| | | Former tRump's Defense Secretary James Mattis OBLITERATES POS tRump: 'I earned my spurs on the battlefield' (VIDEO)
By CHRISTOPHER DONATO
Oct 17, 2019, 10:14 PM ET
abcnews.go.com
 Mary Altaffer/AP
WATCHMattis roasts Trump at annual Alfred E. Smith dinner
Email
Former Defense Secretary James Mattis roasted his former boss at the Alfred E. Smith dinner in New York City on Thursday night.
Mattis took the stage at the annual dinner -- an opportunity to crack jokes about local and national politics -- with an introduction from comic legend Martin Short.
"According to the president he’s the 'most overrated general,'" Short cracked in his intro. "I think he’s an American hero."
 Mary Altaffer/AP
Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, left, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, center, and Happy Warrior Award Recipient Mary Ann Tighe react to opening remarks during the 74th Annual Alfred E. Smith Dinner, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019, in New York. more +"I'm not just an overrated general. I’m the world’s greatest overrated general," joked Mattis, who received a standing ovation as he stepped to the dais. "I'm honored to be called that by Donald Trump, because he also called Meryl Streep an overrated actor. So I guess I’m the Meryl Streep of generals."
(MORE: Top Democrats walk out of White House Syria meeting saying Trump insulted them)
The rebuttal came a day after President Donald Trump called Mattis “the world’s most overrated general” during a meeting with lawmakers about the situation in Syria.
Mattis had said in an interview in August that his silence about Trump was "not going to be forever.”
(MORE: Silence about Trump 'not going to be forever': Former Defense Secretary James Mattis)
One of the general's most biting jokes came in relation to Trump's infamous deferment of military service in Vietnam over alleged bone spurs in his feet.
"I earned my spurs on the battlefield; Donald Trump earned his spurs in a letter from a doctor," Mattis said.
Mattis, a retired Marine Corps four-star general, served as Trump's first defense secretary, but resigned in December 2018 over policy differences, particularly Trump's plans to pull out American troops from Syria, writing in his resignation letter that Trump should have a defense secretary "whose views are better aligned" with his own.
He joked on Thursday that his work in combat zones overseas was easier than being in Trump’s Washington.
“I tried to bring some peace and order to the places with no organized government, chaotic and warring factions, irrational fears, and toxic hatred. It was hard work, but it wasn’t until I started working in Washington, D.C., that I realized how easy I had it overseas in the combat zone.”
ABC News
?@ABC
NEW: Former Defense Secretary Gen. James Mattis roasts Pres. Trump: "I earned my spurs on the battlefield." t.co
3,076
8:08 PM - Oct 17, 2019
Twitter Ads info and privacy
1,259 people are talking about this
(MORE: 'Coherent strategy' with allies needed on Iran: Former Defense Secretary Mattis)
He also knocked Trump for his many hours of executive time:
“It’s been a year since I’ve left the administration, the recovery process is going well," he joked. "The counselor says I’ll graduate soon. A year according to White House time is about 9,000 hours of executive time or 1,800 holes of golf."
 Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE
President Donald Trump pauses while speaking as James Mattis, Secretary of Defense, listens during a Cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, June 21, 2018. more +Mattis, who has been critical of many of Trump's foreign policy decisions since leaving office, also got serious for a moment Thursday, mentioning the U.S.'s Kurdish allies in Syria. He called for the U.S. to again back the population, which has been attacked by Turkey.
"Let us restore trust in one another," Mattis said.
The president was onstage in Dallas at the same time as Mattis' keynote, delivering a campaign speech to a packed crowd at American Airlines Center. |
|
