Yesterday afternoon, the U.S. Senate voted to pass a waiver for retired Marine Corps General James Mattis to allow him to serve in the civilian position of Secretary of Defense despite not meeting the requirement to be free from active military service for at least seven years.
Before the vote, Mattis appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee for a three-hour confirmation hearing.
During the hearing, Mattis made it clear to the elected politicians that the United States needs to be more aggressive going after ISIS and U.S. strategy needed to be “energized on a more aggressive timeline.”
The beloved Marine General was also direct in stating that the biggest threat to America was not China (despite what Donald Trump may think) but actually Russia.
Mattis didn’t pull any punches on the matter saying, “I have very modest expectations about areas of cooperation with Mr. Putin.”
Democrats attempted to push the general and show chinks in his armor on politically correct issues of gays in the military and women serving in combat roles.
Mattis stated he had no plans to “oppose women in any aspect of our military” and in regards to gays in the military, he offered a blunt response to New York Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand saying, “Frankly, senator, I’ve never cared about two consenting adults and who they go to bed with.”
Mattis addressed a few other issues, including the Iran deal, but the takeaway for the hearing is that Mattis is a fitting leader for the military and not even liberal Democrats could argue with this straightforward approach to leadership.
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