Crisis, a National Security crisis. No way around it. Im particularly distressed that he is resigning. This administration abandoned those core american beliefs. And the list continues. These are comments from democrats and republicans. This is a monumental night in our country. General mattis, one of the highest ranking members of the Trump Administration and one of the most important military leaders in the world had the courage to take a stand and tell the world how he felt about the president and his administration. He didnt do it as an anonymous oped in the new york times. He didnt pretend it was for personal reasons. He was direct. And in his Resignation Letter, mattis wrote, while the u. S. Remains the indispensable nation in the free world, we cannot protect our interest or serve that role effectively without maintaining strong alliances. He goes on to write, i believe we must be resolute and unambiguous in our approach to those countries whose Strategic Interests are increasingly in tension with ours. It is clear that china and russia, for example, want to shape a world consistent with their authoritarian model, gaining Veto Authority over other nations economic, diplomatic, and security decisions to promote their own interests at the expense of their neighbors, america and our allies. That is why we must use all the tools of American Power to provide for the common defense. And finally, he writes, because you have the right to have a secretary of defense whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects, i believe it is right for me to step down. Fareed zakaria joins me now. Every day there is something with this administration. Can you please help us explain to us how important, how critical this moment is right now. To put in context, general mattiss resignation, this is the first that i can think of Senior Administration official at the level of secretary of state, secretary of defense, resigning on a matter of principle since cyrus vance did that in the carter administration. That doesnt happen very often. Washington is a place where people love power, they wield power with great relish, and this is really the pinnacle, as you say. Running the pentagon, its the Largest Organization in the world. Its the most Lethal Organization in the world. Its the biggest budget in the world. What mattis is saying very simply is enough. He had tried to find ways to constrain trump, to influence him. And i think there are two things going on here. The first is clearly the chaos of the decisionmaking process. James mattis had had these conversations with donald trump about Troop Deployments in syria and Troop Deployments in afghanistan. He had gotten the president on board with a policy that was then articulated. We were going to stay there, we were going to increase some of the lethal power. Trump used to boast about that. And then awful a sudden seemingly totally mercurially idiosyncratically, impulsively, trump reverses himself, reverses these decisions, doesnt bother to inform most of the people involved. Certainly doesnt inform allies and that chaos of Decision Making is probably part of what has frustrated james mattis so much. But the bigger issue is the one you raised in quoting the letter. Clearly he feels that trump is simply not on board with the Foreign Policy that every president has followed since harry truman, a policy that says we are going to build a more peaceful, more stable world through a network of alliances and institutions. That means were going to respect those alliances and institutions. Were going to stand up against our adversaries. And trump doesnt really believe in any of this. He thinks the allies are the problem. He wants to disrespect the allies. He wants to cozy up to the adversaries. He wants to blow up the whole model. And facing this, both the substantive this deep substantive disagreement, and the chaos and disrespect that the decisionmaking process reflects both on him, on allies, i think james mattis just said enough. Is it perplexing to you that the president spun it as a retirement letter . Because if you read it, i would think so, it appears to be a clear repudiation of this presidency. As always with trump he doesnt you know, he doesnt seem to know enough. What does he mean retirement . Secretary of defense doesnt retire. Hes either fired or he resigns. Its not a military position. I very much appreciate this opportunity to serve the nation and our men and women in uniform. Nothing about the administration, nothing about the president. Well, if you remember there was that early Cabinet Meeting where trump forced his cabinet to go through a series of hosannas to his leadership. A kind of cringeworthy moment like the north korean dear leader every cabinet member and Reince Priebus and chief of staff and mike pence talked about a great man trump was. James mattis was the only person that didnt. He said im grateful for the opportunity to serve the people and to serve our troops. You see that again here. He is not thanking trump in some slavish personal way. Hes thanking the country for the opportunity to lead the armed forces. Why this point, then . It wasnt the muslim ban. It wasnt separation of children. So why is this the straw . I think as i say because probably he felt he had had these conversations with trump, they had agreed on a policy. That policy was then put in place, implemented. Alliances you know, allies were roped together into making that policy work. Adversaries were put on notice. And then all of a sudden he just upends the entire policy. You know, i think that with every cabinet official youre always choosing. You know, you dont win every battle. You make a recommendation, the president goes with it, sometimes doesnt. But in this case these are big decision thats mattis had had the president make just a year ago and theyre all reversed. I think this is one of the problems people privately tell me about working in this administrations that you dont know whether everything youve worked on will be overruled tomorrow because the president gets up and sees something on fox. So reportedly, that mattis had a pact with Rex Tillerson, and secretary Steve Mnuchin last year that they apparently agreed to leave the administration if one was forced out. Do you think that other officials will follow general mattis . I think so far the only person who really has consistently shown backbone and dignity is jim mattis. The rest of them frankly have never showed it at any point. Well see whether that proves to be true. My prediction is nobody will leave, mattis will leave alone. The adult has left the room. The adult has left. And whats distressing about it is you know, you already have a National Security council that is apparently a third of the seats unfilled. National Economic Council similarly. There are key positions and the white house is rarely difficult to staff. These are the most powerful jobs in washington. Youre working directly for the president. Everybody wants them. Yeah, everybody wants them. And you know, nobody seems to want to work for this president. But now you see credit. You have the stature of jim mattis. You have convinced the president of policy. And one day its all upended. Pleasure, fareed. Thank you. I appreciate it. Dont miss Fareed Zakaria gps sunday at 10 00 a. M. And 1 00 p. M. Eastern. Well be right back. Sometimes the best time is time you make for yourself. 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Quick, the quicker picker upper bounty picks up messes quicker and is 2x more absorbent than the leading ordinary brand. Hey look, i got it. Bounty, the quicker picker upper. Right now there is not a permanent attorney general, defense secretary or chief of staff. The country is heading into a possible Government Shutdown because the president wants money for his border wall. Stocks are having the worst december since the great depression. And Robert Mueller has indicted multiple members of trumps inner circle. Is this administration melting down, joining me now is Nicholas Kristof and frank bruni. Frank, why are you shaking your head . Good evening, by the way. That phrase has been in my head all day, that meltdown phrase. This feels you said its a monumental night just a few minutes ago, don. There is no hyperbole in that. I sit here, i feel so anxious and fearful and sad about the country because the way this president is behaving and all the things you just mentioned, it does feel like were on the precipice of something very bad if not there already. Jim mattis was the best of this administration. This is not an administration that is overloaded with talent. He is the pinnacle of the administration. Someone who clearly was trying to stay in that job as long as possible, as long as he felt that he could make a positive impact on President Trump. And hes seeming to say now this president sun educable, uninfluenceable by reason, by expert xwreez, by respect for tradition. And when you hear that, it is impossible not to feel great fear about the direction of this country. Nick, what do you think . When President Trump took office, there were competing theories. One was he would learn more about the world, he would be restrained by advisers, he would grow into position. And the other was that he would gradually shake off the constraints and go his own way. I think clearly the second course has taken effect. At the end of the day, i think that domestically hes constrained by institutions, by congress, by laws. And the area where he has the president has the greatest autonomy of course is international affairs. I think thats why as frank says the resignation of secretary mattis is deeply alarming. But you know, i would also say that if you look back at the course of the last two years i think that while theres plenty of reason to be alarmed at the way President Trump is going we should also remember that american institutions have been gravely tested, and i think those institutions have actually stood up remarkably well. You look at the courts. You look at law. You look at the intelligence community, the professional civil service. You look at the military. You look at journalism. All these institutions have their flaws. Weve all made mistakes. But the institutions have to a reasonably reassuring degree managed to uphold some pretty crucial american values. Dont you think after this theres going to be some rejiggering in all of those places to prevent the possibility of teetering off the precipice again . So i think because theyve held up. They have. So far. They have. And i think that its going to be that republicans are already clearly divided. I think that it may be easier for these institutions to withstand a rogue president when he is constrained by bob mueller, when more republicans are speaking against him when theres two years to go. Did you want to add anything about that, frank, before i ask you another question . Well, i wanted to say the following, which is i think nick is mostly right about the last couple years in terms of institutions standing up and they shouldnt have to do battle with the president the way they do. But the last, you know, month since the midterms concerns me in particular. The midterms were no two ways to look at it, they were a repudiation of donald trump. And i think even in all of his narcissism he had to see that. But what did he do after that repudiation . Did he take a look at his shortcomings and some of his worst traits and try to mitt gate them . No, he seems to be doubling and tripling down on all of the things about him that earned him that repudiation. Theres something so deliberately rash and defiant about this decision with syria, about what he may be poised to do in terms of afghanistan. And im just very alarmed by a leader its generous to use that term for him who seems never to selfexamine and say hey, how coy be better but seems to just act like a defiant child and say you dont like these things about me, im going to show you more of them. Thats the reason i said to nick, i said theyve stood up is so far, we shall see. But how petty is it of the president to nuance on twitter that mattis is retiring knowing that mattis was resigning in protest . Its incredibly petty. Its of a piece with tweeteding that Rex Tillerson is dumb as a rock or stone. Its tweeting omarosa is a dog. This is the way our president amazingly behaves. This one, though, is so silly because within hours we knew that tweet was meaningless. We had this letter that mattis wrote which was so soulful and heartfelt and which has a very subdued tone, which is one of the things that gives it such impact and authority. But if you read that letter, its very clear hes resigning in protest. Hes very clearly rebuking the president. And so trumps tweet in retrospect just looks like the silly Wishful Thinking of a child thinking he could make his spin win the day. General mattis was asked if there was a situation in which hed resign over bad orders. He said had i ever been asked to do something unethical immoral or felony stupid of course youd owe it to yourself. Youd owe it to your troops. Then he argued for the innate wisdom of chain of command. I always expected to be heard as i rose in rank. But under our system of government if you really believe in it, if you trust in it, if you have faith in thank you dont expect to be obeyed as a general. Words like you serve at the pleasure of the president , you cant say those words only count when i agree and the president agrees with me. Loyalty really counts when there is a hundred reasons not to be loyal. Pretty significant tonight, right . It is. And i think mattis has been quite conflicted. Hes talked to people around him about this. About his desire to protect american interests and american policies. At the same time that he you know, is also concerned about his own honor. His own history. And i think that what pushed him over the edge was not just syria and it was not just afghanistan but it was also this larger issue of american alliances, of the he architecture that has kept the world safe for the last 75 years and the u. S. Has a strong interest in preserving, that he feels President Trump is now undermining. And at some point he does not want to be a part of that. Frank, i remember that you wrote a column about secretary mattis just last month after he compared Troop Deployment at the border to president Woodrow Wilsons 1916 deployment to counter Mexican Revolutionary general patcho villa. Remember that column you wrote . And you said defense secretary jim mattis who recently evoked that specter was supposed to be was supposed to speak to better language. He was known to be a saner sort, not just the proverbial adult in the room but the conscience amid the corruption and the barricade against disaster. I like to think that millions of American Parents instructed their children to expand their bedtime prafr bedtime prayers, watch over mommy, protect daddy, and dont let anything bad happen to general mattis. What does it mean to our country now that the conscience against corruption and the barricade against disaster is now gone . It means that were left with even less talent in this administration. It means that the number of people around donald trump who have respect for traditions, who as nick was just talking about have respect for alliances, who have a much more grounded responsible approach to the world, the number of people who fit that description, fewer and fewer in this administration. This administration cant find a new chief of staff. It just cant attract top tamtd. And thats because you mentioned pettiness before. Its because of the way donald trump behaves and treats people. He has joked that he only gets the be