"Angry, Appalled": Ex-Pentagon Chief Says Trump "Tries To Divide Us"
"Angry, Appalled": Ex-Pentagon Chief Says Trump "Tries To Divide Us"
Jim Mattis, who resigned in December 2018 over Trump's ordering of a full troop withdrawal from Syria, also voiced support for the demonstrators whose anti-racism rallies have roiled the country.
WorldAgence France-PresseUpdated: June 04, 2020 09:21 am IST
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If I Die, My Old Parents Will Be Left Alone. Please Save Me (Ketto)
Urgent help needed. Millions of houses have been damaged by Cyclone Amphan. (UNICEF India)
'Angry, Appalled': Ex-Pentagon Chief Says Trump 'Tries To Divide Us'
US President Donald Trump has been criticized over recent wave of protests.
6
Washington: Former Pentagon chief Jim Mattis issued a stinging rebuke of his erstwhile boss Donald Trump on Wednesday, accusing the president of trying to "divide" America and failing to provide "mature leadership" as the country reels from days of protests.
Mattis, who resigned in December 2018 over Trump's ordering of a full troop withdrawal from Syria, also voiced support for the demonstrators whose anti-racism rallies have roiled 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 wrote in a blistering statement posted online by The Atlantic.
"Instead, he tries to divide us," continues the retired Marine general, who had previously argued it would be inappropriate for him to criticize a sitting president.
"We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership," he stated.
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Trump threatens to use military to stop protests
Amid racial unrest across the nation, President Donald Trump on Monday declared himself “the president of law and order” and threatened to deploy the U.S. military to American cities to quell a rise of violent protests.
Mattis described himself as "angry and appalled" after witnessing events of the last week, which saw Trump threaten a military crackdown as nationwide protests turned violent in some cities.
The fury was ignited by the May 25 killing of George Floyd, a black man who suffocated beneath the knee of a white police officer, and whose agonizing death was filmed by bystanders in footage that swiftly went viral.
The demonstrations have mostly been peaceful, but some have degenerated into violence and looting as night falls.
Mattis wrote that the protesters' call for equal justice was a "wholesome and unifying demand -- one that all of us should be able to get behind."
And he slammed the decision to use force to clear peaceful protesters from near the White House on Monday to allow Trump to pose for photographs at a nearby church.
The photo op has become a lightning rod for criticism of Trump's handling of the crisis, with religious leaders, politicians, and onlookers around the country expressing outrage.
"When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution," Mattis states.
"Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens -- much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside."
Jim Mattis, who resigned in December 2018 over Trump's ordering of a full troop withdrawal from Syria, also voiced support for the demonstrators whose anti-racism rallies have roiled the country.
WorldAgence France-PresseUpdated: June 04, 2020 09:21 am IST
by TaboolaSponsored LinksSponsored
If I Die, My Old Parents Will Be Left Alone. Please Save Me (Ketto)
Urgent help needed. Millions of houses have been damaged by Cyclone Amphan. (UNICEF India)
'Angry, Appalled': Ex-Pentagon Chief Says Trump 'Tries To Divide Us'
US President Donald Trump has been criticized over recent wave of protests.
6
Washington: Former Pentagon chief Jim Mattis issued a stinging rebuke of his erstwhile boss Donald Trump on Wednesday, accusing the president of trying to "divide" America and failing to provide "mature leadership" as the country reels from days of protests.
Mattis, who resigned in December 2018 over Trump's ordering of a full troop withdrawal from Syria, also voiced support for the demonstrators whose anti-racism rallies have roiled 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 wrote in a blistering statement posted online by The Atlantic.
"Instead, he tries to divide us," continues the retired Marine general, who had previously argued it would be inappropriate for him to criticize a sitting president.
"We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership," he stated.
Play Video
3m 10s
Trump threatens to use military to stop protests
Amid racial unrest across the nation, President Donald Trump on Monday declared himself “the president of law and order” and threatened to deploy the U.S. military to American cities to quell a rise of violent protests.
Mattis described himself as "angry and appalled" after witnessing events of the last week, which saw Trump threaten a military crackdown as nationwide protests turned violent in some cities.
The fury was ignited by the May 25 killing of George Floyd, a black man who suffocated beneath the knee of a white police officer, and whose agonizing death was filmed by bystanders in footage that swiftly went viral.
The demonstrations have mostly been peaceful, but some have degenerated into violence and looting as night falls.
Mattis wrote that the protesters' call for equal justice was a "wholesome and unifying demand -- one that all of us should be able to get behind."
And he slammed the decision to use force to clear peaceful protesters from near the White House on Monday to allow Trump to pose for photographs at a nearby church.
The photo op has become a lightning rod for criticism of Trump's handling of the crisis, with religious leaders, politicians, and onlookers around the country expressing outrage.
"When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution," Mattis states.
"Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens -- much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside."
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