Breaking-Trump to name Patrick Shanahan as acting Defense Secretary

[Gefn]

James Mathis to depart Pentagon on Jan 1.

Breaking

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/23/james-mattis-expected-to-depart-pentagon-by-january-1.html

[edpc]

Patrick Shanahan, a former Boeing executive, became the deputy secretary of defense in 2017.


"I am pleased to announce that our very talented Deputy Secretary of Defense, Patrick Shanahan, will assume the title of Acting Secretary of Defense starting January 1, 2019. Patrick has a long list of accomplishments while serving as Deputy, & previously Boeing. He will be great!" Trump tweeted.


Corporate execs always make great Sec Defs. McNamara and Rumsfeld, for example.   

[Applewood]

Read up a little about Mr. Shanahan.  As I expected, no real military experience.  About as close as he got to military service is his service as  vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_M._Shanahan

Would be nice if presidents would name people to their cabinet or other government entities who had actual relevant experience.  Instead, they look for friends, relatives, campaign donors, golfing buddies and such.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Patrick Shanahan, a former Boeing executive, became the deputy secretary of defense in 2017.


"I am pleased to announce that our very talented Deputy Secretary of Defense, Patrick Shanahan, will assume the title of Acting Secretary of Defense starting January 1, 2019. Patrick has a long list of accomplishments while serving as Deputy, & previously Boeing. He will be great!" Trump tweeted.


Corporate execs always make great Sec Defs. McNamara and Rumsfeld, for example.   

As do the perennial politicians, like Cheney.  It's always a crap shoot.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Patrick M. Shanahan became the 33rd Deputy Secretary of Defense on July 19, 2017.

Mr. Shanahan most recently served as Boeing senior vice president, Supply Chain & Operations.

A Washington state native, Mr. Shanahan joined Boeing in 1986 and spent over three decades with the company. He previously worked as senior vice president of Commercial Airplane Programs, managing profit and loss for the 737, 747, 767, 777 and 787 programs and the operations at Boeing's principal manufacturing sites; as vice president and general manager of the 787 Dreamliner, leading the program during a critical development period;

as vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems, overseeing the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system, Airborne Laser and Advanced Tactical Laser; and as vice president and general manager of Boeing Rotorcraft Systems, overseeing the Apache, Chinook and Osprey. He previously held leadership positions on the 757 program, 767 program and in the fabrication division.

Mr. Shanahan is a Royal Aeronautical Society Fellow, Society of Manufacturing Engineers Fellow and American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Associate Fellow. He served as a regent at the University of Washington for over five years.

Mr. Shanahan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Washington and two advanced degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering, and an MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management,

https://dod.defense.gov/About/Biographies/Biography-View/Article/1252116/patrick-shanahan/

[Frank Cannon]

Corporate execs always make great Sec Defs. McNamara and Rumsfeld, for example.   

Yeah. We should have more winners like Leon Panetta and Les Aspin.

[Absalom]

All this turnover/turmoil in the Executive Branch is a consequence of a cold and hard reality.
Trump CANNOT assess character!!!

[Right_in_Virginia]

All this turnover/turmoil in the Executive Branch is a consequence of a cold and hard reality.
Trump CANNOT assess character!!!

Or people regularly lie about their commitment to the President's agenda.

[Applewood]

Or people regularly lie about their commitment to the President's agenda.

Trump doesn't have an agenda -- at least not whatever he promised during the campaign. 

[Absalom]

Or people regularly lie about their commitment to the President's agenda.

-------------------------
The awareness of truth is at the core of the ability to discern character.

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

Patrick Shanahan, a former Boeing executive, became the deputy secretary of defense in 2017.


"I am pleased to announce that our very talented Deputy Secretary of Defense, Patrick Shanahan, will assume the title of Acting Secretary of Defense starting January 1, 2019. Patrick has a long list of accomplishments while serving as Deputy, & previously Boeing. He will be great!" Trump tweeted.


Corporate execs always make great Sec Defs. McNamara and Rumsfeld, for example.   

IIRC, Rummy was Sec Def before becoming a corp exec.

[Oceander]

Or people regularly lie about their commitment to the President's agenda.

What is that agenda?

[Right_in_Virginia]

What is that agenda?

You missed a lot by not listening to candidate Trump.

Rand Paul: Promise To End The War In Syria Is Why Trump Won The Election

RAND PAUL: This is a very bold move for President Trump. It is exactly what he promised the American people -- in fact it is one of the reasons he won the election. Because he is different from so many Republicans who want us to be everywhere all the time around the world. They want us to be the world policeman, that every war on the planet we have to have our soldiers involved with.

President Trump said he was going to treat America first. I think bringing some of that money home, whether it goes towards border security or building bridges or roads in our country.

I think there are a lot of independent voters, a lot of people in the middle of these states that President Trump won --Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin- these are states that no other Republican won, because they want to be at war everywhere all the time. President Trump said we're going to go to war when we have to, but when we win we're going to come home. It is an incredibly bold maneuver.

All of the naysayers in Washington will be against him, but guess what, if you ask the American people, this is why President Trump won the election.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/12/20/rand_paul_promise_to_end_war_in_syria_is_why_trump_won_the_election.html

[Axeslinger]

What is that agenda?

@Oceander

Don’t sweat it, arguing with @Right_in_Virginia is like playing chess with a pigeon; no matter how good you are at chess the pigeon is just going to knock over the pieces, shit on the board and strut around like it won...(and put passive aggressive emojis at the end of its posts)

[Right_in_Virginia]

@Oceander

Don’t sweat it, arguing with @Right_in_Virginia is like playing chess with a pigeon; no matter how good you are at chess the pigeon is just going to knock over the pieces, shit on the board and strut around like it won...(and put passive aggressive emojis at the end of its posts)

Trump as a candidate and as the President he has been very clear what his agenda is regarding the cycle of never ending war this country has been stuck in for twenty years.  He will end any war without a cogent answer to "why are we fighting?"    Anyone claiming not to know this @Axeslinger has either been in coma for three years or is simply disingenuous.  The game playing is on your side. 

Merry Christmas, sweetie.  Hope its a good one!      

[Oceander]

You missed a lot by not listening to candidate Trump.

Not really.  “MAGA” is not an agenda.  Other than that, he has no agenda; just burps and indigestion that he mistakes for bright ideas. 

The only good he’s done as president has come when he’s shut up and done what other people told him to do, like the Federalists did regarding judges. 

[DB]

Or people regularly lie about their commitment to the President's agenda.

LOL!

A commitment to an "agenda" that can become the opposite of what it was days before...

There's one common denominator to all this "lying" but you can't see it...

Occam's Razor apparently doesn't work for you... It has to be everyone else no matter how many...

[Right_in_Virginia]

Not really.  “MAGA” is not an agenda.  Other than that, he has no agenda; just burps and indigestion that he mistakes for bright ideas. 

The only good he’s done as president has come when he’s shut up and done what other people told him to do, like the Federalists did regarding judges. 

 


You're a hoot @Oceander   Please don't ever change.   

[Oceander]

You're a hoot @Oceander   Please don't ever change.   

Whatever.   Maybe when you graduate to intellectual big-girl pants you’ll start making sense. 

[Axeslinger]

You're a hoot @Oceander   Please don't ever change.   

@Oceander I tried to tell ya

[Oceander]

@Oceander I tried to tell ya

Trust me, I know.

[jmyrlefuller]

He's not even hiding the corruption anymore.

A corporate executive and lifelong civilian? I'm sorry, and I say this as a guy who has never agreed with the idea that military service should be a requirement for public service, but for the Defense Department, it should be.

This is all a ploy to funnel that deficit spending to defense contractors.

[edpc]

Yeah. We should have more winners like Leon Panetta and Les Aspin.

The four of them aren’t exactly going down in history as the best Sec Defs, but tell me which pair combination got more people killed.

[Night Hides Not]

All this turnover/turmoil in the Executive Branch is a consequence of a cold and hard reality.
Trump CANNOT assess character!!!

Leaving Trump's mercurial personality aside, I think it's sheer madness that anyone would want to work for this fool. IOW, it's a character flaw on those that accepted those appointments, thinking that they could "manage" a working relationship with The Donald.

Next two years are going to be hell for this country. He cannot get reelected by just relying on his base of 35%.

[Elderberry]

Philip Rucker, Dan Lamothe and Josh Dawsey, Houston Chronicle Dec. 23, 2018

President Donald Trump, who aides said has been seething about news coverage of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis' pointed resignation letter, abruptly announced Sunday that he was removing Mattis two months before his planned departure and installing Patrick Shanahan as acting defense secretary.

The move brings fresh instability to the Pentagon as it manages Trump's sudden decisions to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria and Afghanistan. Shanahan, a former Boeing executive who has been Mattis' deputy at the Pentagon, will assume the top job on an acting capacity beginning Jan. 1. But a senior administration official said Trump plans to conduct a wide-ranging search for a permanent replacement and is interested in candidates from outside the administration.

Trump decided hastily to remove Mattis in reaction to negative news coverage, according to senior administration officials, one of whom said the president was eager to retaliate against Mattis and show up the widely respected former general. Another official said Trump and other advisers suspected Mattis of being part of a campaign to stoke negative coverage about the president.

After canceling his Christmas trip to Florida in view of the partial government shutdown, Trump was marooned this weekend at the White House, watching hours of cable television news shows. Advisers said he stewed over commentary hailing Mattis as heroic - a human guardrail against the president's impulses.

Trump was so angry with Mattis that on Sunday morning he directed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to inform the defense secretary that he was being removed from office two months early, according to a senior administration official. Trump himself has not spoken to Mattis since last Thursday, when the secretary resigned.

Mattis resigned in protest after Trump announced the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria over the strong objections of Mattis and others on the national security team. Brett McGurk, the top U.S. envoy to the international coalition fighting the Islamic State militant group, also resigned in protest over Trump's Syria decision.

In his resignation letter, Mattis delivered a sharp rebuke of Trump's worldview and cast the president's foreign policy positions as a threat to the nation. Mattis said in the letter that he would leave his post on Feb. 28, to allow for a smooth transition to the next defense secretary. But Trump decided to hasten the process, announcing Sunday on Twitter that Shanahan would replace Mattis imminently.

"I am pleased to announce that our very talented Deputy Secretary of Defense, Patrick Shanahan, will assume the title of Acting Secretary of Defense starting January 1, 2019," Trump wrote. "Patrick has a long list of accomplishments while serving as Deputy, & previously Boeing. He will be great!"

Trump's Syria decision has emerged as a flash point in Washington, with some prominent Republican lawmakers continuing to plead with the president to change his mind.

Trump has shown no willingness to reconsider. He tweeted that he had a "long and productive" call Sunday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss the conflict in Syria and Trump's plans for a "slow & highly coordinated pullout of U.S. troops from the area."

More: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/article/Trump-forces-Mattis-out-two-months-early-names-13487416.php