The short answer is no, there’s not much that keeps Defense Secretary James Mattis from getting shut-eye.
During an appearance on CBS’s Face the Nation, anchor John Dickerson asked the retired Marine Corps general what keeps him up at night.
“Nothing,” Mattis replied. “I keep other people awake at night.”
The exchange seemed to channel Bryan Cranston’s character famous “I’m the one who knocks” line from Breaking Bad.
Mattis, referred to by President Trump as “Mad Dog,” went on to note in the interview that the U.S. is actually upping its ante in the fight against the so-called Islamic State—but that has zero effect on his REM sleep.
“The bottom line is we are going to move in an accelerated and reinforced manner, throw them on their back foot,” Mattis said. “We have already shifted from attrition tactics where we shove them from one position to another in Iraq and Syria, to annihilation tactics where we surround them.”
He continued: “Our intention is that the foreign fighters do not survive the fight to return home to North Africa, to Europe, to America, to Asia, to Africa. We’re not going to allow them to do so. We’re going to stop them there and take apart the caliphate.”
This article was featured in the InsideHook newsletter. Sign up now.
