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Pentagon chief of staff quits

TU Curmudgeon said:
That may be the case, but that doesn't mean that either the Russians or the Chinese want to "take over" the United States of America.

Now if you say that the Russians and the Chinese want to "over take" the United States of America, I won't disagree with you.

Of course, since "take over" and "over take" BOTH contain the words "take" and "over" some people are genetically incapable of telling the two apart.
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Perhaps an actual invasion with an Army isn't their priority, but corrupting and dividing the United States is their #1 priority, right now, have no mistake about that.
 
TU Curmudgeon said:
Not true.

Mr. Trump went to Arlington. It was the visit to the military cemetery, in France, where hundreds of American troops that had died fighting the Nazis were buried and which he travelled over 2,000 miles to attend that he cancelled because it was raining.
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He did the same thing in both instances, days apart.

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TU Curmudgeon said:
Of course, since the funds to do that cannot - legally - come from any other slice of the budget pie, that would mean that the entire $25Bn (possibly as high as $50Bn) would have to come out of the Defense Department budget.

Pulling $25Bn out of the Defense Department budget and re-purposing it for "The Wall" would, of course, have absolutely no impact of the ability of the Defense Department to provide military force where military force is needed - right?
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I can't see where 1,000 miles of steel with concrete enforcement in the ground would be costing $25 billion or $50 billion respectively.
Labor is already paid by the tax payer.
 
Captain Adverse said:
The problem is, Mr. Trump is demonstrating the difficulties faced by a novice elected official who has no real contacts within the system he has been elected to run. This is exacerbated by the fact he is a businessman, used to being a powerful CEO expecting to simply tell people what he wants done, then hiring and firing people until he finds someone who can do it the way he wants.

It doesn't work that way in government because too many people are either not in his chain of command, or if so a complete blank when it comes to where they stand vis-à-vis his policy goals, or how they will work out if he picks them.

Career politicians spend that career making contacts, building bridges, and learning who to trust or not to trust. Even knowing what deals you can make with those you don't trust that will still get their support.

It's that "swamp" everyone talks about; insiders who don't want a bull-in-the-china-shop messing up their interconnected deals.

This is the problem faced by every wide-eyed new office holder. IMO, for example purposes only, it's what Ms. Ocasio-Cortez faced when she ended up voting for Pelosi notwithstanding prior declarations to do otherwise.
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Ok, I can buy this, I think: It's that "swamp" everyone talks about; insiders who don't want a bull-in-the-china-shop messing up their interconnected deals.

However, just who are those insiders, what's their job and what's the purpose of those 'interconnected' deals ?

Trust me, it is not the bureaucracy. Even the highest levels can not use govt. service to get better private industry jobs

unless and this is rare, unless one convince they will be a real rainmaker. (substantially more business)

Note: I lived just outside D.C. for 50 years and for 10 of them, that bureaucracy was my customer.
 
ElChupacabra said:
This management style doesn't work well if you're looking to build trust and loyalty. He takes to social media when he's displeased with someone and berates them publicly. If your goal is to build distrust and high turnover, this is it. None of this should be surprising because Trump never directly managed large teams of people; with that experience you learn how to balance when and how to be assertive. The turnover in the WH is a direct representation of failed personnel management.
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Did you ever hear this phrase:

"He's the kinda; guy you like to burn"

When we were teens & young adults back in my old neighborhood, we used to say that about guys that were assholes. Trump is exactly that kind of asshole. And just like the assholes in my old neighborhood, Trump will of course get burned by those around him, when they get the chance to do it.
 
TU Curmudgeon said:
Although there does appear to be legal authority for Mr. Trump "declaring a state of national emergency", there is no legal authority for Mr. Trump to exercise that power to the extend (by analogy) of (effectively) passing an "Enabling Law".

One of the minor problems with the constitution of the United States of America is that there is no "With Good Reason" limitation on the powers of the President.
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That's why we depend upon the co-equal judiciary to weigh-in on these matters ...
 
pragmatic said:
Believe Donald Trump struggles to "play well with others".

Not thinking there is anything military specific about his issues....
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Agreed. He pretty much alienates everyone but his base.
 
apdst said:
How do you know this has anything to do with President Trump?
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Doesn’t everything have to do with President Trump? ;)
 
Chomsky said:
Did you ever hear this phrase:

"He's the kinda; guy you like to burn"

When we were teens & young adults back in my old neighborhood, we used to say that about guys that were assholes. Trump is exactly that kind of asshole. And just like the assholes in my old neighborhood, Trump will of course get burned by those around him, when they get the chance to do it.
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It's hard to get around this aspect of his personality; he was locally known as the "a-hole NYer" since he represented the obnoxious rich, Upper East Side variety. Whether it's him slagging off groups of people, or pushing people out of the way, it's hard for people to not react to him because his type of behavior wouldn't fly in the general public setting. I thought he might temper some of that attitude but since he won on a campaigned filled with it, I wasn't that surprised he doubled down.
 
Chomsky said:
Source: (Washinton Examiner) Pentagon chief of staff quits
"After two years in the Pentagon, I've decided the time is right to return to the private sector,” Sweeney said in a statement. “It has been an honor to serve again alongside the men and women of the Department of Defense.”
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My thought:

Correct me if I'm wrong, ladies & gentlemen. But does it seem Trump is developing a military problem?
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Saying, "It has been an honor to serve again alongside the men and women of the Department of Defense," without saying "it's been an honor serving the president," is an unsaid slap in the face for Individual-1. Mattis also praised the staff and left silent the President.
 
apdst said:
How do you know this has anything to do with President Trump?
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Which is exactly the argument when Individual-1 takes credit for the stock market rising (but not when it falls) or black unemployment, which no policy of his addresses -- we can ask, 'how do you know this has anything to do with President Trump?'

However, when senior levels of this Administration resign at a record pace -- often criticizing his mental faculties or in this case, failing to give honor to the President, we can assume it's Trump.
 
MTAtech said:
Saying, "It has been an honor to serve again alongside the men and women of the Department of Defense," without saying "it's been an honor serving the president," is an unsaid slap in the face for Individual-1. Mattis also praised the staff and left silent the President.
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And of course you just know that Commander Bone Spurs didn't even bother reading Mattis's resignation letter because it more than one page and contained no 'killer graphics'. It took a week or more of media buzz to tip him off that it wasn't that it wasn't quite so nice or respectful.
 
MTAtech said:
Which is exactly the argument when Individual-1 takes credit for the stock market rising (but not when it falls) or black unemployment, which no policy of his addresses -- we can ask, 'how do you know this has anything to do with President Trump?'

However, when senior levels of this Administration resign at a record pace -- often criticizing his mental faculties or in this case, failing to give honor to the President, we can assume it's Trump.
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The admiral might have cancer, for all you know.
 
ElChupacabra said:
It's hard to get around this aspect of his personality; he was locally known as the "a-hole NYer" since he represented the obnoxious rich, Upper East Side variety. Whether it's him slagging off groups of people, or pushing people out of the way, it's hard for people to not react to him because his type of behavior wouldn't fly in the general public setting. I thought he might temper some of that attitude but since he won on a campaigned filled with it, I wasn't that surprised he doubled down.
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Here's a very recent example:

(What a jag!)


 
MTAtech said:
Saying, "It has been an honor to serve again alongside the men and women of the Department of Defense," without saying "it's been an honor serving the president," is an unsaid slap in the face for Individual-1. Mattis also praised the staff and left silent the President.
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Yes, I caught that in both instances.
 
Chomsky said:
Source: (Washinton Examiner) Pentagon chief of staff quits

My thought:

Correct me if I'm wrong, ladies & gentlemen. But does it seem Trump is developing a military problem?
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Of course he doesn't have a military problem, he would have been a YUGE great general, he said so didn't he? Was he not clear? They just are pissed cuz he's so much smarter than them, and that's just his massive oversized Big Mac gut!
 
Chomsky said:
Source: (Washinton Examiner) Pentagon chief of staff quits

My thought:

Correct me if I'm wrong, ladies & gentlemen. But does it seem Trump is developing a military problem?
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I don't think so, he got approved 716 billion to rebuild our military. Would you call that a military problem?

I alway get a kick out of all you lefties with all your, "does it seem, could it be, I think, maybe, you know, how about. A guy quits and the sky is falling in. But does it seem the chief of staff was a liberal and hated Trump just because he's Trump, like all the libs on this site. There is an old saying "if you don't like it, quit" does it seem........................................
 
Born Free said:
I don't think so, he got approved 716 billion to rebuild our military. Would you call that a military problem?

I alway get a kick out of all you lefties with all your, "does it seem, could it be, I think, maybe, you know, how about. A guy quits and the sky is falling in. But does it seem the chief of staff was a liberal and hated Trump just because he's Trump, like all the libs on this site. There is an old saying "if you don't like it, quit" does it seem........................................
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You actually believe they "respect" him?:2rofll:

That's funny!:lamo:2rofll:
 
Born Free said:
I don't think so, he got approved 716 billion to rebuild our military. Would you call that a military problem?

I alway get a kick out of all you lefties with all your, "does it seem, could it be, I think, maybe, you know, how about. A guy quits and the sky is falling in. But does it seem the chief of staff was a liberal and hated Trump just because he's Trump, like all the libs on this site. There is an old saying "if you don't like it, quit" does it seem........................................
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By problem, I'm referring to disgruntlement, as we saw in Mattis' letter.
 
HumblePi said:
Perhaps an actual invasion with an Army isn't their priority, but corrupting and dividing the United States is their #1 priority, right now, have no mistake about that.
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I don't think that I have ever said anything different.

On the other hand, although "corrupting and dividing" are possibly a bit too strong to be completely accurate, the three American political parties (the Democrats, the Republicans, and Donald Trump) seem to be achieving that very nicely all on their own - even if that isn't what they INTEND to achieve.
 
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