know, it might be better for trump and for america to have a secretary of defense who will flesh this out to the degree that trump needs. because this is what we have. this is what we are going to have. and mattis but john, you made a fascinating if fascinating insight that mitch mcconnell letter. you have james mattis saying, mr. president, i disagree with you. i have to leave. i disagree with your policies. and then you have the majority leader saying, and now, mr. president, i expect you to select another secretary of defense who disagrees with your foreign policy. right. and last week, if james mattis goes, who is coming in? i think the general consensus is senator the if lindsey graham would be the next secretary of
mattis s call to support our allies. mitch wrote this. quote, i believe it s essential that the united states maintain and strengthen the post world war ii ally yapians that have b carefully built by leaders in both parties. we must also maintain a clear-eyed understanding of our friends and foes and russia are among the latter. so i was sorry to learn that secretary mattis, who shares those clear principals, will soon part the administration. but i am particularly distressed that he is resigning due to his sharp differences with the president on these and other key aspects of america s global leadership. it is regrettable that the president must now choose a new secretary of defense. but i urge him to select a leader who shares secretary mattis s understanding of these vital principles and his total commitment to america s servicemembers. john, it s almost as if
official at the justice department. that means that matthew whitaker could end up being the person who decides what to do with the mueller report if, in fact, our reporting is correct that the mueller report lands in mid february, mika. jim, john, i want to ask you this question. given the role that whitaker plays would be very different and how we see it would look a lot irchbt did different if repe still in control of the house of representatives. given that that is the case, obviously, whitaker could have an influential role. but is it not the case that one way or the other what happens to bob mueller s investigation is going to become public? the justice department makes a lot of those decisions about what becomes public and when. you re talking about with democrats in control of the house, if they go down the impeachment route, they re going to get a lot of it put on the public record.
essentially, he wants to opt out again in this misguided idea that we can be safe here at home. and i think we are going to pay the price for this for basically years to come. this has now become a truly consequential presidency, but not in the way any of us want to see. john highlymeilm hayheilmann remind myself that everybody is doing their best all the time, and they have been. but could this be a turning point in their relationship with trump? losing mattis is losing a the significant dose of sanity in the white house. could this be an inflexion point with the republicans as it pertain toes th pertains to this president? it could be. and i think it s one in a cascading series of flexion points. when the history of all this is written, you will start with the
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