Once Byers returned to the Pentagon, he asked Mattis for a private meeting. They met alone the next day. “What’s on your mind?” Mattis asked. There was an interchange in the Oval Office involving the president that I should tell you about, and it’s very uncomfortable, Byers said. “Brad, don’t you worry at all,” Mattis said. “Just tell me what happened.” Byers explained the president had mentioned that generals weren’t tough enough on steel and aluminum tariffs and were more worried about alliances. “Tell me exactly what he said.” The president said, Byers recounted, “my fucking generals are a
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