The Mattis confirmation hearing is happening in an alternate world where Trump lost

Zack Beauchamp · Thursday, January 12, 2017, 3:06 pm

Early in Thursday’s Senate confirmation hearings for Gen. James Mattis, Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, Sen. Jack Reed asked something that, for most Trump nominees, would be a tough question: What do you think about working with Russia to solve problems?

Mattis’s answer was blunt, and very un-Trumplike.

“I’m all for engagement, but we have to recognize reality,” the general said. “There are a decreasing number of areas where we can cooperate, and an increasing number of areas in which we will have to confront Russia.”

The answer more-or-less directly contradicted the president-elect, who believes that he can make “a deal” with Vladimir Putin. It was also a dynamic that happened again and again. To take just two examples: Mattis voiced support for keeping the Iran nuclear deal in place and refused to endorse moving the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. If you just listened to Mattis talk, and had no idea who the president-elect was, you probably would have assumed that his boss was a relatively hawkish Democrat.

You would have thought, in short, that Hillary Clinton won the election.

But she didn’t. And Mattis — who’s so sure to be confirmed that Sen. Lindsey Graham jokingly referred to him “Mr. Secretary” — will soon have to work for a president whose instincts may diverge with his at nearly every turn.

Mattis’s confirmation will be a breeze. The hard work will start after he takes office.

Mattis aced his hearing — by throwing Trump under the bus

Senate Committee Holds Confirmation Hearing For Gen. James Mattis To Become Defense Secretary (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Mattis with Armed Services committee Chair John McCain.
The first senator on the Armed Services committee to question Mattis, Chair John McCain, started with an open-ended question: “What do you think we ought to do about Russia?”

In response, Mattis took a hard line. He accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of attempting to destroy the NATO alliance, for decades the cornerstone of America’s Europe policy, and argued for putting that insight at the center of US policy toward Moscow.

“The most important thing is that we recognize the reality of what we deal with Mr. Putin, and we recognize that he is trying to break the North Atlantic Treaty Organization,” Mattis told McCain. Mattis went on to call NATO “the most successful alliance in modern history, and maybe ever,” and said that his list of threats to the US “starts with Russia.”

Trump, of course, famously sees Putin as a like-minded leader with whom he can do business. He mused about NATO being “irrelevant,” and suggested that Washington would break its treaty obligation to defend its NATO allies in the event of a Russian invasion, which would effectively destroy the organization.

When asked, later, if he had spoken with Trump on these issues, Mattis said yes (unlike other Trump nominees). He wouldn’t say, interestingly, that Trump agreed with him. But he did say that Trump listened to him on Russia and NATO.

“I would not have taken this job if I do not believe the president-elect would be open to my opinion on this or any other matter,” he said.

Again and again, senators pressed Mattis on Trump’s positions, and Mattis simply asserted his own, oft-contrary opinion. When Reed asked about the Iran deal, which Trump has threatened to tear up on day one, Mattis argued for keeping it.

“I think it is an imperfect arms control agreement,” Mattis allowed, “but when America gives her word, we’ve got to live up to it.”

When asked about Trump’s continued attacks on the US intelligence community in the wake of its assessment that Russia hacked the 2016 election to help Trump win the White House, Mattis backed up the IC. “I had a close relationship with the intelligence community … and I have a very high degree of confidence in [them],” he said.

The closest Mattis came to getting in trouble came when Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York pressed him on his prior opposition to open service by LGBTQ service members and women in combat. Mattis said he wasn’t looking to change things, but hemmed and hawed about his past statements, seemingly not wanting to admit he had made a mistake.

The issue cleared up when Sen. Mazie Hirono asked him, point blank, whether he thought being a woman or LGBTQ would prevent someone from serving in the military effectively. Mattis simply said “no,” and that was the end of it.

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http://www.vox.com/world/2017/1/12/14250780/mattis-senate-confirmation-hearings-mad-dog