Once considered among the most influential advisers to a president with no prior government or military experience, Mattis has been repeatedly overruled by Trump in recent months and left out of key discussions as the president pursues his own national security path.
The retired four-star Marine Corps general Trump likes to call by his detested nickname, “Mad Dog,” is now at a low point in his influence with Trump and potentially also a short-timer, current and former U.S. officials said.
Mattis is also frustrated that Trump vetoed his choice to become the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the nation’s highest-ranking miliary officer. Trump announced this month that he has chosen Gen. Mark A. Milley, the Army’s chief of staff, to replace the current chairman, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., who is due to step down next fall. Mattis had recommended the Air Force chief of staff, Gen. David L. Goldfein, people familiar with the discussions said.
Trump also sidestepped Mattis’s concern about deploying U.S. forces to the U.S.-Mexico border this fall with only a vague mandate for border security. Mattis has told Pentagon leaders that he is following orders and they must do the same, U.S. officials said.
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