How Gen. James
Mattis could become the unlikeliest U.S. president in history
Leo Shane III, Military Times 9:49 a.m. EDT April 10,
2016
The path for former Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis
to become president is simple:
1. Declare himself a candidate.
2. Ensure no other candidate gets 270 electoral college
votes in November.
3. Have Congress install him as commander-in-chief.
Technically, supporters of the idea are labeling it
"quite simple, but it's difficult."
Even in a presidential campaign where implausible twists
have become regular occurrences, a brewing long-shot bid to draft the former Central Command
leader would be among the biggest political surprises in American history.
But a group of political operatives is working to make it
a reality.
As first reported by The Daily Beast on Friday, they say
the effort has both staff and strategy in place to push Mattis’ name into the
middle of the 2016 contest, and deep-pocketed donors waiting in the wings
should the movement take hold. They’ve already floated the idea in a series of
stories and opinion pieces.
All without any signal from Mattis that he’s even
remotely interested in the job.
“I think if he is asked, his initial response will be
somewhere between ‘no’ and 'hell no,'” said John Noonan, a former adviser to
former Florida Gov. failed presidential candidate Jeb Bush's failed
presidential campaign. Noonan is among the Mattis' movement's leaders.
“But I do think this race is serious enough, and Donald
Trump’s foreign policy is worrisome enough, to make him consider it.”
Trump is the impetus for the push. Noonan said most of
the individuals exploring a Mattis run are waiting for the next few weeks to
see if the Republican frontrunner can be overtaken by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who
convincingly won the Wisconsin primary earlier this month.
If not, the choices left for president in November will
be “one candidate who is a hair away from federal indictment (Hillary Clinton)
and a reality TV show lunatic,” Noonan said.
“Mattis is almost so good that this election might not
deserve him.”
Getting Mattis on ballots would be a logistical
nightmare, although a planning memo circulated among movement members outlines
how it could be done. Texas is the biggest obstacle, with filing deadlines in
less than a month.
But the victory plan for Mattis doesn’t rely on him
winning the most states in November, just ensuring that no other candidate gets
to the 270 electoral votes needed to assume the White House.
According to the memo, one possible scenario is all of
the states breaking for the same party as in 2012, but with Mattis capturing
Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania (forget for a moment that Mattis has never won a
single vote in those states or even appeared on a local ballot).
That result would leave Clinton with 267 votes, Trump
with 206, Mattis with 67 and no one with enough to claim victory. The 12th
Amendment dictates that Congress would then decide the winner, a process that
hasn’t actually been tested in the last 190 years.
Noonan said he’s confident that given the choices
available at that point, a Republican controlled Congress would back Mattis.
“All bets are off this election cycle,” he said. “We
shouldn’t be embarrassed to allow the American people a good choice for
president.”
But that unlikely scenario will require a national
election campaign for Mattis, including a larger-than-standard team to fend off
legal challenges, a bolder-than-standard team to lead a national publicity
tour, and a “all-star finance team to coalesce almost immediately.”
And it also hinges on a willing candidate, something the
Mattis movement does not yet have.
Mattis declined to comment on news reports about drafting
him into the election. In July, he rejected the idea when asked about it during
a speech at Columbia Basin College in Washington state, saying he’d leave
politics to “younger people.” Earlier this year, when pressed on the issue by
the Daily Caller, he dismissed the idea as “idle talk.”
The former four-star currently works as a national
security fellow at the Hoover Institution, a California-based think tank
connected to Stanford University.
He developed a cult-like following among service members
during his 34-year military career, in large part due to his blunt talk about
the nature of combat. He once advised Marines serving under him to “be polite,
be professional, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet.”
Noonan said he is confident the American public will also
embrace the 65-year-old veteran as a modern-day Dwight Eisenhower.
“He has already proven to be a gifted leader,” he said.
“I think the judgement and experience he has shown is particularly suited to
the problems we’re seeing overseas today. [Voters] would see his virtue and
integrity.”
Mattis did get one write-in vote in the recent Military
Times survey polling currently serving subscribers on their choice for
president. That’s noteworthy mostly because write-in votes were not offered as
an option in that poll.
Among the active-duty service members surveyed, most
backed Trump for president. Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders was a close
second, and stood out to Navy and Air Force personnel as the preferred
candidate.
Six Republican primaries are scheduled between now and
the end of April, including big-ticket states like Pennsylvania and New York.
Mattis backers should know by then whether Trump’s nomination is inevitable,
and when they need to start their work.
James Mattis
James N. Mattis
was a commander for the U.S. Central
Command, a supreme allied commander for NATO, is a director at the Center
for a New American Security, a director at Theranos Inc., and a director at the General Dynamics Corporation.
Note: John R. Allen was
a deputy commander for the U.S. Central
Command, a supreme allied commander Europe nominee for NATO, is a director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank), a fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and
a director at the Center for a New
American Security.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), and the Center for American Progress.
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, the chairman for the Foundation to
Promote Open Society, and a supporter for the Center for American Progress.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings Institution
(think tank), the Center for
American Progress, and the Aspen
Institute (think tank).
Derek H. Chollet
was a fellow at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), a special assistant to the president for the Barack Obama administration, a senior
fellow at the Center for a New American
Security, and is the assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of
Defense.
U.S. Central
Command is a unified combatant command for the U.S. Department of
Defense.
Chuck
Hagel was the secretary at the U.S. Department of Defense for the Barack Obama administration,
the chairman for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank),
a professor at Georgetown University, and a director at the Ploughshares
Fund.
Ploughshares
Fund was a contributor for the Center
for a New American Security.
Madeleine K.
Albright was a director at the Center
for a New American Security, is an honorary director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank), a professor at Georgetown
University, a director at the Center for American Progress, an advisory
board member for the Truman National Security Project, and a trustee at
the Aspen Institute (think tank).
KKR
& Co. LP was a funder for the Center
for a New American Security.
David H. Petraeus
is the KKR Global Institute chairman for KKR
& Co. LP, a friend of John M.
Keane, and was the commander for the U.S.
Central Command.
William J. Perry
was a director at the Center for a New
American Security, a secretary for the U.S.
Department of Defense, is an advisory board member for the Truman
National Security Project, an honorary director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank), and a director at Theranos
Inc.
Henry A. Kissinger is a director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank), a director at Theranos Inc, a director at the American
Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), was a lifetime trustee at the Aspen
Institute (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant
(think tank).
James S.
Crown is the vice chairman for the Aspen Institute (think tank), a
member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and a director at the General Dynamics Corporation.
R. Eden Martin is
the president of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, and counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP.
Michelle Obama
was a lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Newton N. Minow is
a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP,
and a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago.
Commercial Club of
Chicago, Members Directory A-Z (Past Research)
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Lester Crown
is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, was a lifetime trustee at
the Aspen Institute (think tank), and a director at the General Dynamics Corporation.
John
M. Keane is a director at the General
Dynamics Corporation, a friend of David
H. Petraeus, and was a senior adviser for KKR & Co. LP.
KKR
& Co. LP was a funder for the Center
for a New American Security.
David H. Petraeus
is the KKR Global Institute chairman for KKR
& Co. LP, a friend of John M.
Keane, and was the commander for the U.S.
Central Command.
James N. Mattis
is a director at the General Dynamics
Corporation, a director at the Center
for a New American Security, a director at Theranos Inc., was a supreme allied commander for NATO, and a commander for the U.S. Central Command.
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