Mad Dog

It happened. It really happened. And meme-creators everywhere rejoice!

As reported in the Washington Post and elsewhere, “Mad Dog” Jim Mattis, the Warrior Monk, callsign Chaos, and hands-down the most revered American warrior still resident among the living, is being tapped by the new administration (pending Senate confirmation) as Secretary of Defense.

If you are unfamiliar with this 44-year Marine Corps veteran and four-star, I cannot explain to you in a blog post the high regard in which he is held among servicemembers, Marines in particular. Click the above links for a taste. But much of it can be covered here, by checking out a few quotes from over the years (notably, “PowerPoint makes us stupid.” Thousands of Pentagon staffers are collectively holding their breath…).

Also, he planned and executed the initial conventional assault into Afghanistan back in 2001, inserting Marines into a land-locked country from the sea. Which is pretty good.

I mean, the mere fact that Mattis is already a frequent Internet meme should say something.

Actually, what it does say – not to be overly political on this blog, but nevertheless – is that the President-elect really does understand populism better than most people give him credit for. I doubt he could select any SecDef more popular with the rank-and-file. It buys him some street cred with folks who are otherwise reluctant to give it.  Transparent pandering? To a degree, sure. We’ll see how that works out for him – and us. But in this case, there’s at least a reason to be cautiously optimistic.