Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., told Mattis “many have supported the waiver legislation in your confirmation because they believe you will be, to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, ‘the saucer that cools the coffee.'”
This is historically the analogy used when describing the Senate’s role in checking the House of Representatives, which has fewer procedural restraints on majorities.
“I believe that your appreciation for the costs of war in blood, treasure, and lives and the impact on veterans afterward will enable you to be a check on rash and potentially ill-considered use of military force by a president-elect who perhaps lacks that same appreciation,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.
Even some Republicans see Mattis’ role in a Trump administration this way.
“A Secretary Mattis would be a stabilizing and moderating force, preventing wildly stupid, dangerous and illegal things from happening, and over time helping to steer American foreign and security policy in a sound and sensible direction,” former George W. Bush appointee Eliot Cohen told the New York Times.
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