General Jim Mattis rubbished by Trump

Most people in the US have praised General Jim Mattis, for being a good steady bloke, for being a brilliant combat commander and battlefield strategist and for being a serious grown-up as defence secretary in Donald Trump's cabinet. But now he has gone back to his home town of Pullman in the state of Washington in the Pacific northwest after resigning and leaving office at midnight on December 31, his former commander-in-chief has been rubbishing him. Having initially praised him - the man he used to call Mad Dog and he meant it affectionately - Trump has decided to tell everyone what he really felt. Mattis was no good as defence secretary, he graciously said to a bunch of reporters. He achieved nothing in Afghanistan, Trump said. Oh, and he fired Mattis, Mattis didn't resign. Well, Mr President, Mattis did resign, we all read his resignation letter. You may have not given him much choice but he still did the honourable thing. Poor old Mattis. I'm sure he is very happy back at home a long long way away from the other Washington (DC), away from all the pressure and strain of being Trump's Pentagon chief. But he must be pretty sickened at the way the president is now treating him. You get no thanks from the White House boss with the exception of Nikki Haley, the superstar former US ambassador to the UN who managed to resign without being savaged by the president. He couldn't have been nicer about her and hoped she would return to government in due course. But Mattis is finished as far as Trump is concerned. He failed to end the war in Afghanistan! Well no one has succeeded in ending the war in Afghanistan, despite the best brains in the US military. So it's a touch unfair for Trump to have expected Mattis to wave a magic wand and force the Taliban to surrender. As for Mattis's temporary successor, Patrick Shanahan, he has obviously got the message from the White House. After coming out of his first cabinet meeting with Trump in his new role, the former deputy defence secretary was word perfect, saying he was fully ready to carry out the president's "vision" for the military. If he stays on message like that he might get the job permanently! But if he steps out of line, he'll be gone too. Trump doesn't appreciate disobedience - ie not doing what he wants - and he likes only success. So watch out Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, if the North Korea "triumph" goes wrong, he too will be out and no doubt described as "not very good".