Mattis responds to Trump criticism: 'I guess I'm the Meryl Streep of generals'

[Formerly Once-Ler]

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/466404-mattis-responds-to-trump-criticism-i-guess-im-the-meryl-streep-of
Mattis responds to Trump criticism: 'I guess I'm the Meryl Streep of generals'

Former Defense secretary James Mattis responded to the President Trump calling him “the world’s most overrated general” during a meeting with Congressional leaders Wednesday.

At the Al Smith Memorial Foundation dinner on Thursday, Mattis opened his speech with a caustic blow about his deferment from the military during the Vietnam War.

"I earned my spurs on the battlefield; Donald Trump earned his spurs from the doctor” he said.

The general continued on with more Trump references, stating, “I’m not just an overrated general. I’m the greatest, the world’s most overrated," Mattis was the keynote speaker at the 74th annual event.   

more at link

[LottieDah]

Give that guy a star for having a sense of humor!

[Night Hides Not]

IIRC, this "overrated general" was hired by President Trump.

Trump seems to have a predilection for hiring overrated and/or incompetent people. I thought I heard Trump say on many occasions he was going to hire the best people. Can the nation stand five more years of overrated and/or incompetent people at the highest levels of government?


 

[mystery-ak]

'I'm the Meryl Streep of generals': Mattis hits back at Trump calling him 'overrated'
by Daniel Chaitin
 | October 17, 2019 10:03 PM
 | Updated Oct 17, 2019, 11:05 PM



Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis drew laughs at President Trump's expense as this year's keynote speaker at the white-tie Al Smith Dinner.

At the charity gala in New York City, Mattis made jokes about a heated confrontation between Trump and the Democrats at the White House a day earlier in which his name was invoked.

"I’m not just an overrated general. I am the greatest, the world's most overrated general," Mattis said Thursday evening. The retired four-star Marine Corps general's name was brought up by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer during the discussion Wednesday about Trump’s decision to move U.S. troops away from the northern Syrian border. Trump is said to have called Mattis "the world’s most overrated general" in response.

"I'm honored to be considered that by Donald Trump because he also called Meryl Streep an overrated actress. So I guess I'm the Meryl Streep of generals, and frankly that sounds pretty good to me," Mattis said, referring to the Academy Award-winning actress.

more
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/im-the-meryl-streep-of-generals-mattis-hits-back-at-trump-calling-him-overrated

[sneakypete]

"I earned my spurs on the battlefield; Donald Trump earned his spurs from the doctor” he said.

ROFLMAO! A freaking USMC General boasting about "battlefield spurs" and the highest award he got was a Bronze Star with a V device,and he got THAT as a Marine Officer.

Ask anybody that was an infantryman and they will tell you USMC career infantry officers pretty much automatically get Bronze Stars if they are ever within 50 miles of combat. If nothing else they put themselves in for it,and as the "authorizing authority" who is going to tell them"no"?

If he had been A USMC Corporal or Buck Sgt when he got it,I would be a little impressed.

[sneakypete]

IIRC, this "overrated general" was hired by President Trump.

@Night Hides Not

Hired first by Boy Jorge,and then kept on by Bathhouse Barry. He was already in place when Trump was sworn in.

[kevindavis007]

[Night Hides Not]

@Night Hides Not

Hired first by Boy Jorge,and then kept on by Bathhouse Barry. He was already in place when Trump was sworn in.

Trump hired him to be SecDef, didn’t he? You can’t blame Bush or Obama for that. If anything, working for Obama should have been a disqualification.

Admit it, Trump made a mistake, as evidenced by these recent attempts to smear a former service member.

Oops sorry, you are unable to admit it when Trump makes a mistake.

[mountaineer]

Didn't his mother ever tell him not to stoop to the level of those who insult him? This just makes the general sound pissy.

[sneakypete]

Trump hired him to be SecDef, didn’t he? You can’t blame Bush or Obama for that. If anything, working for Obama should have been a disqualification.

I can't argue with that.

Admit it, Trump made a mistake, as evidenced by these recent attempts to smear a former service member.
 

Trump made a mistake by accepting him after he was recommended by his staff. Presidents are too bush to be bothered with picking and checking the background of potential appointees.  They have people who do stuff like that for them.

[bilo]

ROFLMAO! A freaking USMC General boasting about "battlefield spurs" and the highest award he got was a Bronze Star with a V device,and he got THAT as a Marine Officer.

Ask anybody that was an infantryman and they will tell you USMC career infantry officers pretty much automatically get Bronze Stars if they are ever within 50 miles of combat. If nothing else they put themselves in for it,and as the "authorizing authority" who is going to tell them"no"?

If he had been A USMC Corporal or Buck Sgt when he got it,I would be a little impressed.

Thanks for the info.

I think Trump would have been better off not criticizing Mattis and Graham from the get go, but that;'s not him. I'll take Trump over anybody else, warts and all.

[Chosen Daughter]

Thanks for the info.

I think Trump would have been better off not criticizing Mattis and Graham from the get go, but that;'s not him. I'll take Trump over anybody else, warts and all.

Wrong.  He has several medals.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Mattis

Awards: Defense Distinguished Service Medal · Legion of Merit · Bronze Star Medal · Meritorious Service Medal · Distinguished Service Medal · Defense Superior Service Medal

He is a battlefield General

[sneakypete]

Wrong.  He has several medals.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Mattis

Awards: Defense Distinguished Service Medal · Legion of Merit · Bronze Star Medal · Meritorious Service Medal · Distinguished Service Medal · Defense Superior Service Medal

He is a battlefield General

@Chosen Daughter

That only proves you don't know diddly-squat about military awards and decorations. PLEASE note the military makes a distinction between an award and a decoration.

The ONLY "battlefield decoration" he has is the Bronze Star with the "V-Device" for valor. Even a Bronze Star is an non-combat award unless it is given with the "V-device".

[Formerly Once-Ler]

Carter Page, Ph.D. @carterwpage
 Â· 19h
Disgusting, cowardly comments from James Mattis - making fun of a great American's medical handicaps:

  “@realDonaldTrump earned his spurs in a letter from a doctor.”

If Mattis ever graduated from a military academy like @POTUS, maybe he would have learned a little discipline.

[Mod1]

Merged threads

[Night Hides Not]

Carter Page, Ph.D. @carterwpage
 Â· 19h
Disgusting, cowardly comments from James Mattis - making fun of a great American's medical handicaps:

  “@realDonaldTrump earned his spurs in a letter from a doctor.”

If Mattis ever graduated from a military academy like @POTUS, maybe he would have learned a little discipline.

Someone’s mislaid their sarcasm emoticon.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Give writers their pens, soldiers their swords. Do not, however, salute old warriors who write in defense of war without end.

Do not let retired admirals and generals end the peace with their pieces about the honors of war. Not the horrors of war, of the dead and disfigured, of the living dead who have nothing but their discharge papers and paper prescriptions, of minds deadened by killing and bodies dying from painkillers.

Do not let Admiral William H. McRaven and General James Mattis blind us with their medals and stars. Do not let them bask in the sunlight of courage, in spite of the darkness of their words and the depravity of their threats.

Do not let them convince us that the greatest crime of war is the refusal to wage war. Do not have them reduce a speech by one president into a gag order for our current president: to ask not. Do not let them overrule the prose of democracy with the poetry of the light brigade.

Do not let them have us ride into the valley of Death. Do not let them ruin our military by drafting men who know not to reason why, but to do and die.

For McRaven and Mattis, the fate of all men hinges on the fortunes of a thousand men in Syria, that the road to Damascus is for our tanks to clear and our troops to control, that the road is ours to traverse, that the road is a parade route for freedom-loving travelers throughout the world.

Here is the real test: whether we choose to hear the summons of trumpets without the sound of the bugler’s call, because death in combat is the price of glorifying war.

McRaven and Mattis would have us choose the rhetoric of Kennedy over the realism of Washington and Eisenhower.

They would have us go abroad in search of monsters to destroy, ignoring the wisdom of Adams and the warning of Nixon.

They would have us destroy anything in order to save nothing but their pride.

- Bill Asher, Oct 18, 2019

https://amgreatness.com/2019/10/18/mcraven-and-mattis-the-mms-of-perpetual-war/