dod is a strong institution. there is a professional ethos that is engrained to all members of the service. look, i began my time in the military at the age of 18 at west point. for me, it was duty, honor, country. those values are engrained in our service members. look, we ll have the moments where people, you know, get close to the line, but i think it will endure. it will endure as an apolitical institution. we need to preserve that. it is unique in the world. i m confident they ll do the right thing. it is quite resilient. you know, when we talk about should i resign or not resign, this is one of the things i talked about, when i d reach out to predecessors from both parties and ask, should i stay or should i go? they advised me to please stay. because one of the things was protecting the institution, as well. these institutions are absolutely critical to the health of our democracy. right. let me ask you about the democracy. at what point did your fear did you have the gre
Said, watch out, after this madness is over, everybody is going to write a how i won the war or how i saved the republic. here we are, a lot of people have. what i am finding now is, it is putting together an extraordinary historical record. i m actually glad you wrote the book. i do want to ask you, though, what do you say to your critics who suggest you should have said this earlier when trump was in power, and you should have left your position as sec def? great questions, and let me answer each. first of all, i wouldn t be the first secretary of defense to write a book. every one of my predecessors has. the reason i wrote it, which is probably the same reason they did, is i thought it was important to history and for the american people to understand the ins and outs of what happened during this tumultuous time in our nation s history. the trump administration had its successes, right? abraham accords, lower taxes, operation warp speed.