You are more patient than I. To me, Mattis was insubordinate when he defied Trumps directive and continued enrolling the he/she’s. Mattis was an Obongo General. If as he says, he’s heard Boltin is the devil it begs the question who has been listening to?
I think he could have heard it from a lot of places, but I was under the impression that it was delivered with a conspiratorial grin.
In my opinion, there was likely more legal and bureaucratic rationale behind his actions than insubordination. I can understand where it might have been delayed or had weak action taking on the directive until certain legal hurdles were cleared, which weren’t.
I also wouldn’t be surprised to hear Trumps directive was simply put out there for political reasons with the full knowledge it wouldn’t be implemented. I would be interested to hear what went on behind the scenes.
Mattis was fired by Obama for speaking the truth about Iran. He was anything but an Obama lackey. Every Marine today including me would follow that man through hell in a gunpowder suit while dragging gas cans. He is a Marine Corps legend, and rightly so.