Trump's Former VA Secretary Describes 'Toxic' Washington Culture In New Book

By some measures, David Shulkin had a fairly typical experience for members of the Trump administration. He learned he was nominated to become secretary of veterans affairs while watching TV — and found out he was fired on Twitter.

In between, he was praised by the president but stabbed in the back by others in the administration, including his own security detail; had to deal with outside advisers who had the president's ear; and was victimized, in his view, by the news media, all the while wrestling, with some degree of success, with an entrenched and resistant-to-change bureaucracy.

So it comes as no surprise that after having spent 15 months as VA secretary, Shulkin describes the environment in Washington as "toxic, chaotic and subversive" in his new memoir of his service, It Shouldn't Be This Hard to Serve Your Country.

Shulkin's story is by turns disturbing and frustrating. As part of the line of succession to the