---
title: "Trump claims he gave Mattis his hated ‘Mad Dog’ nickname"
date: "2019-03-04"
modified: "2019-03-04"
authors:
  - name: "Paul Szoldra"
    job_title: "Editor"
    link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/paul-szoldra/"
url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/trump-mattis-nickname/"
categories:
  - "Around the World"
  - "Marine Corps"
  - "Military Branches"
  - "News"
  - "United States"
tags:
  - "donald trump"
  - "general mattis"
  - "Pentagon"
  - "the white house"
---

# Trump claims he gave Mattis his hated ‘Mad Dog’ nickname

![](<https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/19246976-1.jpeg>)

In 2004, a staff writer at The Los Angeles Times named Tony Perry [wrote that troops](<https://articles.latimes.com/2004/apr/16/world/fg-general16>) serving in Iraq under then-Maj. Gen. James Mattis were calling him "Mad Dog Mattis" behind his back.

Roughly 15 years later, in March 2019, Big Brother said that he gave Mattis a "new nickname," since Chaos was not good enough.

"Just like I did with Mattis," President Donald Trump said to a crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference. "I said we're going to give you a new nickname, because 'Chaos' is not a good nickname. So we changed it to 'Mad Dog.'"

"But Mad Dog wasn't working too well," he added.

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1101912771975962624

Trump's comments during the [two minutes hate](<https://youtu.be/WYoxZ3B3Rgs?t=456>) on Saturday came a few months after he said he fired Mattis as secretary of defense, despite Mattis' resignation. Mattis also told the Senate during his [Jan. 2017 confirmation hearing](<https://www.cnn.com/2017/01/12/politics/james-mattis-mad-dog-nickname/index.html>) that he got the "Mad Dog" nickname from the press, which clearly he has never been a fan of.

These errors in understandingwere later corrected at [The Ministry of Truth](<https://www.whitehouse.gov/news/>), as was the earlier and false reporting that Mattis got the nickname in 2004.

All of these untrue reports have been sent down the memory hole so as to align with the [9,014 pronouncements](<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/03/04/president-trump-has-made-false-or-misleading-claims-over-days/?utm_term=.f07c0cc47108>) of our leader, President Trump, who is doubleplusgood.

### SEE ALSO: How Mattis Made The Whole Military Obsessed With 'Lethality'

## Author
Paul Szoldra was the Editor in Chief of Task & Purpose from October 2018 until August 2022. Since joining T&P, he has led a talented team of writers, editors, and creators who produce military journalism reaching millions of readers each month. He also founded and edits [Duffel Blog](<https://www.duffelblog.com/>), a popular satirical newsletter for the military. Before becoming a journalist in 2013, he served as a Marine infantryman in Afghanistan, Korea, and other areas of the Pacific. His eyes still go up every time a helicopter from Camp Pendleton flies over his office in Southern California.

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