The idea that Mattis took the job as Secretary of Defense, requiring President Trump to ask for a Congressional waiver for him to do so, and then treated the man so shabbily behind his back makes me think one hell of a lot less about Mattis.

Secondly, Jim Mattis is Roman Catholic. The National Cathedral is also a) /pagan/ Episcopalian and b) nowhere near either the Pentagon, the White House, or Mattis’s quarters. The Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle is much closer to the White House than the National Cathedral if, indeed, he needed to unburden his soul for falling for the temptation of power.

The dark whisper about needing to “take collective action,” is concerning. It is one thing if a civilian cabinet secretary goes there. But if a recently retired Marine general starts talking about removing the president via “collective action,” it carries with it a whiff of Bonapartism and imagery more appropriate to Buenos Aires or Tegucigalpa than Washington, DC. It smacks of the classic thriller, Seven Days in May. (See Mike Ford’s excellent story on this that Woodward’s book has made relevant again, 7 or 8 Days in May. //

https://www.redstate.com/darth641/2019/02/16/7-8-days-may/

Assuming this story is true, it paints a shameful picture of Jim Mattis. He’s not the legendary “warrior monk,” he’s a disloyal and duplicitous man who took a job from a man he had no intention of serving to the best of his ability and then proceeded to sabotage him behind the scenes. Not a good look at all.