“Mattis was right to serve and to hold his tongue publicly, to be effective. But now he’s right to resign,” said Stephen J. Hadley, a national security adviser to former president George W. Bush. “As he said, the president deserves a secretary of defense who shares the president’s views. That is not Jim Mattis. Mattis is a man of principle, and he couldn’t fake it, to his credit.”
It had become painful in recent months watching Trump-encouraged speculation that Mattis had lost favor and influence. This ritual humiliation of subordinates is one of Trump’s least attractive qualities, and it was especially ugly when directed at the stoical, stalwart former Marine general. As is his practice, Mattis didn’t respond publicly, until Thursday’s zinger of the resignation letter.
“This president has a way of walking everyone over the cliff and asking them to sacrifice everything they believe in to show loyalty. Mattis just couldn’t go any further,” said a retired four-star who knows Mattis well.
Another senior former Pentagon official explained Mattis’s resignation this way: “Generals don’t do crazy.” The months of volatile Trump decision-making finally proved too much.
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