Small Wars Journal

Trump Taps General Who Doesn’t Back Down

Mon, 02/20/2017 - 8:06pm

Trump Taps General Who Doesn’t Back Down by Kimberley Dozier, The Daily Beast

Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster says what he thinks, and can’t resist a tough problem that everyone else says is impossible. He’s also been called bullheaded, by those who call him friend and enemy.

Those qualities help explain why he said yes to becoming President Donald Trump’s second national security adviser, after the resignation of Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn amid charges Flynn improperly communicated with the Russian ambassador and then lied to the vice president about it.

McMaster’s stubborn streak also helps explain why he got passed over twice for promotion, before breaking through a logjam of Army officers who were offended by his renowned frankness, and not impressed by his prodigious scholarship and Ph.D, which is sometimes an impediment to advancement in the U.S. Army.

Now the question becomes: Is McMaster too bullheaded for a White House already filled with power players like Counselor to the President Steve Bannon, presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Trump himself? Or is McMaster just contrary enough? Trump, the ultimate political insurgent, has just picked one of the U.S. military’s most famous counter-insurgents to become his top national security aide. What comes next is anyone’s guess…

Read on.