General Mattis: What did he say in the rest of the 15 minutes. A thread.
I am known to be a bit of a Mattis fanboi. You should be too. He's a marine and quotes Lincoln and Marcus Aurelius and generally speaking he The Real Deal. I did a thread on him back in the day.
At his event this week, his three jokes got more press than probably anything else he has said in his life. This is unfortunate, since he's a genius. I could not find a transcript of his other remarks, so I am going to thread a bit of it.
He does some jokes about Trump including about Bone Spurs. He joined the Marines and went to Viet Nam the year Trump took his deferment ... I am sure he lost many friends there. He keeps it light for while, but the central message is deadly serious.
Mattis: "We are going through a tough highly partisan time in our country. I've never been much for partisanship ... the greatness of our country lies in teamwork. I've never been much for partisanship ... I've been fired by Presidents of both parties."
Mattis: "It has been a year since I left the administration. The recovery process is going well... A year in White House time is about 9000 hours of executive time or 1800 holes of golf." (Ouch).
Mattis: "That's given me some time to reflect ... on where our country is going. I wanted to reflect on the legacy of Al Smith." (Smith was a turn of last century progressive en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Smith who was pro good government and anti prohibition, progressive on race.)
Mattis: "Al Smith, showing affection to the children as they were helped into adulthood, in what remains the greatest country, the most promising country, the most wonderful country on earth, and our responsibility to that generation."
Mattis: "I found what we find with many great leaders, Abe Lincoln, FDR, its a focus on making our country a little better when we hand it to the next generation, and having a non-partisan approach to team building."
Mattis: "We meet in the spirit here tonight of unity and friendship, patriotism, and so I turned to history for we've been through tough times in the past in our country, and often in history I have found the way forward."
Mattis: "It is tempting to look back 100 years ago to 1919... it was in many ways a troubled time. Anti-immigrant fervor ran high; political corruption made national headlines. The glitz...was real, yet working & living conditions for much of the American population were abysmal.
Mattis: "The country was enjoying an economic boom, but a storm was on the horizon. So there's a certain resonance here with today."
Mattis doesn't focus on Smith in 1919, instead he goes back to 1836 for a speech in Illinois from A. Lincoln. Speech to the "Young Men's Lyceum" which Mattis mildly rips for having had no women.
Mattis Talking Lincoln: "Violence by supporters of slavery had shattered the state and the nation. Lincoln rose to give an address called 'The Perpetuation of our Political Institutions" ... it defined the very thing that was under threat."
DS Aside: I am slowly coming to grips with the fact that not everyone in the world is against slavery. Indeed, significant parts in significant power are pro-slavery. Baffling.
Mattis on Lincoln: "After extolling the wisdom of the founders and our constitutional system, Lincoln observed that great nations crumble for one of two reasons: the first is aggression from the outside; a prospect which Lincoln declared ... inconceivable"
Mattis on Lincoln on the US being attacked from abroad: "All the armies of europe, africa and asia combined with all the treasure of the earth in their military chest with a Bonaparte for a commander could not by force take a drink from the Ohio river.
Mattis on Lincoln on the US being attacked from abroad: "All the armies of europe, africa and asia...with all the treasure of the earth in their military chest, with Bonaparte for a commander could not...make a track over the blue ridge mountains in a trial of 1000 years."
Mattis on Lincoln: Real fear: "It was corrosion from within. The rot, the viciousness, the lassitude, the ignorance... one potential consequence...is the rise of an ambitious leader unfettered by consciousness, precedence or decency WHO WOULD MAKE HIMSELF SUPREME."
Mattis on Lincoln: "If destruction be our lot...we must ourselves be its author and finisher."
Mattis: "I think often of Lincoln's Lyceum speech because it embodies both our greatest hopes and our darkest fears. Today in our own time, we need only look around us. For decades our political conduct has been woeful and a source of national paralysis."
Mattis: "We have supplanted trust and empathy with suspicion at contempt. We have scorched our opponents with language that precludes compromise; we have brushed aside the possibility that the person with whom we disagree may sometimes actually be right."
Mattis: "We proclaim what divides us and seldom even acknowledge what unites us. Meanwhile the roster of urgent national issues has continued to grow, unaddressed... And all of this was approaching a level of crisis even before the spectre of impeachment arose."
Mattis: "This is the moment for an act of remembrance. Remembrance of the core principals which we used to know and live by. And that we now seem to have forgotten."
Mattis: "We seem to have forgotten that America is not some finished work. Nor is it a failed project. Rather its an ongoing experiment for which all of us bear some responsibility. INCLUDING A RESPONSIBILITY TO REPAIR."
Mattis: "We seem to have forgotten that the foundational virtue of democracy is trust. Not trust in one's own rectitude or opinion, but trust in the capacity of collective deliberation to move us forward."
Mattis: "We seem to have forgotten that cynicism, which has now infected the Western democracies, is not realism, for all the weary and knowing airs it affects. CYNICISM IS JUST COWARDICE. It is nothing less than a form of surrender."
DS note: I can't even imagine what Mattis is thinking about our capitulation in Syria. It stands against everything he has ever done and everything he now believes.
Mattis: "We seem to have forgotten, too, the paramount importance of those bonds of affection that Lincoln once spoke of. We need one another more than ever when the chips are down. Historically we have come together...after the attack on Pearl Harbor...the 9/11 attack."
DS Note: Mattis relating this time to Pearl Harbor and 9/11 is a BOOM. He is right, the RU attack and the installation of Trump is a bright line moment and we are a nation at war.
Mattis, 2 stories from his service, 1st from Iraq outside Fallujah. After prepping troops, he heard a Corporal say "we took Iwo Jima, Fallujah won't be nothing." I think of those words when I think about the responsibilities that we Americans must shoulder now."
DS Note: For a US Marine General and historian to liken the Trump era to Iwo Jima and Fallujah IS A REALLY BIG DEAL and it gives me chills.
Mattis: "We have succeeded against greater odds. We wring our hands about the condition of the country yet we are not facing the Civil War or the Great Depression. It is hard work to make our democracy work, and indeed our Constitution was designed to make it hard."
Mattis: "Hard it might be, but it is also noble work, for we are building a country here." He means that each of us, every day, are continuing to build the country -- and we should act like it.
Mattis Story 2-insurgent caught planting mine on major road; brought to Mattis because he spoke English; they talked. He was the enemy and the US was The Great Satan. But before loaded asked Mattis: "If I'm a model prisoner, is there a chance that my family and I can immigrate?"
Mattis takeaway: "Even among those that profess to hate it, America remains a power of inspiration in their lives as well. They see our freedoms and our vitality; our long tradition of democratic government; our chaotic and exuberant culture, and they want in."
Mattis: I wish "we Americans could see ourselves through foreign eyes. It would remind us of our great good fortune and the good things that we have in common; the good things we too often take for granted."
Mattis: "It would remind us too of the precious deposit of freedom and the faith in our founding principles that have been passed, up to now, from generation to generation. That is what the 29 yo A Lincoln wanted to remind his own audience at the Young Mens Lyceum."
DS - the phrase "up to now" carries special weight. Mattis is emphasizing that it is up to us now to carry the traditions of American democracy forward.
Mattis quoting Lincoln: "Let every American; every lover of liberty, every well-wisher to its prosperity swear by the blood of the revolution NEVER TO VIOLATE IN THE LEAST PARTICULAR the laws of the country AND NEVER TO TOLERATE THEIR VIOLATION BY OTHERS."
DS: I often swim against the Twitter stream and defend Comey/Mattis/Rosenstein and others for their absolute commitment to FOLLOW THE LAW. That is Mattis's point here: we have the rule of law or we have madness.
If you dig this, please follow. Lies, frauds and disinfo spread on this platform with unbelievable speed. I try to spread truth and amplify those committed to democracy. I could use your help.
Mattis: In 1782, in Alxndr Hamilton's last letter to... Lt.Col. J. Lawrence, he wrote: "we have fought side by side to make America free. Let's hand in hand struggle to make her happy." Lawrence died in the ongoing war, never seeing the happy country for which he gave his life"
Mattis: "We owe him a debt, as we owe to all those that have fought for liberty, including those that those who tonight serve in the far corners of our planet. AMONG THEM OUR YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN SUPPORTING OUR KURDISH ALLIES."
DS: As a lib, I like the use of the word "planet" here, as it acknowledges the science of our reality. As noted, I can't even imagine how Mattis must feel about the Kurds. He is interrupted for applause when he mentions the Kurds.
Mattis: "The phrase 'all who have fought for liberty' also includes the generations of ordinary citizens who have embodied our national ideals and passed them down."
DS: I like this too. Obviously our veterans deserve special praise for going into harms way, but we are a collective, and we need to be all working for the goal. The country fails without regular 9-5 men and women.
Mattis: "Lincoln invoked biblical language to describe how the power of this common spirit protects our nation.... He said 'the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.' So ladies and gentlemen, with malice for none and charity for all, let us restore trust in one another..."
End speech. Mattis is a living breathing hero. A marine who embodies the very, very best of the thoughtful warrior spirit. A man that can be trusted to understand how military might fits within civilian democratic rule.
Mattis told us: this is Pearl Harbor and 9/11. We must pull together; restore the bonds of our democracy; restore trust in our institutions. He is right. Reject those that tear at our institutions; attack democracy. We've got this.
