YouSaid · the spoken record

Michael Mullen

lines on the record: 71
first: 2019-10-22
most recent: 2019-10-22
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“The State Department certainly Well, what I was trying to say is we had lots of problems going into this election. The American people, I think, made a decision that the status quo more of the same, if you will, from Washington wasn't going to be satisfactory. And so the American people, you know, in a Democratic election, our system elected President Trump. And then he clearly has attacked these institutions. And he characterizes them as part of the deep state, which is something having been in an institution my entire adult life never saw in my institution in the Pentagon as well as in these other institutions that I work closely with. And that's why I think we're going to have a lot of work to repair these institutions and do it in a way that is constructive for the country at the end of President. Trump's term or terms in office”
2019-10-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 352 – Admiral Michael Mullen · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, it's not to me, it's not all this president. I mean, we've been headed as a country when I talk public about things that concern me the most in 2010. I was now famously asked what the number one threat to the country was, and it was our debt, and our debt was, I think, about ten trillion dollars. And it's now up over $23 trillion, with no end inside and certainly no political will that I see on either side to be able to stem that debt. Our education system, our K through twelve education system has been underwater for decades, and I worry that eventually we're going to wake up one morning and we are going to be as uncompetitive as we've ever been. The political paralysis, the politics in Washington. In fact, I'd almost like to get back to paralysis. I don't know what the right word is. It's so extreme.”
2019-10-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 352 – Admiral Michael Mullen · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think they can. I guess I'm a glass half full guy, and I would not say that they couldn't at this point. I think it's going to take a lot of work. I mean, one of”
2019-10-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 352 – Admiral Michael Mullen · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I think it's continued now, certainly for the last almost three years, and I think it's going to go for another one or another five years, depending on the voice of the American people. But I think there's going to be a pretty heavy reconciliation in terms of relationships, in terms of institutions, which is going to have to be dealt with given the pressure that these institutions and alliances have been under. And if I'm sitting halfway around the world wondering what America is, and I have America act a certain way for four years or for eight years, that's what America is. So we're going to have to rebuild that.”
2019-10-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 352 – Admiral Michael Mullen · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't think there's any question we are. It's hard to know how much and it's hard to know the specific outcomes, but I think we're going to be in a much different place and a much worse place when all of this stops, whenever that is. When you say all that,”
2019-10-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 352 – Admiral Michael Mullen · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We wanted NATO to move from a coalition standpoint, an alliance standpoint, and in great part is because of our investment, not just the money side of it, but the capability side of it, the people side of it, the diplomatic side of it that really made a huge difference. And alliances in Western Pacific with Korea and with Japan are much the same way. So the payback for those investments have been extraordinary in terms of peace and prosperity and security, all things which we value. And in a way, I'd really argue that puts America first.”
2019-10-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 352 – Admiral Michael Mullen · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think obviously this is what he means. I think we can put America first and do other things. Although I would argue the strength of those alliances, the strength of even the investments sometimes disproportionately in an organization like NATO that we have benefited greatly from that as a country so that that in its own way puts America first. One of the things gets lost on NATO is the amount of the bill that we pay, which was significant. The other thing that happened in NATO was we had a lot of say about what happened in NATO as a result of the investment we made there. And yes, all of us have argued for some time that you need, if you're a NATO country, to be above 2% and you need increase the amount of money you're spending on defense and security. That said, we were able to move NATO in the direction.”
2019-10-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 352 – Admiral Michael Mullen · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Will since it was established after World War II and other institutions and alliances like that? And will the United States, having pulled out of an agreement with Iran on nuclear weapons, having pulled away from TPP, will the United States commit itself to alliances to other countries as we have in the past? And at least from my standpoint, I think now that's an open question.”
2019-10-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 352 – Admiral Michael Mullen · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think it almost puts an exclamation point on what we have been doing in terms of creating questions in our allies' minds over the last ten years or so about whether we would be there for them and in particular, I mean, I have friends in the Far East, friends in the Middle East, even friends in Europe that wonder what the United States will stand up for now. And I think that's in a time of great uncertainty, and this is almost a capstone event in that regard. And those friends are oftentimes members of institutions NATO would be a great example that really they wonder whether NATO can be the NATO that it has been, this institution that has helped us preserve the order.”
2019-10-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 352 – Admiral Michael Mullen · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I just think we have to be very careful about how we isolate and what we leave alone or what we leave others quote unquote who live closer to do because the United States of America is still the United States of America. And there are a lot of people around the world that resent who we are. There are a lot of bad guys that would come after us given the chance. And I think, and I use 9-11 obviously as an example, I think giving them the freedom to be able to do that is very dangerous. So in that regard, if we have to deploy a few thousand troops to ensure that doesn't happen in the future or to reduce the risk as much as we can, then I think that we ought to do that.”
2019-10-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 352 – Admiral Michael Mullen · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“But it's the same thing there are many terror groups that live on that border between Afghanistan and Pakistan who threaten us either aspirationally or operationally and if we just leave then we'll have to deal with them again as well and if I just look at Iraq and how rapidly we came out of Iraq that resulted in the growth of ISIS, if you will. So those are very real empirical lessons that we've really learned. I don't think that we have spent four to five or six trillion dollars. We have overseas in these wars. We have huge needs in this country and I certainly acknowledge that. I just think we have to be very judicious about how we bring troops home, how we isolate right now. Our country has a history of isolating after wars. That's very natural.”
2019-10-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 352 – Admiral Michael Mullen · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I think that's true from the standpoint of hitting the political cord. My concern is that our engagement in each of these wars that we've been in, Iraq, Afghanistan, and now this one, is really focused on what our interests are as a country. And I would put, I tried to describe them as vital national interest. And I think if you believe that ISIS will resurge, and most people do, then I think it's very dangerous to bring our troops home. Troops, when they deploy for a long time, they always want to come home. But at the same time, there also will go and sacrifice for those vital interests. I'm concerned in Afghanistan right now because there's this move to bring the troops out of there as well. We'll see what the president's final decision is.”
2019-10-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 352 – Admiral Michael Mullen · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And as chairman of the Joint Chiefs, but there is this, my guess is he is reaching an audience when he says, why should we be involved in battles between these ancient rivals seven thousand miles away? It has nothing to”
2019-10-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 352 – Admiral Michael Mullen · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I know you were in Dallas, he had a rally there the other night. He said, all I know is the place went crazy when I said we'll bring our soldiers back home. He said they may feel that in Washington that this was the wrong decision, but I have to do what I've got elected on and I have to do what I think is right. If I got elected on something and think I was wrong, I'd second guess it, but they want our soldiers back home. He's very blunt about this. He made a promise. I have to ask you because you and I were talking earlier about the sort of the Vietnam hangover that lasted for 30 years. There is also in Iraq hangover. And he's not wrong that we spent trillions of dollars, thousands of Americans lost their lives. I know you grieved every one of them as a commander.”
2019-10-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 352 – Admiral Michael Mullen · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Are going to come out losers, and that's really a sad state of affairs. And presumably ISIS too, yeah, is the notion of an ISIS resurgence is I don't think there's any question that they're going to come back and that those statements from so many individuals from so many different points of view all agree that ISIS, this has given ISIS a new life and there's no question that they will resurge in time and in fact then we're going to end up as public enemy number one for ISIS we're going to end up having to deal with them again the president spoke today about all of this and defended his decision talked about his promise that he made as a candidate and he said I'll tell you I want to bring our soldiers back home if people want to leave them there I'll take that every day meaning his position”
2019-10-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 352 – Admiral Michael Mullen · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The word that in the last week or two weeks since this started is the word that sums it up for me and we have betrayed our friends at a strategic level I think and Washington loves to look at winners and losers I think every entity that we would like to see lose in this is going to win and that's Russia and Vladimir Putin that's Assad in Syria that's Iran and Rouhani that's Erdogan and Turkey that's sadly and we wouldn't want to see them lose that's going to be the Syrian people who've been through this devastating period of war in the last several years but those that we that oppose us are going to come out winners in this and those that have supported us”
2019-10-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 352 – Admiral Michael Mullen · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“sacrificed thousands of the Kurds thousands of their own lives for this cause, and then to wake up one morning and find out that we're going out the doors is pretty catastrophic in terms of the mission on the ground and then the relationships that they thought in one case were great and seemingly in a moment the relationship was destroyed. Yeah, I was struck in there were some reporting out of Syria today and it said residents threw rocks and potatoes at a United States military convoy driving through one of the major cities in Kurdish-held territory which I won't try and pronounce in video posted online by a local Kurdish news outlet men hurling potatoes at an armed vehicle shouted no America and America liar in English. Yeah, I think betrayal is probably the”
2019-10-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 352 – Admiral Michael Mullen · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Been cloed together in recent years which has had a pretty extraordinarily positive impact in defeating ISIS and essentially calming roughly a third of the country of Syria in this war. And then the issue of longer-term stability and commitment to allies and friends and all of that. And in a very short period of time, it seems as though we've undone that. And for those of us that served in the military and those on active duty right now, one of the golden rules is you never leave a buddy on the battlefield. And that's the essence of many of the comments I've received from military members right now because that's essentially what we're doing. This is not a group that we have distance from. This is a group we've lived with for the last several years.”
2019-10-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 352 – Admiral Michael Mullen · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“appreciate your dedication to the institution of politics and what you've done here. So it's good to be back with you. I think my reaction has been similar to many in terms of the sort of immediacy of the withdrawal. One of the things I think of in this is that Jim Mattis resigned as Secretary of Defense last December based on a decision the president had made at the time to pull troops out of Syria. And I thought Mattis articulated the reasons for that very well, among which were pulling out among colleagues leaving colleagues on the battlefield. Colleagues, meaning the Kurds who had fought side by side. The Kurds and the totality of the force, if you will, that was”
2019-10-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 352 – Admiral Michael Mullen · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No one would have predicted, given where you started, where you ended up in life, a whole different world. But we'll get to that. But so much is going on right now that is so much not just in your area of expertise, but in the area about which you care so passionately that I would be remiss if I didn't start there because I know people are going to want to hear what you have to say. The first is about policy and the second is just about institutional coherence. On the question of policy, what has your reaction been the last few weeks watching the situation in northern Syria unfold from the time the president had his call with Erdogan of Turkey and withdrew the American troops from northern Syria to where we are today? Well, it's good to be with you as well, David.”
2019-10-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 352 – Admiral Michael Mullen · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Admiral Mike Mowen, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, when I served in the White House under President Obama, dropped by the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago yesterday. We talked about Trump's decision to pull U.S. troops out of Syria, state of our alliances today. His historic testimony in support of repealing the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy, and his unlikely upbringing as the son of a Hollywood publicist. Admiral Mullen, it's great to see you again here at the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago. You know, usually you have an incredible life, as people will hear in a minute because”
2019-10-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 352 – Admiral Michael Mullen · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source