Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis Quits
-
Democrat
Colorado Springs, CO
Are you sure you want to delete this post?
Jim Mattis Resignation Letter From the Washington Post: ""Defense Secretary Jim Mattis resigned from the Trump administration Thursday, saying the president deserved someone atop the Pentagon who is “better aligned” with his views. "The retired Marine Corps general’s surprise resignation came a day after President Trump overruled his advisers, including Mattis, and shocked American allies by announcing he would be withdrawing American troops from Syria. Trump declared victory over the Islamic State, even though the Pentagon and State Department for months have been saying the fight against the group in Syria isn’t over." His resignation letter reads like a smack down of the president. This comes on a day the stock market continues to plunge and Trump has promised a government shutdown if Congress does not submit to his demands. It's described as chaos in the capitol, but Trump doesn't seem to care. He still plans to go golfing in Mar-a-Lago starting on Friday.
-
Democrat
Colorado Springs, CO
-
-
-
-
Democrat
Colorado Springs, CO
-
Democrat
Colorado Springs, CO
Are you sure you want to delete this post?
The new acting Secretary of Defense will be Patrick Shanahan, a Boeing executive who Trump appointed to the Deputy post in July 1917 and was confirmed by the Senate with a 92-7 vote. From the Defnse News: Shanahan poised to rewire the Pentagon with Mattis out “He’s not a policy or geopolitics guy. He’s a business guy,” the source said. “But he’s spent the last year learning from the best. And Shanahan is known for having a good relationship” with Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. “Too often we focus on process, or budget, or level of effort,” Shanahan told Defense News. “The Pentagon should focus on outcomes and outputs — our performance. This focus on performance should drive us to field unmatched lethality, execute on our modernization plans and achieve this affordably.” “It's all about the system and then the reinforcing mechanisms to make that change enduring. Without a system, things fall apart when the leader moves on,” Shanahan noted. “The system or the environment shouldn't be dependent on the leader's presence.” “It’s very easy in a complex environment like this to get distracted. The tactical can consume an enormous amount of time,” he said. “But my job is really to drive change at scale and there’s a formula for doing that. And the formula really has to do with change [which] must be systemic.” ---------------------------------------------------------- Got that? The military will be really impressed with all that business jargon.
-
-
Are you sure you want to delete this post?
Schmidt Wrote:The new acting Secretary of Defense will be Patrick Shanahan, a Boeing executive who Trump appointed to the Deputy post in July 1917 and was confirmed by the Senate with a 92-7 vote. From the Defnse News: Shanahan poised to rewire the Pentagon with Mattis out “He’s not a policy or geopolitics guy. He’s a business guy,” the source said. “But he’s spent the last year learning from the best. And Shanahan is known for having a good relationship” with Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. “Too often we focus on process, or budget, or level of effort,” Shanahan told Defense News. “The Pentagon should focus on outcomes and outputs — our performance. This focus on performance should drive us to field unmatched lethality, execute on our modernization plans and achieve this affordably.” “It's all about the system and then the reinforcing mechanisms to make that change enduring. Without a system, things fall apart when the leader moves on,” Shanahan noted. “The system or the environment shouldn't be dependent on the leader's presence.” “It’s very easy in a complex environment like this to get distracted. The tactical can consume an enormous amount of time,” he said. “But my job is really to drive change at scale and there’s a formula for doing that. And the formula really has to do with change [which] must be systemic.” ---------------------------------------------------------- Got that? The military will be really impressed with all that business jargon. There was also a mention on the news that Trump forces Mattis to be out on January 1st while he wanted to stay until February. I guess that must be "revenge". Yes, as I've said many times this country is hitting the "iceberg" right now! Grab your life jackets.
-
-
Democrat
Colorado Springs, CO
-
-
Democrat
Colorado Springs, CO
Are you sure you want to delete this post?
This is off topic again but I'll comment anyway. Whether it is Deutsche Bank or a Russian or Cyprus bank, the bank probably has a financial reason to not disclose any money laundering that they engaged in with Trump. Although the disclosures would be devastating to the Trump organization, they could also be damaging to the bank in terms of public opinion and fines. Furthermore, if the Trump organization collapses because of the disclosure and implications of illegal money laundering activities, the banks could be in the situation of facing unrecoverable loans or bad loans that they will have to write off if Trump goes bankrupt. The bank or banks may be up to their necks in bad Trump loans. From my blog article of last year: "Nav, a business score education organization, rates the Trump Organizations with a business credit score of 19 out of 100, some 30 points below the national average and indicating that the Trump Organization “is very likely to default on its credit payments” and that “this will make it difficult to get financing.” That low rating is a testament to his past bad business practices."
-
Are you sure you want to delete this post?
What I wrote was not off topic; it is related to Shanahan ; just to make it clear "why this choice" read my mail again; the sole purpose is, so Trump can make some more money again. Of course "banks" are another subject. Repeat: The picture is very clear to me; getting Shanahan in is again creating another "goldmine" for Trump. This guy used to be an executive at Boeing. This way Trump gets another "back channel" to Boeing, which means any military orders via the "government" (or other commercial deals via Trump's connections as President) then Trump may receive "under the table" payouts; some of which will be to foreign banks or be paid out after he leaves office. Since I worked in D.C. and also dealt with this industry, I know how it works; guess what; why does an F35 costs so much, especially for other countries? I guess most people here have no clue on how corrupt this government is. Trump wanted this job, solely for the money he could make of it.
-
-
Democrat
Colorado Springs, CO
Are you sure you want to delete this post?
Uri Friedman, The Atlantic: America, Meet Your (Acting) Secretary of Defense Friedman discusses the implications of Patrick Shanahan serving as Acting Secretary of Defense. I still withhold my judgment on Shanahan because he is a thinker...an MIT graduate engineer...a problem solver. That is a definite plus for me. On the negative side his lack of military experience could mean that he has to defer to all the remaining generals in the military, or perhaps worse, Donald Trump himself. That and the fact that while Trump's original staffing of his cabinet in 2017 was flush with generals, now he has none. Trump is now unencumbered by the likes of a Kelly or a Mattis telling him what he cannot do. Now he can do what his gut tells him to do. Remember he has claimed that he "knows more than the generals do" so he may think he doesn't need any of them around to tell him what he cannot do. So now he has Shanahan in an "acting" capacity...essentially a trial by Trump to see how subservient he is to Trump's wishes. Will Shanahan be the loyal sycophant that Trump wants, or will he go against Trump's whims? Shanahan's critical thinking skills might be trumped by his needed loyalty to Trump to survive in his post without being fired. Getting back to Friedman's article, it would appear that at least on the surface, Shanahan's views of military engagements around the world align with those of Mattis. Depending on how strongly he holds those beliefs in the face of "Trump gut think", then his role as acting could be elevated to full secretary or short lived...going back to Boeing. As per Friedman: "While visiting U.S. soldiers in Iraq over Christmas, Trump praised Shanahan as a “good buyer” of military equipment, not some master strategist. “I’m in no rush” to replace him, the president declared." "Shanahan has embraced some of the president’s pet projects. He’s championed increased sales of U.S.-made military goods and services to other countries, for example, and led Pentagon efforts to establish a new Space Force (an initiative Mattis at first resisted)." "“He’s not gonna dictate. He’s gonna follow what the president’s intent is,” Ellison [a friend of Shanahan's] said. Shanahan, who is succeeding a man Trump reportedly resented for slow-walking his directives, is “an efficient doer of things,” he told me." Friedman concludes: "Over the past year and a half, Larsen reflected, Shanahan has struck him as “the Sergeant Friday of the Pentagon,” a reference to the fictional Dragnet detective who famously followed the facts wherever they led. The problem, Larsen told me, is that “the president maybe doesn’t like the facts.”" I'll watch and see...that's what Trump is also doing...
|