Trump gives Mattis an unfavorable label: "Democrat"

But in her transitional role, Ricardel prevented Mattis from choosing Anne Patterson, a career diplomat who had worked for the Democratic and Republican Presidents, as Deputy Secretary of Defense, Politics, influential post at the Pentagon. Officials said the disagreements between Mattis and Ricardel delayed the appointment of senior officials at the Ministry of Defense for months.

After being part of the transition team, Ms. Ricardel joined the commerce department. Now that she is at the White House, the friction between the Pentagon and the President's advisers for national security seems to have intensified.

The new dynamic between the President and his Secretary of Defense marks a dramatic turning point in what was, in the opinion of all, a solid relationship between the two men when Mr. Trump first entered the White House. At that time, Mr. Trump had spoken of Mr. Mattis with reverence and almost with fear, he called it "Mad Dog", a nickname that Mr. Mattis hates.

At a rally in North Carolina where he announced that Mattis would be his choice as Secretary of Defense, the president described the general as the living embodiment of the Marine Corps motto, "semper fidelis "or" always faithful ".

"Mad Dog does not play any game, is it?", Shouted Mr. Trump, arousing the applause of the rowdy crowd.

But over the course of the month, Mattis frequently found himself executing some of Trump's orders, including moving slowly when the president tweeted an order banning transgender troops from joining the military. The tweet, which happened while Mattis was on vacation, surprised the Pentagon's brass.

Now in his second year as President, with Trump being confident in his work as Commander-in-Chief and playing a larger role in national security decisions, his relationship with Mattis is clearly apparent. This involves putting Mr. Mattis to one side for political decisions and ignoring national security aids.

The recent publication of a book by Bob Woodward may have widened these gaps. In the book, Mr. Woodward writes that after a briefing on North Korea, Mr. Mattis told his colleagues that Mr. Trump understood the term "fifth or sixth grade student". Mr. Mattis denied saying so.