Just over 24 hours after abruptly announcing he was withdrawing all military forces from Syria on Twitter, President Trump used the same platform to abruptly announce the departure of Defense Secretary James Mattis who will retire at the end of February 2019.
Mattis was evidently caught off guard by Trump's announcement. It wasn't the first time this happened with regard to Syria as was the case in June 2017 when Trump warned Syria it would pay a heavy price for its chemical attack on civilians. Ditto for the Muslim travel ban and the banning of transgender troops.
I guess Trump's declaring that ISIS had been defeated was a bridge too far for Mattis. Of course one cannot be surprised. After all Trump is a man who boasted he knew more about ISIS than the generals.
Now I had my issues with Mattis where it concerned Israel. Nevertheless the level of instability in the Trump Cabinet is remarkable. He has been in office for less than two years and we have seen multiple Secretaries of State, Health and Human Services, Interior, EPA, Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs, Ambassadors to the UN and now Defense. Combine this with three National Security Advisers, three Chiefs of Staffs, two Press Secretaries, five White House Communications Directors plus Steve Bannon and you've got a chaotic presidency.
Of course his supporters love it. But for the rest of us and the rest of the world we see a President who decides public policy and personnel in 280 characters or less and does so with even less character.
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