Reminiscent of Nicholas II going dancing after Bloody Sunday.
Do I see a pattern here?
Shamelessly stolen yet again:
The destruction of the Republican party was my thought for the only good thing to come out of election day 2016.
CNN saying Mattis out.
Trump is saying it too:
But what will replace it, the National Socialist American Workers party?
To Trump’s credit, he lasted longer than I expected him to before throwing off his shackles. I was expecting something on the order of 6 months, not 2 years.
Of course, all that means is that he’s spent more time digging himself into a hole of sufficient depth that there’s no particular chance that the Senate will let him hire most of the idiots that he would want. He’ll remain shackled or alone in the White House, unable to do much but issue orders to people without the power to enact those orders.
The wheels are coming off. Mattis resigned because of Trump’s random and dangerous Syria pullout.
From resignation letter.
Where will Trump find a General who is better aligned with him (now that Flynn is gone)?
In his resignation letter, he spoke of being “clear eyed about … malign actors”. You don’t see the word “malign” used as an adjective very often. Well, there was that anonymous op-ed from a Trump administration official. But other than that, just not a real common usage.
I would click a Like button if we had one.
His is a resignation on principle, and baldly stated as such.
There is now a SecDef hearing that has to be done on top of the AG hearing which also has to be done. It is very possible that we enter March 1st with an “acting” SecDef. It is also increasingly likely that more and more Republicans will get tired of the shit show that their own party leader is making them deal with*.
Think any of them want to spend Christmas in DC? LOL!
*2019 has potential for being a year full of enjoyable schadenfraud.
Is Buck Turgidson available?
Trump would hear “I’m not saying we wouldn’t get our hair mussed”, and there’s no way he’d pick Turgidson.
Man, that letter. Mattis spends a couple paragraphs talking about how important it us to have allies and stand up to Russia and China, then says Trump needs a Secretary of Defense who shares Trump’s views (i.e., the opposite of what Mattis laid out). Ouch. There is not one word of praise for Trump in that letter.
I was wondering if Vlad had any Generals he could loan to Donnie…
This is literally the only thing Trump has ever said that I agree with.
Why is this to thump’s credit? 
Don’t you mean to Mattis’ credit?
If the gummint shuts down, does the Cabinet get paid? Do their staffers?
Actually, the fewer troops we have in foreign quagmires, the better. It’d be nice if they came home in some kind of rational way, rather than on a whim.
Trump’s No-Good Very-Bad Week (so far):
[ul]
[li]Michael “He’s a good man” Flynn had his legal strategy – I’m guilty, but the FBI tricked me – slapped down, hard, by a federal judge at his sentencing. [/li]
[li]The Dow is down 5%[/li]
[li]Trump caved on funding for the Wall.[/li]
[li]As a result of the above, his besties at Fox were very disappointed in him.[/li]
[li]Trump flip-flopped on the Wall, pissing off virtually everyone in Washington. [/li]
[li]He pulled troops out of Syria against the advice of everyone in the world not named Vladimir.[/li]
[li]And as a result of the above, his Sec’y of Defense – the last grown-up in the room – quit on principle, and made absolutely no bones about his reasons.[/li][/ul]
And the week’s not over.
Right. It’s only Thursday. He hasn’t launched a nuclear missile yet.
I agree. Most people would not be willing to work for a deranged infantile monster. It takes great self-control to do so, and I believe Mattis did it for no personal reward other than the knowledge he was serving his country.
The staffers are probably out of luck.
Most or perhaps all of the Cabinet members probably set up, not long after ascending to their positions, their own continuing streams of under-the-table income. Will they help out their staffers? I wouldn’t bet on it.