Trump Kicks Defense Sec Mattis To The Curb Two Months Early

Donald Trump kicks Mattis to the curb early

We've heard reports for days now that Donald Trump is super-mad that outgoing Secretary of Defense James Mattis (who resigned this week because Trump unilaterally decided to pull all troops out of Syria) called out the president’s "rejection of international allies and his failure to check authoritarian governments," as the New York Times writes, in his resignation letter.

The goodbye letter led to mucho bad press for the Trumpster.

So much so that now he's decided Mattis will now be gone as of January 1.

I am pleased to announce that our very talented Deputy Secretary of Defense, Patrick Shanahan, will assume the title of Acting Secretary of Defense starting January 1, 2019. Patrick has a long list of accomplishments while serving as Deputy, & previously Boeing. He will be great!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 23, 2018

Mattis had said he would serve until the end of February so as to allow an orderly transition of power.

Guess not. https://t.co/N56vTVdkAc

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) December 23, 2018

An acting SecDef, an acting AG, and an acting WH COS all during a government shutdown. #chaoschristmas

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) December 23, 2018

Also, who knows what Mattis will say publicly once he’s no longer running DOD. His letter makes clear he’s alarmed. Why would he stay quiet? https://t.co/OXltI9Fd6h

— Josh Barro (@jbarro) December 23, 2018

News Round-Up: June 26, 2018

Some news items you might have missed:

• Looks like InstaHunks Brett Miles and Alex Abramov (above) had a great time at NYC Pride this weekend :)

• A jury sentenced a gay man to death rather than life in prison because he's gay and "we'd be sending him where he wants to go." #Homophobes

• CBS News reporter David Begnaud, who has received widespread praise for his extensive coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, quietly came out publicly on Sunday tweeting a picture at a dinner with his partner, Jeremy: "Reporting the truth includes my own.”

Reporting the truth includes my own #happypride 🌈 pic.twitter.com/ABQyLhl6FT

— David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) June 24, 2018

• A new bill in Ohio would require teachers, doctors and government officials to notify parents if a child ever acts “in a manner opposite of the child’s biological sex.”

• NBC News reports that Defense Secretary James "Mad Dog" Mattis is on the outs with Donald Trump because the Donald thinks Mattis "looks down on him."

• Cher snuck into Chicago this past weekend to check out preview performances of the upcoming Broadway musical based on her life, The Cher Show.

What did she think? Always a straight-shooter, the Oscar winner said, "Some parts of it are really fabulous. We’re going to work on the other parts. In many parts, it was much, much better than I thought it would be. And there were no parts where I wanted to gouge my eyes out."

This weekend, we had a visit from the legend herself. 🙌💋 pic.twitter.com/JIbsNI0yRW

— The Cher Show (@TheCherShow) June 25, 2018