Many foreign policy leaders had said that Trump gave Kim (Kim Jong Un, dictator of North Korea) too much by agreeing to meet without formal, written conditions. "So, have you given Kim too much power?" I asked. Kim had said he wouldn't shoot more ICBMs (Intercontinental ballistic missiles)."Because if he's defiant, if he shoots one of those ICBMs, what are you going to do sir?" "If he shoots, he shoots," Trump said.

...Obama said, 'I welcome debate among my team, but I won't tolerate division.

Obama had campaigned against Bush's ideas and approaches. But, Donilon, for one, thought that Obama had perhaps underestimated the extent to which he had inherited George W. Bush's presidency - the apparatus, personnel and mind-set of war making.

McChrystal had organized a jaw-dropping counterterrorism campaign inside Iraq, but the tactical successes did not translate into a strategic victory. This was why counterinsurgency - blanketing the population in safety and winning them over - was necessary.

In Haig's presence, Kissinger referred pointedly to military men as "dumb, stupid animals to be used" as pawns for foreign policy.