OK, so it is hard to get good help these days. The problem is that the revolving door they put on the employee’s entrance at the White House is getting far more traffic than even president Donald Trump’s detractors expected. The question is, is the atmosphere just getting more toxic or has that ship of state sprung too many leaks. Is that ship sinking?
And it is not just rats that are deboarding. The one group that the Incompetent-in-Chief had shown some respect for was the military. Even these people are going AWOL. When the secretary of defence says something akin to “I’m out of here,” you know that president Trump is in trouble. General Jim Mattis was about the last guy left who gave any touch of class or sanity to the Trump board of directors.
General Mattis had the good grace to resign with time for president Trump to choose a successor and (maybe) have the candidate confirmed by the Senate. He made it clear in his resignation letter that he disagreed with Donald Trump and his version of the truth.
He told the president that America’s strength was based on its relationships with its allies. He said the allies should be treated with respect and the country’s leadership has to be clear-eyed about the threats to America. While he was obviously very concerned about the president over-riding the concerns of his advisors and pulling America’s 2000 troops out of Syria, those concerns could also apply to allies such as Canada and Mexico.
America’s military leaders were very concerned about their troops who were supporting the Kurds in the battles with Daesh in Syria. There was no confirmation whatsoever of Trump’s claim that Daesh was defeated. It also left the Kurds at the mercy of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and his friends in Russia. The military analysts and many others believe that al-Assad will retaliate against the Kurds in an outright attempt at genocide. Without the Americans there, it will be without witnesses.
With the departure of General Mattis, it is felt that there will be no adults left in the administration. This will become clearer as Trump tries to find a credible replacement for Mattis.
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Copyright 2018 © Peter Lowry
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