Trump had a press conference a few minutes ago where he discussed an array of topics, from N. Korea to Romney, from Mattis to Europe and I’m sure much more.
But what I want to draw your attention to first is his comments on Mattis, where he unloads on Mattis, saying he did a terrible job for him in Afghanistan and that he essentially fired Mattis like Obama did.
Watch:
President Trump says he "essentially" fired former Defense Secretary James Mattis: "I wish him well, I hope he does well" pic.twitter.com/Z41Uv91Suv
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) January 2, 2019
Wow. I’m sure Mattis will have some things to say about this and you can bet the media will track him down and ask him about it.
And when that happens and it’s all over the media, you can blame Trump for opening this can of worms. I wish he would keep some of this to himself, but when he publicly criticizes his former staff like this, they are going to strike back and the anti-Trump media will eat it up like candy on Halloween.
And furthermore, just to point out, he’s not just attacking Mattis here. He’s attacking ALL of his generals working on Afghanistan. All of them. And I’m sure that alone will generate criticism as well, especially among those in the military.
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Trump also took a jab at Romney, but kept it on the lighter side…
President Trump reacts to incoming Utah Sen. Mitt Romney writing an op-ed criticizing him: "If he fought really hard against President Obama like he does against me, he would have won the election" https://t.co/kg39RI8DPp pic.twitter.com/x1xulNXWqd
— CBS News (@CBSNews) January 2, 2019
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There’s also a clip going around where Trump says he doesn’t care about Europe, that he’s elected by Americans. What I’ve got here is a clip that provides more context to what Trump is speaking to when he says this:
“I’m not elected by Europeans, I’m elected by Americans — by American taxpayers,” Trump said of European polls showing decreasing approval ratings for his administration.
“My relationship, I will tell you, with the leaders of Europe is very good” pic.twitter.com/EZjhStpnXm
— POLITICO (@politico) January 2, 2019
In a nutshell, Trump is saying that he’s not worried about his popularity in Europe because he doesn’t answer to them. They don’t elect him. That’s the context of his remarks.
Here’s the full 32-ish minutes of Trump’s remarks to the media if you’d like to watch it.