(CNN) On Monday, President Donald Trump called Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher "one of our ultimate fighters."

The President was responding to the controversy caused by his public push for Gallagher, who had been demoted for posing next to an ISIS corpse, to be reinstated and to keep his coveted status as a member of the elite group of SEALS.

"I have to protect my warfighters," he added.

Trump's decision, which led to the firing of Navy Secretary Richard Spencer, is indicative of the sort of fundamental misunderstanding about the nature of toughness and honor Trump has about the military and law enforcement in the country.

Eddie Gallagher

Whether it's insisting he would go beyond waterboarding prisoners to his repeated calls for the police to be tougher on the people they are arresting, Trump's philosophy is clear: Being tough is everything. Strength and dominance are not things you apologize for. And in a war setting, anything goes. Literally, anything.

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