#h.r. McMaster

[tomorrowusa]

Trump was putty in Putin's hands. That's the assessment of Gen. H.R. McMaster – a former national security adviser to Trump.

Vladimir Putin exploited Donald Trump’s “ego and insecurities” to exert an almost mesmeric hold over the former US president, who refused to entertain any negative evaluation of the autocratic Russian leader from his own staff, and ultimately fired his national security adviser, HR McMaster, over it. The bold assessment of Trump’s fealty to Putin comes in McMaster’s book At War With Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the Trump White House, published by HarperCollins and arriving on 27 August. The Guardian obtained a copy. “After over a year in this job, I cannot understand Putin’s hold on Trump,” McMaster recalls saying in the memoir covering the turbulent 457 days the now retired general served as national security adviser from February 2017 until he was effectively fired by tweet in April 2018. The comment, to McMaster’s wife, Katie, came in the aftermath of the poisoning in the UK by Putin’s agents of Sergei Skripal, a Russian former intelligence officer, and his daughter, in March 2018. [ ... ] In reality, McMaster says, Putin’s apparent simpering over Trump was a calculated effort by the Russian leader to exploit the president and drive a wedge between him and hawkish advisers in Washington DC such as McMaster urging the US to take a harder line with the Kremlin. “Putin, a ruthless former KGB operator, played to Trump’s ego and insecurities with flattery,” McMaster writes. “Putin had described Trump as ‘a very outstanding person, talented, without any doubt’, and Trump had revealed his vulnerability to this approach, his affinity for strongmen, and his belief that he alone could forge a good relationship with Putin.

Weird Donald thinks he comes across as strong by hanging around with tyrants like Putin. In fact, he's just fawning for their approval because he's so personally insecure.

It's bad for American national security when a rogue Russian dictator finds it so easy to manipulate a US president. Vladimir Putin will pull out all the stops in manipulating the media to put his patsy back into the Oval Office.

[2bpoliticallycurious]

And how many of those released 5000 Taliban prisoners, contributed to the disastrous final withdrawal, and also possibly the deaths of the 13 American service members?

Anderson Coopers' Interview With Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT BETWEEN 1:41 - 3:22 MINUTES.*

COOPER: So when he is critical of the Biden administration's withdrawal... um, which, you know, I guess, the Biden administration could have not gone along with the deal that was made. Biden did push back the-- Trump had set a guarantee withdrawal date May 1st. Biden pushed it back to August. Trump had cut troop levels down drastically, even though the Taliban was still attacking, the Taliban had allowed terrorist organizations again to have a home in their government, in their country. Um... But Trump had his hand on-- I mean, does Trump bear part of the responsibility for what happened? MCMASTER: Oh, yes. I mean, so the whole premise of talking to the Taliban before you leave Afghanistan, why the heck were we even doing that? COOPER: He was going to invite them to Camp David. MCMASTER: Right, even the Obama administration, when they made the mistake of pulling all of our troops out of Iraq in 2010--which really set conditions for the rise of ISIS and so forth by 2014--the Obama administration didn't negotiate with Al-Qaeda in Iraq on the way out. And so, if we were going to leave, why not just leave? What happened in these series of negotiations and concessions to the Taliban is we kind of threw the Afghans under the bus on the way out. COOPER: They cut the Afghan government out of those negotiations, right? MCMASTER: Absolutely, so that was mistake one, then forced them to release 5,000 of some of the most heinous people on Earth. And then began to withdraw -- COOPER: The Trump administration forced the Afghan government to release 5,000 Taliban. MCMASTER: Correct, and it also stopped the active targeting of the Taliban. [...] [color emphasis added]

[edited]

_______________ *The transcript came from this source, with some minor corrections based on the audio from the video.

[the-potus-is-a-russian-asset]

If you have not read what Donald Trump’s former National Security Advisor (Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster) has said about his former boss, you need to listen to this man: “The attack on the US Capitol stained our image, and it will take a long-term effort to restore what Donald Trump, his enablers, and those they encouraged took from us that day.”

This is just one of the many quotes from his new book which should be enough to make anyone understand that voting for this maniac to get back into the White House is the most unpatriotic thing that you can do. MAGA is the exact opposite of Making America Great Again.

[simply-ivanka]

‘I think the value or the success . . . of Trump’s foreign policies and approaches to national security only became apparent to many Americans after Biden reversed them.’

H.R. McMaster, who served as White House national security adviser (2017-18), on the Hoover Institution’s “GoodFellows” podcast, July 25:

I think the value or the success of Trump’s, certain of Trump’s foreign policies and approaches to national security only became apparent to many Americans after Biden reversed them. So you could really—I mean, hey, what does it look like when you don’t secure the border? Well, we’ve got that. What does it look like when you supplicate to the Iranians and allow them to fill their coffers with $80 billion to $100 billion of unenforced sanctions—revenue that came because of unenforced sanctions? Well, hey, you get a much more intense—wars, much more intense wars across the Middle East and you get Oct. 7.

What happens when you reinstate funding to the corrupt organization Unrwa or rejoin the Human Rights Council, which now Russia is chairing? I mean, it’s all—the fecklessness of the administration has been astounding in these areas. And the one area of continuity with the Trump administration is I think what they’ve done best at, and that’s the approach to China.

So I think that there’s a strong hand to play if President Trump and his surrogates and J.D. Vance and others—if they talk about real differences in policy between the eight Obama years, the four Trump years and the four Biden years.

[mariacallous]

There’s a strange notion going around that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s foreign-policy picks reveal something about his likely approach to international affairs. Establishment types are reassured that hawkish nominees, like Sen. Marco Rubio as secretary of state and Rep. Mike Waltz as national security advisor, will ultimately counsel the right thing when it comes to staring down Russia and China. Restrainers, MAGAteers, and left-wingers draw comfort that former Reps. Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence, and Matt Gaetz, as attorney general, will shape a policy of retrenchment, persuading the president to withdraw resources from areas where no vital U.S. interests are at stake.

If you’re experiencing déjà vu, that sense is well-founded. For the same genre of think piece was everywhere in 2016 and after, as opinion writers projected their angst, hopes, and dreams into extrapolating meaning from Trump’s waves of appointments and firings. Mike Flynn, Rex Tillerson, James Mattis, H.R. McMaster were the collective tea leaves at the bottom of the cup, read to reveal the future of U.S. foreign policy. The metaphor is apt, as these attempts generally had the same predictive prowess as tea leaves, fortune cookies, and palm reading. All operated on the premise that Trump was susceptible to advice. We should really know better by now.

There was no significant advisory influence on Trump’s last presidency, and it is unlikely that his second term will be any different. Occasionally, his instincts overlapped with his advisors—such as Tillerson on improving relations with Saudia Arabia or with National Security Advisor John Bolton on withdrawing from the Iranian nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration. But these moments of unity were fleeting. If there is one common, mournful thread sewn through the memoirs of Trump’s first-term appointments, it is frustration at being treated disdainfully by a president who simply did not listen.

Tillerson lasted 13 months as secretary of state before Trump fired him in a social media post. The two clashed on North Korea, Russia, China, Iran, and the Paris climate agreement. After firing him, Trump posted on X, then known as Twitter, that Tillerson “didn’t have the mental capacity needed. He was dumb as a rock and I couldn’t get rid of him fast enough. He was lazy as hell.” Tillerson allegedly described Trump as a “fucking moron.” And this was one of Trump’s more productive working relationships.

Trump could not forgive H.R. McMaster for suggesting that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. Aghast at Trump’s imperviousness to advice that challenged his simplistic worldview, McMaster described Oval Office meetings as “exercises in competitive sycophancy” in a book published earlier this year.

“Trump was not following any international grand strategy, or even a consistent trajectory,” Bolton wrote in his 2020 book, “His thinking was like an archipelago of dots (like individual real estate deals) leaving the rest of us to discern—or create—policy.” It’s a sharp critique that overestimates Bolton’s capacity for creation, given that the only substantive thing on which they agreed was withdrawing from the Iranian nuclear deal. Trump responded by describing Bolton in a social media post as “a disgruntled boring fool who only wanted to go to war. Never had a clue, was ostracized & happily dumped. What a dope!”

So what of the Trump class of 2025? Might Rubio, Waltz, Gabbard, and Gaetz succeed in becoming Aristotle to Alexander the Great, where everyone else has failed? It’s no stretch to imagine Trump’s attack line against Bolton being used against Rubio after an acrimonious firing. Rubio subscribes to Madeleine Albright’s notion that the United States is an “indispensable nation” and has been a steadfast interventionist since his arrival in national politics. Trump lambasted those hawkish instincts when he crushed “little Marco” in his 2016 campaign. They agree on a more confrontational approach to Beijing, but substantively and temperamentally, they are as well matched as Trump and McMaster. Waltz falls into a similar category.

Gabbard, Gaetz, and Pete Hegseth (Trump’s pick for defense secretary) possess more Trumpian “America First” instincts than Rubio or Waltz. Gabbard has said generous things about Russian President Vladimir Putin in the past, and Gaetz and Hegseth want to wind down the war in Ukraine. Hegseth, who describes himself as a “recovering neocon,” is a culture warrior who will ban transgender people from serving in the military and gut diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. All of that is so far so good in Trump world. But beyond a shared hostility to China and support for slowly closing the taps that supply Ukraine, these relationships could blow up in any number of ways. Gabbard, Gaetz, and Hegseth are high-profile, headline-grabbing individuals, who will drain attention from the president. Trump prefers to stand alone on the stage, illuminated by a single spotlight.

No matter which individuals end up in the roles, Trump’s ultimate pick as national security advisor, secretary of defense, and secretary of state will be himself. There will be no éminence grise, no Dean Acheson or Henry Kissinger guiding his hand and restraining his worst instincts. Everything that transpired during his first term in office suggests this will be the case.

But this situation is hardly unique. Other U.S. presidents have also served as their own secretary of state. After a shaky start, involving a hugely volatile meeting with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna in June 1961, President John F. Kennedy followed his judgment, declined dangerous advice, and demonstrated leadership during the Cuban missile crisis. President Ronald Reagan’s second-term conciliation toward Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev disappointed bellicose members of his administration and helped create conditions that allowed Gorbachev to end the Cold War. President Barack Obama’s administration was more focused on what it was not (President George W. Bush’s “war on terror”) than what it was for. But there is little doubt that Obama’s pragmatic voice was the dominant one in foreign policy. In memoirs and interviews, his former advisors have expressed more than enough frustration to back this up.

Trump’s operating style and personality attributes are far removed from those of Kennedy, Reagan, and Obama. His first-term shift from lambasting Kim Jong Il as “rocket man” to desperately seeking rapprochement with North Korea gestures at an aspect of his personality—the dealmaking part—that might potentially translate into something meaningful in foreign policy. Just as President Richard Nixon went to China, one cannot entirely discount the possibility that Trump might achieve a substantive breakthrough that takes all observers by surprise—such as a deal with Iran. For all his bluster, Trump appears to understand that war, particularly the type of conflict currently raging in economically sensitive locales, is bad for the U.S. economy.

But we should be careful not to draw comfort from even a fistful of grasped straws. Trump’s narrow transactional style, the absence of empathy, and his short-termism all make it hard to make the case that, even if he does have a longer-term vision for U.S. foreign policy, he has the patience or resilience to implement it.

Regardless of what comes next, we certainly need to reckon with Trump, not his unorthodox array of proposed appointments. Bolton recently remarked that Trump demands “fealty” and not “loyalty” from those who work for him. This useful distinction reminds us to remove our analytical gaze from the vassals and train it directly at the lord.

[scottguy]

Trump treated Putin better than any US citizen living in California.

Donald Trump was determined during his presidency to cozy up to Vladimir Putin despite Russia's interference in US democracy and objections by advisers, a former top aide claims in a new book, according to an excerpt published Saturday.

The new behind-the-scenes details from H.R. McMaster, Trump's second national security adviser, come as Americans are set to decide whether the former president should return to the White House and as US officials warn of fresh foreign election meddling.

"After over a year in this job, I cannot understand Putin's hold on Trump," McMaster, in an excerpt from his memoir published in the Wall Street Journal, says he told his wife in March 2018.

A former lieutenant-general, McMaster became Trump's national security adviser in February 2017, and says that from the beginning, discussions of Vladimir Putin and Russia "were difficult to have with the president."

He says Trump connected "all topics involving Russia" to the federal investigation into Moscow's interference in the 2016 election and possible ties with Trump's campaign, a probe which would dog his entire presidency.

[maturemenoftvandfilms]

I’ve always had a thing for military generals and other top brass. I don’t know if it’s the uniform or how they start getting thick stocky and gray as they mature or what, but they totally turn me on. Men like Adm. Thad Allen, Gen. Mark Milley, Gen. Jack Keene, H.R. McMaster, and Gen. Hugh Shelton always made me “perk up” when they were on TV. My vers fantasy with them: Since they’re dom in their professions I wonder if they’d be willing to flip back and forth and go from dom to submissive in the sheets. Do you have any favorite military men?

Generals Norman Schwarzkopf, Colin Powell, Mark A. Milley, James N. Mattis and Joseph Dunford are my favorites.

[sethshead]

There’s nothing new or surprising about this “revelation”. When Trump was preparing to cut and run from Afghanistan, his administration negotiated directly with the Taliban and cut the legitimate government out of all the talks. We abandoned them at Trump’s direction while legitimizing, emboldening, and empowering the Taliban for their final push on Kabul when the time came to pay the piper and implement the agreements.

Trump aided terrorists, the same terrorists who sheltered Osama bin Laden. Those 5,000 imprisoned Taliban were properly under custody of the Afghan government, but Trump didn’t care. He stabbed Ashraf Ghani in the back and undermined American security in the name of irresponsible isolationism.

Republicans are in no position to use the Afghanistan withdrawal as a line of attack against Democrats.

[yourreddancer]

Seriously? Much of a double standard here?

Somehow, it is apparently baked into this campaign that Trump is allowed to talk and act like a complete lunatic while Harris has to be perfect in every way. I don’t know the answer to the chicken-or-egg question — whether media coverage is leading public perception or vice versa — but the disparate treatment is glaring.

Imagine if Harris were promising to end the war in Gaza on her first day in office but wouldn’t say how. Imagine if she were proposing a tariffs-based economic plan that economists say would destabilize the world economy and cost the average family $4,000 a year in higher prices. Imagine if she were promising a “bloody” campaign to uproot and deport millions of undocumented migrants who are gainfully employed and paying taxes. And imagine if Harris were vowing to use the military to go after her political opponents, as Trump repeatedly pledges.

Kelly and Milley are hardly the only career servicemen to sound the alarm about a potential second Trump term. Two of Trump’s defense secretaries, Marine Corps Gen. Jim Mattis and Army Lt. Col. Mark T. Esper, and one of his national security advisers, Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, have also warned about Trump’s erratic performance as commander in chief.

They join a long list of civilians who worked in the Trump administration and say there should never be another one. Never has there been such a chorus of officials who served a president telling the nation that under no circumstances should he be elected again.

“Let’s review: First, Harris was criticized for not doing enough interviews — so she did multiple interviews, including with nontraditional media. She was criticized for not doing hostile interviews — so she went toe to toe with Bret Baier of Fox News. She was criticized as being comfortable only at scripted rallies — so she did unscripted events, such as the town hall on Wednesday. Along the way, she wiped the floor with Trump during their one televised debate. Trump, meanwhile, stands before his MAGA crowds and spews nonstop lies, ominous threats, impossible promises and utter gibberish. His rhetoric is dismissed, or looked past, without first being interrogated.”

— Donald Trump rants gibberish while Kamala Harris has to be perfect

[peoplemattertv]

DRUK UKDJ

At a CEPA briefing on Friday, 7 February 2025, panel chair Edward Lucas steered the conversation towards the challenges of enforcing a ceasefire in Ukraine. The discussion quickly shifted to the broader issue of military capacity amid mounting pressures on Western forces, with former US National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster offering a stark assessment of the state of British Army capabilities…

[darkmaga-returns]

Is World War III Already Here? Russia, China Tell Their Citizens To Evacuate Syria. Oreshniks will be based in Belarus. Macron to host Trump&Zelensky. Canada’s Gun Grab. TikTok on the Clock

Lioness of Judah Ministry

Dec 07, 2024

Is World War III Already Here?

The 'Axis of Upheaval' is on the march—and the U.S. must figure out how to respond.

If it feels like the world is on fire right now, that's because it is. From Ukraine to Syria to the Korean Peninsula, a widening array of conflicts is raising questions among defense experts: Is it 1914 again? 1939? Has World War III already started and we're just now figuring it out? For retired Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, who served as Donald Trump's second national security adviser from 2017–2018, the answer is clear. "I think we're on the cusp of a world war," McMaster told The Free Press. "There's an economic war going on. There are real wars going on in Europe and across the Middle East, and there's a looming war in the Pacific. And I think the only way to prevent these wars from cascading further is to convince these adversaries they can't accomplish their objectives through the use of force."

Russia, China Tell Their Citizens To Evacuate Syria Immediately

…take advantage of the fact that commercial flights are still in operation.

In a sign of likely more bad things to come for Assad forces, Syria's closest powerful ally Russia has ordered all of its civilian nationals to leave the country as the al-Qaeda linked group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham continues its shock offensive, making its way south from captured Aleppo area to Hama and Homs into the heart of the country. "Russia on Friday urged its citizens to leave Syria, as rebel forces in the country press a lightning offensive against Moscow-ally Bashar al-Assad's government," AFP confirms. The Russian embassy in Damascus issued an alert telling citizens "to leave the country on commercial flights through airports in operation" while underscoring "difficult military and political situation" in Syria.

Iran evacuates personnel in Syria as rebels further advance - NYT

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also traveled to the Syrian capital this week to meet with Assad to pledge the Islamic Republic's full support.

The Islamic Republic of Iran began evacuating its Quds Force's personnel and military officials from Syria into neighboring countries such as Iraq and Lebanon, The New York Times reported late Friday, citing regional and Iranian officials. The officials said that within the Quds Force, two of their top generals fled to Iraq. This move comes as rebels who oppose Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad have been seizing cities that are a threat to his rule. The NYT report also noted the evacuation of diplomatic staff of the Islamic Republic, their families, and Iranian civilians from the country as well.

Second front opens up in southern Syria, as Druze militias clash with fleeing regime forces

The IDF announced that it was reinforcing the Golan Heights with additional troops, saying it would "not tolerate threats near the Israeli border."

A second front opened in the Syrian Civil War on Friday following several uprisings in southern Syria, which led regime forces to flee several key cities in the region. At least four people were killed and 16 injured in clashes between Druze militias and regime security forces in Sweida, according to local media. Militias took control of the main police station and the biggest civilian prison hours after hundreds of people protested in a main square demanding the downfall of President Bashar al-Assad. Later in the day, the major military headquarters in the nearby town of Harek was captured.

US-backed militants seize city in Syria – media

The Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces has taken full control of the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor, according to Reuters

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed military coalition dominated by Kurdish groups, has seized the eastern Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor, according to Reuters. Two security sources based in eastern Syria have reportedly told the outlet that the SDF had taken full control of the city by Friday afternoon. SDF forces also reportedly control several neighborhoods in Aleppo that are encircled by islamist insurgents.