{"id":55996,"date":"2019-08-28T12:56:23","date_gmt":"2019-08-28T12:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/08\/28\/mattis-were-better-than-our-current-politics\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T09:28:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T09:28:41","slug":"mattis-were-better-than-our-current-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/08\/28\/mattis-were-better-than-our-current-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Mattis: \u2018We\u2019re better than our current politics\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2018\/12\/23\/trump-fires-mattis-early-shanahan-to-take-over-jan-1\/\" target=_blank>Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis<\/a> warned that \u201ctribalism\u201d must not be allowed to undermine American democracy and \u201cwe all know that we\u2019re better than our current politics\u201d in an essay published in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/jim-mattis-duty-democracy-and-the-threat-of-tribalism-11566984601?reflink=share_mobilewebshare\" target=_blank>the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mattis\u2019 thoughts, adapted from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2019\/05\/28\/mattis-will-have-new-book-out-this-summer-but-not-a-trump-tell-all\/\" target=_blank>his upcoming book<\/a> on his time in the Marine Corps and President Donald Trump\u2019s administration, also echoed some of the messages in his resignation letter from last year, where he appeared to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2018\/12\/20\/mattis-out-defense-secretary-says-his-views-no-longer-aligned-with-trump\/\" target=_blank>criticize Trump for his hostility toward traditional U.S. allies<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNations with allies thrive, and those without them wither,\u201d he wrote. \u201cAlone, America cannot protect our people and our economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAt this time, we can see storm clouds gathering. A polemicist\u2019s role is not sufficient for a leader. A leader must display strategic acumen that incorporates respect for those nations that have stood with us when trouble loomed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2018\/12\/20\/mattis-out-defense-secretary-says-his-views-no-longer-aligned-with-trump\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"203\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ARM-Mattis-resigns-3.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Mattis out: Defense secretary says his views no longer aligned with Trump<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Defense Secretary Jim Mattis will retire &quot;with distinction,&quot; President Trump tweeted Thursday.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He also warned of increasing tensions worldwide, and said America alone cannot eliminate all of those threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAn oft-spoken admonition in the Marines is this: When you\u2019re going to a gunfight, bring all your friends with guns,\u201d he wrote. \u201cHaving fought many times in coalitions, I believe that we need every ally we can bring to the fight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mattis wrote that he was surprised by Trump\u2019s offer to make him defense secretary but felt prepared and duty-bound to take on the task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhen it comes to the defense of our experiment in democracy and our way of life, ideology should have nothing to do with it,\u201d he said in the piece. \u201cWhether asked to serve by a Democratic or a Republican, you serve. \u2018Politics ends at the water\u2019s edge\u2019: That ethos has shaped and defined me, and I wasn\u2019t going to betray it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mattis was one of Trump\u2019s best-known and most-praised Cabinet officials before the relationship between the two soured in 2018, after a series of military policy moves that seemed to catch Pentagon leadership by surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On his resignation \u2014 a move that left the Defense Department without a permanent leader for more than 200 days, the longest in American history \u2014 Mattis said that he served in the secretary post \u201cas well as I could for as long as I could\u201d before he felt it was time to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhen my concrete solutions and strategic advice, especially keeping faith with our allies, no longer resonated, it was time to resign, despite the limitless joy I felt serving alongside our troops in defense of our Constitution,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/01\/02\/trump-insists-he-fired-mattis-says-former-defense-secretary-was-not-too-good-at-the-job\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_19002678236470.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Trump insists he fired Mattis, says former defense secretary was \u2018not too good&#8217; at the job<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The comments come just two days after the popular former Marine Corps general was forced out of his Defense Department leadership post.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cUnlike in the past, where we were unified and drew in allies, currently our own commons seems to be breaking apart. What concerns me most as a military man is not our external adversaries; it is our internal divisiveness. We are dividing into hostile tribes cheering against each other, fueled by emotion and a mutual disdain that jeopardizes our future, instead of rediscovering our common ground and finding solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since Mattis\u2019 departure from the administration, Trump has on several occasions belittled the former Marine Corps general, insisting that he fired Mattis because he was \u201cnot too good\u201d at the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mattis\u2019 book, titled \u201cCall Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead,\u201d is scheduled to be released next week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In an op-ed, the former Defense Secretary warns against America\u2019s political infighting and hostility towards traditional allies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":80378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":62,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,23,88,12,26,62],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3222],"class_list":["post-55996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-left-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"4334B4DPEBB7HMKO77RMMXIE7M","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/08\/28\/mattis-were-better-than-our-current-politics\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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