Trump Tells Mattis To Get Out As Of January 1st

By Red Painter — December 23, 2018

Remember how panicked we all were when Secretary of Defense and last standing "adult in the room" Jim Mattis turned in his resignation and set February 28, 2019 as his last day leading the Pentagon? At least we had two months to process this loss and hope the guardrails stayed on as we transitioned to a new Secretary of Defense.

Bad news, chickadees. Hair Fuhrer, upset at the non-stop coverage about Mattis and how often he curtailed Trump's reckless tantrums, decided to expedite his departure by two months - which means NEXT WEEK.

Here was his formal tweet announcing it:

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

How it broke:

Breaking - our David Martin reports that @realDonaldTrump will order SecDef Mattis to leave his Pentagon post immediately rather than work through the February 28 date he cited in his resignation letter. Deputy Patrick Shanahan to step into role. SAO confirmed.

— margaret brennan (@margbrennan) December 23, 2018

What this means:

This means Mattis won’t be there to manage the drawdown from Syria & AFGHANISTAN. https://t.co/afMrrpngOb

— margaret brennan (@margbrennan) December 23, 2018

Brian Stelter reports on why this departure was sped up:

"A source familiar with the matter said President Trump is mad at the extensive coverage given to James Mattis' resignation and therefore is forcing him to leave earlier than he originally planned," @BarbaraStarrCNN reports pic.twitter.com/2cjn2F7egN

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) December 23, 2018

Buckle up, kids. This is only going to get worse.

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