Trump may yank Mattis nomination

Gen. James Mattis showing his "Don't cross me on this" face.

NEW YORK, N.Y., JAN 9 -- President-elect Donald Trump may cancel his nomination of retired US Marine General James Mattis to be secretary of defense, according to knowledgeable sources inside the Trump transition team.

"The president-elect still  has the highest respect and admiration for General Mattis," said a source in the transition team, speaking anonymously. "But certain conditions that the general has just announced out of nowhere seem unreasonable. I use 'condition' loosely, they are more demands."

Asked what those conditions are, the source responses, "Well, the general said that President-elect Trump must read a list of books before Mattis meets with him the first time once he is confirmed."

We contacted Gen. Mattis's office for clarification, where this demand was confirmed. Apparently, Gen. Mattis has sent Mr. Trump a list of 6,000 books that Mattis said was "the minimum number needed to be even barely conversant with national-security and military matters."

Among the titles included are

“No True Glory” by Bing West, “Battle Ready” by Tom Clancy, Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War,” ten of the most difficult books to read of all time, and The Bible.

The political transition staff, however, was assigned to complete only four coloring books.




Disclosure: I ripped off a piece on Duffelblog for this.