Defense Secretary James Mattis had aides print up 50 copies of his resignation letter to President Donald Trump and distribute them around the Pentagon Thursday, The New York Times reported.
The letter, which did not offer any praise for the President, spent a page-and-a-half going over Mattis’ disagreements with Trump regarding their views toward international alliances, among other things.
“My views on treating allies with respect and also being clear-eyed about both malign actors and strategic competitors are strongly held and informed by over four decades of immersion in these issues,” the letter read. “We must do everything possible to advance an international order that is most conducive to our security, prosperity and values, and we are strengthened in this effort by the solidarity of our alliances.”
It continued: “Because you have the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects, I believe it is right for me to step down from my position.”
The Times reported that Mattis met with Trump on Thursday having already written the letter, and that he delivered it to Trump after one more failed attempt to convince the President not to withdraw American forces from Syria, a decision Trump announced Wednesday.
Why do this? Best I can come up with is it headed off the white house’ “Mattis resigned” narrative without Mattis having to go to the media to say that he did not resign, which becomes a weak “he said/he said” argument.
I think you are correct. It makes sense, the guy is mad as hell and all the rest.
This guy is no dummy. Not relying on POS tRump’s tweets to explain why he left. Maybe Donnie won’t find any replacement for this position.
Mattis is going to be a very, very interesting figure in the next month or two. I do not think he plans to pack up his desk today and sit on his ass and play on his Twitterphone.
This is not some sort of breathless “omg coup!!!1” prediction. More along the lines of… you know how many of our more rational commentators say things to the effect of “Mueller is smarter than the whole Trump team put together, and if he got fired tomorrow, he’s got the response to that planned out ten steps ahead”? In my estimation, the same thing is true of Mattis. He’s had two years to think about how this might have to go down, if his worst fears came true and Trump was what we know him to be.
He is still the head of Pentagon and second in chain of command. Beyond getting his version out it’s still a statement of mission and values for his subordinates.