Former United States Secretary of Defense James Mattis spoke out on Wednesday against President Donald Trump’s behavior in response to the unrest following George Floyd’s death as well as the last three-and-a-half years. The retired general slammed the president as divisive. Author Paul Szoldra took to Twitter to share that he believes Mattis made it easier for others in the defense department as well as the GOP to speak out against Trump’s rhetoric and choices.
“My hot take: James Mattis just made it a lot easier for many, many other respected defense officials and Republican lawmakers to criticize the president,” tweeted Paul Szoldra
“He’s providing ‘top cover’ as they say,” the journalist continued.
Then, he explained the reasons why so many people working in the nation’s capital are reluctant to speak out against Trump’s actions — their jobs and the future of their careers depends on it.
“So much of D.C. and natsec circles is centered around your current job and whether you can get a better one later. That’s really the major concern of so many who want to speak out but are afraid.”
After authorities cleared peaceful protesters from the front of the White House for Trump to walk to a church, Mattis pointed out that the United States is seeing the result of what he called “three years without mature leadership.” The general also said that Trump is the first president in his lifetime who did not even pretend to unite the country. Instead, Mattis said that the leader actively seeks to divide the country. Because Mattis served on President Trump’s cabinet, he speaks like somebody who knows precisely what goes on in the Trump administration.
Szoldra’s tweet received a lot of attention on the popular social media platform. At least 31,000 accounts “liked” the author’s take on the situation with Mattis speaking out on Trump. Plus, 5,100 Twitter users also retweeted the words. Plus, many also responded with thoughts of their own.
While some felt that Mattis and anybody else who chooses to speak out after this has waited too long to say something, others cautioned that the country needs every possible person to talk about the situation ahead of the November 2020 presidential election. Some cynical users also noted that there is no way that Republicans who hold office will say anything to contradict the president right now because they do not want to be subjected to the expected tweetstorm from Trump. He often takes to Twitter with tweets that eviscerate anybody who happens to oppose him.
Conservative icon George Will also spoke out recently, encouraging voters to vote out Trump along with the members of Congress who have enabled him.