Defense Secretary James N. Mattis. (Army Sgt. Amber I. Smith, Wikimedia Commons)
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, a living Marine Corps legend who made history by securing special permission from Congress to lead the Pentagon, is stepping down after a slow freeze-out by President Trump.
As NPR reports, drift between the two men reached a point at which Mattis objected so strongly to the president's policy choices that he opted to resign rather than go along.
"While the US remains the indispensable nation in the free world, we cannot protect our interests or serve that role effectively without maintaining strong alliances and showing respect to those allies," Mattis wrote in his resignation letter. "My views on treating allies with respect and also being clear-eyed about both malign actors and strategic competitors are strongly held and informed by over four decades of immersion in these issues."
Read More: Lawmakers Sound Bipartisan Alarm After Mattis Resignation
Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) serves on the Senaate Committee on Foreign Relations and previously sat on the House Armed Services Committee.
Young praised Mattis' "exceptional tenure" as Secretary of Defense: "Jim Mattis has served our country with extraordinary courage, integrity, and self-sacrifice," Young said in a statement. "As Secretary of Defense, he has focused on restoring the readiness and lethality of our armed forces and enhancing the alliances that are so vital to American national security."
Rep. Jim Banks (R-Muncie) serves on the House Armed Services Committee. On Twitter, he said Mattis is a "true American hero" but adds he's confident Trump will choose a replacement who will "build on the progress made under General Mattis."
I joined @WolfBlitzer on @CNNSitRoom to discuss the departure of Defense Secretary James Mattis and the need to secure our border. pic.twitter.com/nczP1pbeou
— Jim Banks (@RepJimBanks) December 21, 2018
Other representatives from Indiana have been silent so far.
Lee Feinstein is Dean of Indiana University’s Hamilton-Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He says it’s unprecedented for a Secretary of Defense to resign in protest, and the letter Mattis sent made his reasoning clear.
“Mattis believed in the idea of a rules-based system, and he believed that global rules supported U.S. interests and also U.S. values, and also made for a more peaceful and prosperous planet,” Feinstein says. “President Trump sees things in a much more transactional way.”
Feinstein says Mattis’ stance made him “a hold out” in the Trump administration, which has chosen to remove the United States from international agreements and long-standing treaty commitments.
And he says those changes came while Trump was forging relationships with North Korea and Russia, and distancing himself from allies like Great Britain and Germany.
He says Mattis’ resignation is significant for the Trump administration.
“With Mattis leaving, all of the first round of appointees by President Trump have either resigned or been fired,” Feinstein says.
Feinstein says focusing on the turnover in the Trump administration means the country isn’t paying as much attention to what’s happening outside of its borders – something other countries might take advantage of.
“What about events in the Middle East? What about events in Turkey? What about North Korea?” Feinstein says. “There are a whole range of concerns, and it’s not just the United States that is distracted right now.”
He says while the United States is considering Mattis’ resignation, Britain is dealing with plans for Brexit, France is facing protests and Germany is experiencing its own leadership changes.
And Feinstein says there’s one more concern raised by Mattis’ resignation.
“The question is, who’s going to come next?” Feinstein says. “And who would work for a president who is mercurial, who is impetuous, and who is in peril?”
