内容摘要：Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has responded to Trump's comments that he's "the world's most ov

Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has responded to Trump's comments that he's "the world's most overrated general" in a pointed, joke-filled speech that quickly went viral.

On Wednesday, Trump made the remarks during a White House meeting with members of Congress about the president's decision to remove U.S. forces from northern Syria. Before reportedly storming out of the meeting, Trump described Mattis as "the world’s most overrated general. You know why? He wasn’t tough enough." Trump added, "I captured ISIS."

Mattis — who served as Trump's Defense Secretary from Jan. 2017 until Dec. 2018 — broke his silence on the comments during a speech at a New York charity event on Thursday.

"I'm not just an overrated general, I'm the greatest, the world's most overrated," Mattis joked.

"I'm honoured to be considered by Donald Trump because he also called Meryl Streep an overrated actress, so I guess I'm the Meryl Streep of generals. And frankly that sounds pretty good to me," he continued. "You do have to admit that between me and Meryl, at least we've had some victories."

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Mattis went on to say that he'd been asked if Trump's comments had bothered him.

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"I said of course not, I earned my spurs on the battle field and Donald Trump earned his spurs in a letter from a doctor," Mattis quipped. In 2016, the New York Timesreported that Trump had been medically exempted from military service during the Vietnam War. Bone spurs were cited as the reason why Trump couldn't be drafted.

"I think the only person in the military that Donald Trump doesn't think is overrated is Colonel Sanders," Mattis said.

SEE ALSO:The Turkish president apparently threw Trump's ridiculous letter in the trash

The former Defense Secretary also said that it was during his time working with the Trump administration in Washington D.C. that he "realized how easy I'd had it overseas in a combat zone."

"As many of you know, Donald Trump nicknamed me 'mad dog' but these days I've turned over a kinder, gentler leaf and I like to think of myself as less of a mad dog and more of an emotional support animal. That's really great because now the airlines let me fly for free," said Mattis.

He also added that it's been a year since he left the administration. "A year is, according to White House time, about 9,000 hours of executive time or 18,000 holes of golf," he said.

The speech quickly went viral on social media, with many noting the flippancy of Mattis' tone — especially with those Streep jokes.

Tweet may have been deleted

Tweet may have been deleted

It's worth noting that Mattis served on the board of Theranos — the company founded by Elizabeth Holmes which sold fake blood tests and has been described by the Securities and Exchange Commission as an "elaborate, years-long fraud". According to Vox, "Mattis (who, obviously, has no expertise in medical testing) pushed for the military to use Theranos technology, but it was never used because it didn’t work."

Watch the tweets. Someone's bound to respond.

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