The Official President Donald J. Trump appreciation thread

[Harpsman]

Trump orders rapid withdrawal from Syria in apparent reversal
https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/19/politics/us-syria-withdrawal/index.html

Thank you President Trump. This a brilliant move. There is no Syria strategy. I don't know why we're even there. We never should've been there in the first place. The Middle East is a complete shitshow and we do not need to bogged there down when we have so many other problems in this country.

#StraightShooter

He announced the withdrawal from Syria on Twitter, right?

 

[Jack Davenport]

He announced the withdrawal from Syria on Twitter, right?

So? It’s a medium and it is unfiltered. Tweet away.

 

[Harpsman]

So? It’s a medium and it is unfiltered. Tweet away.

I understand that. But is in keeping with the way things should be done - by the President?

 

[Jack Davenport]

I understand that. But is in keeping with the way things should be done - by the President?

The only people that have a problem with it are his detractors.

 

[Johan]

Seems like someone's not pleased by Trump's decision to withdraw US troops from Syria...

James Mattis, the last “adult” in the Trump administration, resigns as defense secretary

Trump announced the retired general would depart early next year in a Thursday tweet.


Secretary of Defense James Mattis resigned on Thursday, writing in an unsparing letter that he was stepping down because the president had “the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours.”

Mattis’s resignation comes a day after President Donald Trump made the abrupt decision to withdraw 2,000 troops from Syria, and his resignation letter notes the differences in Mattis’s worldview compared to Trump’s.

In the letter, Mattis reiterates his “core belief” in America’s alliance and partnerships, specifically NATO, and America’s need to be “resolute and unambiguous” in challenging countries such as China and Russia.
“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 on these issues,” Mattis wrote. “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.”

The tone of Mattis’s resignation letter clashed with Trump’s own announcement, which came shortly before the letter was released. Trump characterized Mattis’s decision to quit as a retirement.
“General Jim Mattis will be retiring, with distinction, at the end of February, after having served in my Administration as Secretary of Defense for the past two years,” Trump tweeted on Thursday evening.
Trump credited Mattis with helping his administration with the “purchase of new fighting equipment” and helping Trump get “allies and other countries to pay their share of military obligations.” Trump added that he would name a new secretary of defense shortly.


Mattis’s departure will leave the Trump administration more chaotic

Mattis, a retired four-star general who went by the call sign “Chaos” in the Marine Corps, was considered by many to be one of the president’s most critical Cabinet members in part because he acted as a strong check against Trump’s worst national security impulses.
With him gone, National Security Adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will likely face less resistance as they offer more hawkish advice on North Korea, Iran, and more.

Mattis had a mixed record of success with Trump. Mattis opposed pulling out of the Iran deal; moving the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem; creating a Space Force; and starting a trade war with America’s allies. But the now-former secretary failed to persuade Trump to see things his way on each of those issues, despite his good rapport with the president.
Perhaps even worse, the president also kept Mattis out of the loop on other major military announcements, including halting military exercises with South Korea and banning transgender troops from the military. (Trump announced the latter while Mattis was on vacation.)

Mattis did have a few notable successes, though. He reportedly stopped Trump from ordering the assassination of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a move that would’ve escalated Syria’s brutal civil war and brought the US much deeper into the conflict.
He also ensured the Trump stuck to a diplomatic approach with North Korea rather than a military one. And he convinced Trump that torture was a bad idea.

The former Pentagon chief made some questionable decisions despite the president, too.
Early on in the administration, he recommended an attack on terrorists in Yemen that led to the death of a Navy SEAL. He also convinced Trump to continue America’s war in Afghanistan. He also avoided speaking on camera to press and curtailed media access to the Pentagon.

Ultimately, though, Mattis’s tumultuous time paints a picture of a sharp mind and defender of America’s traditional role in the world who struggled to agree with his boss on matters of life and death. And it seems clear from Mattis’s resignation letter that he feels he can no longer perform that task.

The worry now is that, with Mattis gone, Trump is left with few if any moderating influences on his national security team. Mattis — along with National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, both ousted — was frequently labeled one of the few “adults” in the room whose military and strategic expertise would help him gain Trump’s trust and moderate the president’s most dangerous foreign policy impulses.

Like much in Trump’s world, it didn’t happen quite that way. But many still say they’ll miss Mattis — and that the US foreign policy may be worse off without him.

“I’d rather have Jim Mattis in the room than not in the room,” Leon Panetta, one of former President Obama’s defense secretaries, told Vox in March, nearly 10 months before Mattis’s ouster. “His legacy will be he fought the good battle. But because of the nature of the president, it was one he couldn’t win.”

https://www.vox.com/2018/12/20/17168030/mattis-trump-defense-secretary-retires-tweet https://www.vox.com/2018/12/20/17168030/mattis-trump-defense-secretary-retires-tweet

 

[Jack Davenport]

Four served as Sec. of Defense under Obama. Including a holdover from the GWB administration.

 

[pool_hustler]

James Mattis, the last “adult” in the Trump administration

Yep. That captures the situation perfectly. "Mad Dog" finally got sick and tired of serving under the manchild.

His resignation letter highlighted the dangers of Trump's ignorance, which is now likely to rule unfettered.

Can hardly wait to see what sort of rubber stamp dandy Donny picks as his replacement. Is Mike Tyson busy?

I understand that. But is in keeping with the way things should be done - by the President?

According to Trump and his fawning fanboys Obama was akin to a traitor for tipping off major troop dispositions in advance. But now that numbnuts himself is doing the same it's no problemo

 

[Jack Davenport]

Yep. That captures the situation perfectly. "Mad Dog" finally got sick and tired of serving under the manchild.

His resignation letter highlighted the dangers of Trump's ignorance, which is now likely to rule unfettered.

Can hardly wait to see what sort of rubber stamp dandy Donny picks as his replacement. Is Mike Tyson busy?



According to Trump and his fawning fanboys Obama was akin to a traitor for tipping off major troop dispositions in advance. But now that numbnuts himself is doing the same it's no problemo

Take your cotdam rants about Trump to the other threads dedicated to bashing him. Mattis was still a corporate general who more than likely was heavily invested in defense stocks like Lockheed/Martin, Boeing and Raytheon.
He left because he disagreed with Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from Syria. It was the right thing to do. It will not create a vacuum like Iraq because there is another military power ( Russia) still there. As I said, O-Zero had 4 Defense Secretaries serve under him.

 

[sean miguel]

^ yep.

And we had an obligation to Iraq as we "broke it" by invading it and toppling Saddam.

Syria was already a gotdamn mess as was Afghanistan and the latter will always be.

Let the Russians and the Syrians fix Syria.

I just feel bad for the Kurds. Once again, America stabs them in the back. When will they learn?

 

[xfire]

 

[Jack Davenport]

Clearly off topic.

Reported.

 

[xfire]

Clearly off topic. Reported.

Yes, please do.

 

[georges]

TRUMP EXPLAINS HIS DECISION TO WITHDRAW FROM SYRIA
https://dailycaller.com/2018/12/20/trump-explains-syria-withdrawal-tweets/

 

[Johan]

Trump already complaining about new chief of staff Mick Mulvaney




President Trump is already souring on his new chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, who won't serve in his new post until next year.


Mulvaney called Trump a “terrible human being” during a 2016 debate in South Carolina, a tidbit the president was unaware of when he asked the Office of Management chief to take over for chief of staff John Kelly.
“Did you know [Mulvaney] called me ‘a terrible human being’ back during the campaign?” Trump asked an adviser, according to Axios, when he heard about the comment.
The report said Trump was “furious” when he first heard the comment.

A spokesperson for Mulvaney said the remarks were “old news,” and said he changed his mind about Trump after they met for the first time.
Trump said this month that Kelly would be leaving his post by the end of the year. Mulvaney was chosen to be the “acting” chief of staff after Kelly departs, but has not yet taken over the duties of the position.

Many of Trump’s preferred picks for the position withdrew their name from consideration, including Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff Nick Ayers.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/...aining-about-new-chief-of-staff-mick-mulvaney


Mulvaney hasn't yet taken office but Trump might already be thinking about firing him

 

[Johan]

'He hates that letter': Trump is reportedly furious at Defense Sec. James Mattis' resignation — here's why

Even more than the letter, Trump can't stand the media's reaction, according to Jim Acosta.


Defense Secretary James Mattis dropped a major bombshell into an already frantic Washington, D.C., this week by officially resigning in protest from the Trump administration.

In his resignation letter, he drew clear distinctions between his and President Donald Trump's value systems and views of foreign policy. He pointed out that he values cultivating beneficial alliances with our international allies and standing up to authoritarian governments that oppose American interests like Russia and China.
Trump, Mattis said, has different values.

While the letter — which notably left out any praise for Trump — was widely praised by pundits, analysts, and reporters, Trump was not a fan of it.
"He hates that letter," reporter CNN's Jim Acosta, citing a source close to the White House.
He continued: "But he 'hates the coverage even more,' because he does not like this conventional wisdom, and we heard it all last night after the defense secretary's letter was read publicly on the air, that essentially Jim Mattis — as well as other long-serving members of this administration, people who have been in Washington a long time, people like Chief of Staff John Kelly and so on — that they were sort of the 'adults in the room' along with Jim Mattis who were there to keep the president from going overboard. To be a check on his impulses."
He continued: "And so the president, once again, irritated by this notion here in Washington that he is sometimes in need of adult daycare."

https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-p...-furious-defense-sec-james-mattis-resignation

 

[Jack Davenport]

according to Jim Acosta

Well that settles it.

 

[georges]

Trump Celebrates Border Wall Bill Passing the House by Trolling Nancy Pelosi
https://www.westernjournal.com/ct/t...&ff_campaign=manualpost&ff_content=2018-12-23

 

[Jack Davenport]

What have the last 3 “adult” presidents given us?
18 trillion in debt.
3 wars
20 million illegals walking into our country at will
A Great Recession
An anemic economy
Nation building
The greatest terror attacks in American soil in our history
Empowering some of the greatest state sponsors of terrorism by giving them access to frozen assets.

So much for adults.

 

[georges]

Trump Over Obama Again: Poll Finds More Americans in Holiday Spirit in 2018 than 2010
https://www.westernjournal.com/ct/t...&ff_campaign=manualpost&ff_content=2018-12-24

 

[xfire]