CNN’s Toobin on Mattis’ Departure: ‘There Are No More Grownups in the Room’

On Thursday, President Donald Trump announced via Twitter that General Jim Mattis was resigning as Secretary of Defense.

“General Jim Mattis will be retiring, with distinction, at the end of February, after having served my Administration as Secretary of Defense for the past two years,” Trump wrote.

Shortly after Trump’s tweet, Mattis’ own resignation letter leaked, indicating that he was actually leaving —  not retiring — because the president needs a secretary of defense whose views are “better aligned” with his own.

Responding to the news of Mattis’ departure on CNN, legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said the Mattis decision was another sign of Trump’s unwillingness to compromise.

The legal analyst then stressed that now that Mattis is leaving, the last grown-up in the room is gone too.

“You know, the Mattis decision today and the apparent decision to shut down the government over the border wall, I mean, they are part of the same governing philosophy which is the president doesn’t reach out to his political adversaries,” Toobin began. “He doesn’t compromise. And he goes with the views of what — of the people who he feels are his closest supporters.”

He continued: “I mean, he is going to close down the government because Ann Coulter got mad at him. And that’s, you know, where we are on the budget side. And you know, Mattis is a representative of a broad Washington consensus about military matters. He is not known as a particularly political person. But he’s out now.”

Then, turning to the lack of maturity now surrounding the commander-in-chief, he said this: “And, you know, the phrase grownups in the room is probably over-used and maybe not even that useful. But there are no more grownups in the room. You know? Remember, there is [H.R.] McMaster too. McMaster’s gone. And [John] Kelly‘s gone. And now Mattis is gone. And we’ll see who’s in charge now.”

Watch above, via CNN