President Trump announced on Twitter Thursday that his defense secretary, James Mattis, will be retiring at the end of February.
Why it matters: The announcement comes just a day after Trump said he would be withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria, a move Mattis reportedly opposed.
Mattis, in a statement released by the Pentagon, said he is leaving because the president has "the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects."
Our thought bubble: Mattis, like the other Trump administration generals who are all now either gone or on their way out, was a reassuring presence for allies trying to make sense of Trump’s erratic foreign policy, and considered a brake on some of the president’s impulses. But his influence with Trump has reportedly been waning for months.
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