Well, it turns out that not even having a cute, macho nickname is enough to save you from that moment when the president*’s several remaining functional synapses fire themselves up and he decides that he knows more than you do about everything, even though he knows less about anything than has anyone who ever sat in that chair. From NBC News:

A month later, Mattis was informed that Trump had ordered a pause in U.S. military exercises with South Korea only after the president had already promised the concession to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Last week, Trump again blindsided and overruled his defense secretary by publicly directing the Pentagon to create a sixth military branch overseeing operations in space. The way these recent presidential decisions on major national security issues have played out, as detailed by current and former White House and defense officials, underscores a significant change in Mattis's role in recent months. The president is relying less and less on the advice of one of the longest-serving members of his cabinet, the officials said. "They don't really see eye to eye," said a former senior White House official who has closely observed the relationship.

It began in earnest when Trump decided in December to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, White House and defense officials said. Mattis opposed the move, saying it would heighten security concerns in the region. The list of policy decisions Trump has made against Mattis's advice or without his knowledge has since grown. It includes not just withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal and ordering the Pentagon to create a so-called space force, but also barring transgender people from serving openly in the military and a host of moves the president has made as part of negotiations with North Korea, say multiple current and former officials.

Mattis still has some duties for the White House together, and one of them appears to be making sure that the military gets ensnared in the moral and ethical ratlines of the administration’s immigration policy. From CNN:

The Department of Homeland Security has "come to us asking us to build temporary camps on two of our bases," Mattis told reporters on board his plane at the beginning of a trip that will take him to Alaska, China, South Korea and Japan. "We are in a logistics support response mode," with DHS, Mattis said, adding that "details are still being worked out" with respect to how the Pentagon's role in the operation will play out, while likening the response to the Defense Department providing housing to Vietnamese refugees rescued at sea in the years after the Vietnam War and for victims of hurricanes and other natural disasters. "This is something that we can do again, whether it be refugee boat people from Vietnam, people that have been knocked out of their homes by a hurricane, absolutely it's appropriate to provide logistical support however it's needed," Mattis said of his department's role in the effort.

This is not an administration that I trust with “temporary camps” for anyone. In addition, parking folks in camps gives the administration* even less incentive to do the hard work of reuniting the children with their parents, even if it wanted to do so. I don’t envy ol’ Mad Dog, but this is what he signed onto. But I don’t think we can wait much longer for his moderating influence on the president* to take hold.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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