Leo Shane III, Military Times: The path for former Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis to become president is simple: 1. Declare himself a candidate. 2. Ensure no other candidate gets 270 electoral college votes in November. 3. Have Congress install him as commander-in-chief.

O]ne possible scenario is all of the states breaking for the same party as in 2012, but with Mattis capturing Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania (forget for a moment that Mattis has never won a single vote in those states or even appeared on a local ballot).

The former four-star currently works as a national security fellow at the Hoover Institution, a California-based think tank connected to Stanford University.

He developed a cult-like following among service members during his 34-year military career, in large part due to his blunt talk about the nature of combat. He once advised Marines serving under him to “be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet.”

A meeting of James Mattis and Vlad Putin would be a fun one.

http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/election/2016/04/10/general-james-mattis-president-movement/82806616/