Trump: Mattis ‘sort of a Democrat’
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump, who once called Defense Secretary Jim Mattis “one of the most effective generals that we’ve had in many, many decades,” has now affixed a more ominous label to the retired four-star Marine general: “Democrat.”
In a “60 Minutes” on CBS on Sunday night, Trump grouped his own defense secretary in with the political party that the president now describes at every turn as “an angry, left-wing mob” bent on destroying the country.
“I think he’s sort of a Democrat, if you want to know the truth,” Trump said.
But the president added that he did not know whether Mattis would be the next major departure from his administration, following the abrupt resignation announcement last week by Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and the
expected exit this fall of Don McGahn, the White House counsel.
“He may leave,” Trump said of Mattis, though he called him “a good guy” and insisted the two men still had “a very good relationship.”
“I mean, at some point, everybody leaves,” the president said. “Everybody. People leave. That’s Washington.”
Mattis has been seen as one of the “adults” in the orbit of a president who entered the White House with no military or foreign policy experience and who has in some cases favored loyalists over seasoned officials for top posts.
But that notion has annoyed the president, helping to fray their personal relationship, and a breach has developed between the men over some of the most high-profile items on Trump’s military agenda.
Never a direct critic in public, Mattis has privately disagreed with the president on issues such as NATO policy, Trump’s decision to cancel largescale joint exercises with the South Koreans, and the long-term effectiveness of the president’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal.
Trump’s jab at Mattis threatens to put his defense secretary in a precarious position akin to that of other Cabinet officials such as Attorney General Jeff Sessions who have remained in office even as they have come under fire from the president.
Though the president called Mattis a Democrat, the Pentagon chief has worked hard to keep the Defense Department out of politics, often portraying the military as remaining untouched by the bitter partisan bickering in the capital.