Mattis has the right to ignore the president’s orders. And the president has the right to fire him.
what is the basis for his right to ignore orders?
No, he does not possess a right to ignore orders. He has a DUTY to follow them or resign.
Mattis ended up losing his job and that was a good outcome.
Mattis isn’t there anymore, so can we draw any conclusions from that fact?
I was suspicious of Mattis & McMaster from the start. They both earned their spurs under Obama — a time when scores of senior officers were being fired and early-retired for “loss of command confidence”. We know that Obama’s Justice Department, IRS, FBI & CIA were controlled by partisan hacks. Is it so hard to believe that he eventually had control of the Pentagon after so many officers were shown the door?