H.R. McMaster and When American Generals Lie

I am not surprised by H.R. McMaster's self-obsessed and plaintive tone, given my experiences with the former three-star general and National Security Adviser.

The Wall Street Journal recently published a piece by my former White House colleague, H.R. McMaster, under the title “I cannot understand Putin’s hold on Trump.” 

I am not surprised by the self-obsessed and plaintive tone of the article, given my experiences with the former three-star general and National Security Adviser. 

On his first week in office, as Strategist to the President, I was tasked with briefing the general on the President’s Congressional address that very evening. 

My job was to inform Gen. McMaster that the Commander-in-Chief would be speaking bluntly about the threat of radical Islam. 

When he heard this, the serving General strangely erupted over the use of that term, using a string of expletives as if he were an Obama appointee who deemed “radical Islam” a politically incorrect phrase. It was our very first ever meeting and within minutes this uniformed Army officer was screaming at me using phrases I will never forget, including: “Do you think I just fell off the f—ing applecart yesterday??!” At that point, I had spent 12 years working with the military and never been sworn at. Especially not in the West Wing.  

Even more peculiarly, later the same day, after having exploded at me over the phrase “radical Islam,” McMaster urgently requested to see me and begged I help him manage the DC rumor that he was leaking to the Daily Beast from within the White House. This general was hardly an emotionally steady hand at the tiller. 

Nor was the three-star a courageous leader of men, given that fact that later in his tenure, McMaster would repeatedly tell the President not to move our embassy or recognize Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the Jewish state, fearing the eruption of a regional war. Not only did that not happen then, we had no new wars anywhere for the full 4 years we were in the White House. 

McMaster would repeatedly tell the President not to move our embassy or recognize Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the Jewish state.

In his Journal piece, McMaster tries to rewrite history as he describes President Trump as being “unconcerned about some of Putin’s brazen acts of aggression.” The opposite was in fact the case. 

Unlike Obama, who sent Kiev blankets, President Trump instead shipped Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine, and as a result Putin took no aggressive action against that benighted nation while we were in office. Then, when we informed the Commander-in-Chief that 300 special forces troops had been deployed by the Kremlin to destabilize Syria, he immediately ordered the Pentagon to kill them all. Four hours later, as the dust settled after the Battle of Khasham, all the Russians had been turned into red mist and Putin was silent. This is the President that McMaster would have you believe was in the thrall of the former KGB colonel. Note: No US President since the October Revolution of 1917 has killed hundreds of Russian troops in one day, not even Reagan. 

When we informed President Trump that 300 special forces troops had been deployed by the Kremlin to destabilize Syria, he immediately ordered the Pentagon to kill them all.

For all his complaints about President Trump, it is strange that McMaster missed his own buried lede. The fact that he admits to instructing the White House Office of the Staff Secretary to slow-roll an explicit order from the President and then, later, that it was the National Security Council staff - i.e., H.R.’s own team - which leaked classified communications to the media. Instead, he defends his actions by reporting that he told the President “I was acting in your interest.” 

Surely it is the President’s prerogative to decide what his interests are, interests which should never be subject to the whims of an unelected official who should obey orders, especially since they are in uniform, and are therefore under the civilian chain of command. Unless McMaster believes the generals should be running America. Perhaps he does. And that is why President Trump, a true leader should be returned to the White House. If you wish to be part of that effort, join his team today.