What trans soldier Albert Cashier can teach Trump about patriotism Read more 
 
 “You just hold the line until our country gets back to understanding and respecting each other and showing it.” 
 
 He also said, in remarks that were widely interpreted as possible veiled criticism of Donald Trump, that the US needed to “get the power of inspiration back”. His comments likely came during a week of national turmoil following violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va. 
 
 Mattis’s remarks were made before President Trump signed a presidential memo ordering the Defense Department to stop allowing transgender people to enlist in the military. In his remarks to the troops, Mattis said the U.S. is facing “problems.” 
 
 “Our country right now, it’s got problems we don’t have in the military,” Mattis said. Transgender troops say Trump directive will create 'complete inequality' Read more 
 
 Late on Friday, John McCain, chair of the Senate armed services committee and a vocal critic of Trump, said it “would be a step in the wrong direction to force currently serving transgender individuals to leave the military solely on the basis of their gender identity rather than medical and readiness standards that should always be at the heart of Department of Defense personnel policy”. “The power of inspiration — [and] we’ll get the power of inspiration back.” 
 
 He also thanked the troops for their service and said he came out of retirement to “serve alongside young people like you who are so selfless and, frankly, so rambunctious.” 
 
 It’s unclear where the video was taken, but Mattis traveled to Jordan, Turkey and Ukraine over the last week, meeting with top officials to discuss U.S. cooperation in the region.
– A video of defense chief James Mattis giving an off-the-cuff pep talk to US troops is gaining traction online. In the clip—see it here—Mattis asks the troops to "hold the line until our country gets back to understanding and respecting each other and showing it," per the Guardian. It's not precisely clear where or when Mattis was speaking, but the best guess is that the impromptu speech was delivered in Jordan during Mattis' trip there last week, reports the Hill. The video was posted to a Facebook page called “US Army WTF Moments," apparently because it's seen as a veiled criticism of President Trump and the turmoil generated in the wake of the violence in Charlottesville. “The only way this great big experiment you and I call America is gonna survive is if we’ve got tough hombres like you," Mattis tells the troops. "You’re a great example for our country right now. It’s got some problems. You know it and I know it. It’s got problems that we don’t have in the military." At another point, Mattis suggested that America had lost its "power of inspiration," but would get it back. He added that the US has a second power—"the power of intimidation, and that’s you, if someone wants to screw with our families, our country and our allies.” The video was shot before Trump signed a memo blocking transgender enlistments but also giving Mattis leeway on how to deal with transgender troops currently serving.