US Defense Secretary James Mattis is concerned that President Donald Trump may ignite a “cataclysmic war” against another country due to his inability to comprehend geo-politics, says an American pundit.
“What Mattis’s concern is not the political interference of war making, but that it is ordered by a child-president and he would have to either obey or refuse direct orders, something he isn’t trained to d,” said Myles Hoenig, who ran for the US Congress in 2016 as a Green Party candidate.
“It would a lot more comfortable for him to be on the outside earning big bucks for the weapons contractors than serving as a civil servant engaged in a losing endeavor such as the next cataclysmic war,” Hoenig said Wednesday in a phone interview with Press TV.
“Democrats and other critics of the president fear Trump’s impetuousness and inability to comprehend geo-politics, but not enough so that they approved Mattis’s and Trump’s military budget of nearly $800 billion, $80 billion more than they even asked for,” he added.
There have been intensifying rumors about the Pentagon chief’s future as Trump approaches the half-way mark of his four-year term amid speculation about changes to his cabinet after upcoming congressional mid-term elections in November.
Mattis on Tuesday flatly dismissed reports suggesting he may be leaving the Trump’s administration in the coming months, saying flatly: “I wouldn’t take it seriously at all.”
Mattis has become a focus in media stories in recent weeks about the Trump administration, particularly after the release of a book this month by Watergate reporter Bob Woodward that portrayed Mattis privately disparaging Trump to associates.
Mattis strongly denied making any such remarks. Trump on Sept. 5 said he defense chief would remain in his job, adding: “He’ll stay right there. We’re very happy with him. We’re having a lot of victories.”
But a New York Times report on September 15 said Trump had “soured on his defense secretary, weary of unfavorable comparisons to Mattis as the adult in the room.”