The president responded to stinging criticism by his former defense secretary by calling him "the world’s most overrated General." But a review of Trump’s comments over the years show the president publicly lauded Mattis at virtually every turn.
President Trump responded to a statement by former Defense Secretary James Mattis, who said he was “angry and appalled” over the president’s plan to use the military to put down protests in American cities, in the way Trump frequently does when former aides fall out of his favor: by mocking and belittling them as losers who couldn’t have gotten another job if he hadn’t hired them.
But that’s very different from what Trump was saying about the man he proudly referred to as one of “my generals” when he served as the administration’s first secretary of defense. After the appointment was approved by the Senate, Trump called Mattis a “fantastic guy,” adding that people respect his “military sense.”
Story continuesMattis retired from the military as the head of U.S. Central Command in 2013. According to the Washington Post, he fell out of favor in the Obama administration over his lobbying for the U.S. to use military force against Iran. When he was in the Cabinet, Mattis was sometimes mentioned, along with Gens. John Kelly and H.R. McMaster, as one of the “adults in the room” — experienced public servants who would keep the administration from succumbing to the impulses of untested aides, or Trump himself. All of them are now gone.
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