general who has the respect of everyone at the Pentagon, didn’t simply resign and head out for retirement. He did something historic—resigning with a public letter saying he was in stark disagreement with Donald Trump, quite specifically in regards to his views on Russia and China. Never in the history of this nation has a defense secretary resigned in protest over issues of national security and military strategy. Never. 

 But, Mattis did something else extraordinary, something that should quite seriously set off alarm bells for us all. As Donald Trump was tweeting that Mattis was heading off to retirement, Mattis was ordering his aides to distribute 50 copies of his resignation letter throughout the highest echelons of the Pentagon. The New York Times has the extraordinarily unusual details of Mattis’s resignation. 

Officials said Mr. Mattis went to the White House with his resignation letter already written, but nonetheless made a last attempt at persuading the president to reverse his decision about Syria, which Mr. Trump announced on Wednesday over the objections of his senior advisers. 
 

Mr. Mattis, a retired four-star Marine general, was rebuffed. Returning to the Pentagon, he asked aides to print out 50 copies of his resignation letter and distribute them around the building. 

 James Mattis thought pulling out of Syria was such a danger to the United States that he again tried to talk Donald Trump out of it and resigned on the spot when Trump refused, deploying his resignation letter around the Pentagon to make certain our military leaders knew he was resigning because Donald Trump’s view are so dangerous to the security of the United States. That’s the equivalent of pulling every fire alarm in the building on the way out the door. Sen. Lindsey Graham very directly said on national television last night that he believed this was such a serious national security lapse that it “would be paving the way for a second 9/11.” 

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw American troops from Syria was made hastily, without consulting his national security team or allies, and over strong objections from virtually everyone involved in the fight against the Islamic State group, according to U.S. and Turkish officials. Trump stunned his Cabinet, lawmakers and much of the world with the move by rejecting the advice of his top aides and agreeing to a withdrawal in a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week, two U.S. officials and a Turkish official briefed on the matter told The Associated Press.

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I remind my readers that Vladimir Putin approved of this decision and praised Donald Trump on his recklessness.

A four-star general of the US Marines tried to talk Trump out of the decision TWICE.  Trump disregarded General Mattis's advice and TRUMP PLEASED VLADIMIR PUTIN.

Putin's gambit in 2015 is working well for him and the Russians.

Not so good for US Americans..