he was considered the adults in the room and a stabilizing force at the white house now the man who once stood beside the president is giving him the cold shoulder defense secretary jim mattison brain resigns in protest of president trump's decision to pull american troops from syria top democrats republicans and nato allies are concerned i'm karl nason in berlin and this is the day. what a great guy he's going to be. i think that everybody. should read his letter of resignation about him to resign now the world secretary medicine was one of the few symbols the few items of strength and stability in this administration that they disagree with