Former Defense Secretary James Mattis denounced one of President Trump’s tweets as “counterproductive and beneath the dignity of the presidency” as he begins to speak out against his former boss.
In May, Trump tweeted: “North Korea fired off some small weapons, which disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me. I have confidence that Chairman Kim will keep his promise to me, & also smiled when he called Swampman Joe Biden a low IQ individual, & worse. Perhaps that’s sending me a signal?”
North Korea fired off some small weapons, which disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me. I have confidence that Chairman Kim will keep his promise to me, & also smiled when he called Swampman Joe Biden a low IQ individual, & worse. Perhaps that’s sending me a signal?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2019
“Any Marine general or any other senior servant of the people of the United States would find that, to use a mild euphemism, counterproductive and beneath the dignity of the presidency,” Mattis said in an interview published Thursday in the Atlantic.
“Let me put it this way. I’ve written an entire book built on the principles of respecting your troops, respecting each other, respecting your allies. Isn’t it pretty obvious how I would feel about something like that?”
Mattis, 68, has been mostly silent since he gave Trump his resignation letter late last year, but he said in the new interview that he won’t remain tight-lipped forever.
“There is a period in which I owe my silence. It’s not eternal. It’s not going to be forever,” he said.
Mattis defended his decision not to speak out against the president until recently, saying it would not be constructive for the country.
“I didn’t cook up a convenient tradition here,” he said. “You don’t endanger the country by attacking the elected commander in chief. I may not like a commander in chief one fricking bit, but our system puts the commander in chief there, and to further weaken him when we’re up against real threats — I mean, we could be at war on the Korean peninsula, every time they start launching something.”
Mattis resigned in December in protest of the president’s decision to remove American forces from Syria and Trump’s treatment of U.S. allies. Mattis believed that U.S. allies would feel betrayed by Trump’s announcement on Syria and the decision would put American troops in harm’s way.
“You’re going to have to get the next secretary of defense to lose to ISIS. I’m not going to do it,” Mattis told Trump, handing him his resignation letter.
Mattis has included his resignation letter in his book, Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead, which comes out Tuesday.
“I had no choice but to leave,” Mattis said. “That’s why the letter is in the book. I want people to understand why I couldn’t stay. I’ve been informed by four decades of experience, and I just couldn’t connect the dots anymore.”
