It’s time for another Who Won the Week prompt. The idea behind Who Won the Week is for you to select who (or what) you think “won” this past week. Your selection can be anyone or anything — politicians, celebrities, athletes, authors, bloggers, your friends or family members, books, movies, TV shows, businesses, organizations, whatever.
I will be posting this prompt on Sunday mornings (my time). If you want to participate, write your own post designating who you think won the week and why you think they deserve your nod. Then link back to this post and tag you post with FWWTW.
For this week I’ve chosen Marine Corps General James “Mad Dog” Mattis as the winner of the week.
He, and a number of other retired four-star generals and admirals, have come out and been publicly critical of Trump’s threat to use the U.S. active military to quell nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, at the hands of Minneapolis police.
These military leaders were critical of Trump’s use of law enforcement and National Guard troops to aggressively disperse, using tear gas and rubber bullets, peaceful protesters outside the White House so that Trump could walk across the street to a church and awkwardly pose holding a Bible in his hands.
On June 3rd, Mattis, who also served as Trump’s Secretary of Defense, released a statement saying:
“Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society.”
Whoa! You go, Mad Dog!
At around the same time or shortly thereafter, a number of other current and former military leaders released similar statements critical of Trump’s actions, including:
- Former Chief of Staff to Trump, Marine Corps. General John Kelly
- Former commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan under Obama, Marine Corps General John Allen
- Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under George W. Bush and Obama, Navy Admiral Mike Mullen
- Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under George W. Bush, Air Force General Richard Myers
- Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Obama, Army General Martin Dempsey
- Former Defense Secretary under Clinton, William Perry
- Former commander of U.S. Special Operations Command under Obama, Navy Admiral, William McRaven
- Former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, Navy Admiral James Stavridis
- Former commander of U.S. Special Operations Command under Obama and Trump, Army General Raymond A. “Tony” Thomas
- Former director of the CIA and NSA under Bush and Obama, Air Force General Mike Hayden
- Former Defense Secretary under Obama, Ash Carter
- Former Defense Secretaries under Obama, Leon Panetta and Chuck Hagel
Even Former Secretary of State and Republican Colin Powell said that he cannot support Donald Trump for reelection this year because Trump has “drifted away” from the Constitution. Powell will instead vote for former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee.
All I can say is that it’s about fucking time!
And now it’s your turn, folks. Who (or what) do you think won the week?
This, That, and the Other 
Perfecto! I think Mattis’s speaking out so forcefully may have prevented much crazier actions by galvanizing other former generals to do the same —and shaming Esper and Willis onto the defensive for partaking in trump’s ridiculous photo op.
We’re not out of danger yet, but he sure shifted the conversation in a vitally important way.
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Yes he did. I just am worried that the election is still five months away and (1) Americans have a short attention span, and (2) who knows what kinds of chaos Trump can generate over that period of time.
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I share your worries. I am channeling my anger into get out the vote campaigns. Doing so provides me with a measure of control…real or illusory? No way to know.
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I saw Colin Powell and Ben Carson both on CNN this morning and Ben is still kissing up to Trump.
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Carson, a brain surgeon, seems to have nearly no brain. Sounds mean to say, but…
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I agree. Finally a voice of truth.
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The operative words are “truth” and “finally.”
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I agree, it’s about time. We have been waiting for people to step up and I think this last week prompted a few to do so, finally.
Sent from my iPad
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Yes it seems absolutely sensible. The heads of the armed forces must be worried, because if the (largely black) troops left their barracks, would they necessarily fight for Trump? Lots of people very easily dissociate the USA from Trump, so why should servicemen be any different?
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The protesters…. they keep going and going and going and finally the world is talking about real change!
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Let’s hope this time these protests can actually bring about real change.
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I’m feeling a little hope.
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A gutsy man!
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So many things can seem to have happened relatively distantly in time — like not this week or month. But the story in the article linked below happened this week, Thursday.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/lynching-federal-crime-us-sen-rand-paul-stands/story?id=71056869
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Rand Paul is a douchebag.
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I admire Mattis and the military leaders for speaking out against Trump. We need them to continue speaking out and for others like Colin Powell to no longer stand with the mad man.
The protesters won the week and the world. They need to keep going through to the election. Keep their voices loud and the rest of us need to support them. I can’t wait until November comes. It’s almost the end for Trump and his minions.
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“It’s almost the end for Trump and his minions.” Oh I dearly hope so.
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I would also say the protesters. And now the majority of the Minneapolis city council has announced their intent to dismantle the city’s police department. Interesting to see how much has happened in the past couple of weeks, and I think a lot of people are waking-up. Hopefully the pressure continues and even greater, more widespread change is enacted.
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Hopefully, indeed.
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I think the mayor of Washington DC is a close runner up for painting Black Lives Matter on the street in front of the White House. That took some balls and I think the mayor is a woman.
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👍🏻 Balls. Balls. Balls.
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You’re right. She’s got some “chutzpah.” Good for her!
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That’s the proper synonym. 🙂
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