June 05, 2020 11:54 AM UTC

Gardner Literally Laughs Off Mattis Comments About Trump

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• by: Colorado Pols

People are still buzzing about the eye-opening letter written by former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis earlier this week in which he said that President Trump is actively trying to divide Americans.

“Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try,” wrote Mattis. “Instead, he tries to divide us.”

Today, former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly agrees with Mattis that Trump is intentionally dividing the country. From CNN:

“I agree with him,” Kelly told Anthony Scaramucci, former White House communications director, during a live-streamed interview.

“There is a concern, I think an awful big concern, that the partisanship has gotten out of hand, the tribal thing has gotten out of hand,” Kelly said. “He’s quite a man, Jim Mattis, and for him to do that tells you where he is relative to the concern he has for our country.”

Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) is much less concerned, apparently. Gardner was asked about Mattis’ comments on Thursday on “The Hugh Hewitt Show” and he literally laughed out loud before dismissing the concerns as “a personality conflict.”

HEWITT: And, finally, General Mattis…his comments have been widely covered. I’ve taken almost 30 phone calls, because I’m of the opinion that he didn’t change a single mind about November. What did you think of the comments? What do you think of the impact of the comments?

GARDNER: [Laughing] Well, I certainly think that there is a personality conflict between the president and General Mattis. I have great respect for General Mattis, and, look, what I think this country needs is the president, our governors, our mayors, our leaders  — everyone, to work together, to stop this violence. To make sure our streets, when it turns dark, people are not afraid. There are people that are saying that they’ve been afraid, before this, after it turned dark, and we have to change this. But let’s make sure that this rioting stops, and that’s where we have to work together.

There are a good number of Republican Senators who do not find this as amusing as Gardner, including Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Ohio Sen. Rob Portman.