Some of the heaviest criticism of the way President Donald Trump handled the crisis triggered by George Floyd’s death came from his former Secretary of Defense. James Mattis, who resigned in protest over the US Withdrawal of troops from Syria, attacked the president for seeking to “divide” the country.
“Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try,” Mattis dropped in a statement to The Atlantic. “Instead he tries to divide us.”
This accusation deserves some emphasis as it comes from a general who enjoys great popularity and respect at the official and partisan level. Until then, the general had refused to criticize Trump because he felt that it was inappropriate to criticize a sitting president and preferred to assess the period after his term ends.
Mattis, who earned the nickname “Mad Dog”, said that George Floyd’s death resulted from three years of ineffective and immature US leadership. He called for unity without that leadership based on “underlying strengths of American civil society.”
What is striking is that President Trump did not follow up on these accusations. Without refuting them, he boasted how he had fired General Mattis. “Probably the only thing Barack Obama & I have in common is that we both had the honor of firing Jim Mattis, the world’s most overrated General,” he said. Trump was implying that his former secretary of defense did not have the confidence of both the Democratic and Republican presidents.
But the US Media have taken an interest in reminding the public of Trump’s praise for Mattis while he was running for secretary of defense. At the first rally after his election victory in November 2016, Trump told a crowd of Ohio supporters: “we are going to appoint Mad Dog Mattis as our secretary of defense.” Mattis was “true General’s General” and “the closest thing we have to General George Patton,” he said, referring to the Second World War’s veteran military commander.
Mattis was the first retired general to serve as secretary of defense since George Marshall in 1950, who served under President Harry Truman. In appointing him, he was granted a special exception to a law prohibiting any retired general from serving as defense minister for seven years after retirement. This exception was also granted to General Marshall in 1950.
In December 2018, Mattis sent a letter to President Trump suggesting that his “views on treating allies with respect and also being clear-eyed about both malign actors and strategic competitors” were inconsistent with those of the president.
“Because you have the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects, I believe it is right for me to step down,” Mattis said. Just before the Pentagon published General Mattis’ letter, Trump ran a tweet announcing that his secretary of defense would be retiring. “During Jim’s tenure, tremendous progress has been made, especially with respect to the purchase of new fighting equipment,” he admitted.
The resignation itself came as no surprise to US Affairs experts, given the mounting rift between Trump and Mattis. In fact, Mattis’ accusations and his “I don’t think we’ll have to” at what he described as President Trump’s failed handling of the George Floyd affair gained more credibility than the White House’s comments about its former defense secretary.
President Trump even hit a snag with his current defense secretary for threatening to call in the military against protesters. A close ally of Trump in the current administration, Mark Asper said he opposed Trump’s proposal to call the military to address the violence, denying that he knew much about the president’s decisions regarding the crisis.
In doing so, this prominent member of the administration evaded responsibility for these decisions. The president, forced to back down from his threat, said “I don’t think we’ll have to” send troops into the cities.
Trump’s menace was based on the Rebellion Act, which gives him the right to order federal police deployed without state governors approving if he believes that a state has lost control or that the constitutional rights of citizens are being violated as a result of violence, chaos and internal unrest.
The law was used by former President George W. Bush Sr. to deal with the racially charged 1992 Los Angeles riots, but it has also been used in precedents to protect the civil rights of Americans. That being said, President Trump apparently feared a split in his administration, as the current Secretary of Defense was opposed to his policy on the use of military forces. As a result, Trump has seen his authority falter more than ever during his presidential term, which has been marked by one crisis after another in recent months.
Mattis’ criticism should not directly dampen the president’s campaign to win a second term. But it is likely to add to the series of crises and obstacles that the president must overcome to extend his stay in the White House for another four years.
