White House Mulls Jim Webb, Ex-Democratic Senator, as Next Defense Secretary

[brooklynite]

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is considering Jim Webb, a former Democratic senator and Reagan-era secretary of the Navy, to be the next defense secretary, according to three officials, potentially bypassing more hawkish Republicans whose names have been floated to replace Jim Mattis.

Mr. Webb, an outspoken opponent of the Iraq war, is being considered as President Trump seeks to carry out campaign promises to withdraw American troops from Syria and Afghanistan.

Those two decisions prompted Mr. Mattis to resign late last month, putting the deputy defense secretary, Patrick M. Shanahan, a former Boeing executive, in the top role in an acting capacity.

Representatives for Vice President Mike Pence and Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, have reached out to Mr. Webb, one of the three officials said. Separately, a senior Defense Department official confirmed that Mr. Webb’s name had been circulating at the White House. Those two and the third official all spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the internal discussions.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/03/us/politics/jim-webb-defense-secretary.html

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Jim Webb may not be the kind of Democrat people like, but if you consider his confrontation with GWB, he's also not the kind of suck-up that Trump will demand.

[maxrandb]

1. Jim Web wouldn't be caught within 1,000 yards of this fucking misadministration n/t

[BootinUp]

7. I believe that is the correct answer. Nt

[maxrandb]

2. and Condi Rice is going to be the next coach of the Cleveland Browns n/t

[cstanleytech]

11. Considering the number of wins they had back in 2017 that might actually be an improvement :P lol

Sorry, could not resist and yes I am originally from the Akron area

[NCjack]

15. Sometimes, the answer is to move away to a place that you

are not known and change your name. Then start all over as a virgin.

[maxrandb]

16. This was the first year in a long time that I could wear my Browns gear with pride

[sandensea]

3. Well said. The Armageddon lobby will nix his nomination before Cheeto even announces it.

Just as well, really. In that nuthouse, how long could he have possibly lasted?

[Dennis Donovan]

4. I can't see Webb taking the job, unless he feels duty-bound to do so like Mattis did...

[FSogol]

10. It is possible that people in the Pentagon will ask him to take the job. n/t

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. I'd be really surprised if he accepted the offer.

I think most people who actually have decent credentials have figured out that working for Trump is a nightmare and a career and reputation killer.

[LiberalLovinLug]

20. You're right. And also that this is just an attempted olive branch to the Dems to fund his wall.

Because it doesn't say he even WAS offered the position. So its more of a trial balloon olive branch.

Webb is not high on my list of favorite Democrats, but he's still a Democrat, and I think there'd be no way Trump would actually ever appoint him anyways. He'd get too much grief from Fox n Friends.

[MaryMagdaline]

6. He has a horrendous temper. Maybe he will punch Trump's lights out

(Seriously possible)

[LisaM]

18. That made me laugh.

I do remember him in the debates (in the brief time that he ran), always looking so feisty.

[Polybius]

23. He almost did that to Bush

He despised W.

[MaryMagdaline]

24. I remember that!

[Polybius]

25. He's also the same age (72) as Trump

So it would be a fair fight by age. Of course, there's no way Trump would take the Marine, he's a legit tough guy. The Secret Service would step in and arrest him (can they do that to a Defense Secretary?).

[underpants]

27. At the Naval Academy he had a legendary boxing match against Ollie North

North won on points but from what I’ve read they really beat the crap out of each other.

[IronLionZion]

8. That would be something

Clinton and Obama had Republican SecDefs.

Jim Webb is not the type of politician liberals or conservatives like, so he might be a good choice and is at least qualified. We all laughed at him for pandering to rural working class whites (without Trump's racism), but then we ended up with Trump anyway.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

9. He'd be more qualified than the Boeing lobbyist

But I wonder if he'd take the job.

[Mrs. Overall]

12. This is a surprise. I doubt he would accept the position.

[lagomorph777]

13. Ex-Democratic, or Ex-Senator?

Sheesh, media writers seem so confused sometimes.

[TrollBuster9090]

14. Hilarious. "The Administration is considering..."

Of course, that doesn't mean anybody actually ASKED him. You'd normally assume that with any other Administration. But with this crackpot clown show, a story like that means Trump just woke up at 3:am, blew a statement out his ass, and then looked to see if Fox News picked it up.


Webb has tried to build a reputation as a 'third way,' 'blue dog' Democrat. But that doesn't mean he's stupid enough to let Trump put the Captain's hat on him just as the smoke stacks of the Titanic are disappearing below the water.

[BlueStater]

17. Webb's kind of a jerk, but I doubt he'd take this job.

What on earth would there be for him to gain in it? He's 72, in the twilight of his career, and I doubt he'd want to tarnish a reputation he's built his entire life by working for Trump.

[Maxheader]

19. Stumpy would have a liberal to blame for all of its military foul ups

[madville]

21. He would be a good choice to oversee the troop withdrawals from both countries

This is probably the one thing I agree with Trump on, bring them all home.

[Polybius]

22. This would be an excellent decision

We don't need a hawk in that position.

[still_one]

26. Not going to happen. I see Maggie Haberman is associated with this story, and that brings its

validity into question as far as I am concerned

[keithbvadu2]

28. After all that the repubs railed and wailed against him as Senator?

After all that the repubs railed and wailed against him as Senator?

[NBachers]

29. Webb's a guy with absolutely no appetite for bullshit. I don't see him kissing trump ass in their

ass-kissing seminars.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

30. Webb is disappointing.

On March 4, 2016, Webb stated that he would not vote for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, but he declined to rule out voting for Donald Trump.[87]

From Wikipedia.

Also I've been looking at his Twitter feed and he's done some talks at the Federalist society. I'm not so sure he wouldn't accept the position. I'm very disappointed in him.

Politico also has the article on its website.

[Kaleva]

31. Doubt he'd accept but if he did, I'd be comfortable with him being Sec. of Defense.

[nitpicker]

32. Why should he take it?

It appears to me that being a junior Senator didn't give him enough power-er, satisfaction- so he declined to run in 2012.

Similarly, being a SECDEF under HIM means taking all the blame and having none of the usual power.