Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I really should read my own blog.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

In my day, never was longer.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Republicans in disarray!

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Nothing worth doing is easy.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Hail to the Hairpiece / WTF- He Seems Sane

Reader Interactions

96Comments

  1. 1.

    dr. bloor

    Active duty. Is he allowed to say no without putting in his papers?

    Alternatively, he’s a guy who knows a total goatfuck when he sees one, and feels duty-bound to prevent the sort of disaster he’s written about in the past.

  3. 3.

    Gravenstone

    Yeah, someone noted a couple threads down that as active duty he can’t decline. I only hope he can sideline the worst of Trump and Bannon’s people.

  5. 5.

    A Ghost to Most

    A sane American patriot, known for questioning authority, in the WH?

    This could be interesting.

  6. 6.

    qwerty42

    This McMaster fellow seems kind of sane.
    Has to be a slip up. Someone’s gonna get fired because of it.

  8. 8.

    Elizabelle

    @dr. bloor: I wonder if the “active duty; couldn’t say no” theme is there to protect him from whatever clusterfuck occurs on his watch. We can’t be the only people who heard the previous intended nominee called the job, or situation, a “shit sandwich.”

  10. 10.

    japa21

    @Gravenstone: I may be mistaken but at a certain level, I believe officers can decline postings. My son got his current posting after it was declined by 3 other officers. It may be that you can be offered a posting, decline, and then be ordered to take it, but I am not sure about that.

  11. 11.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud: I am glad you are nowhere near this administration.

    There would be a topic for a Doug J post: who worked in a horrible administration and came out of it with reputation intact?

  12. 12.

    dr. bloor

    @Elizabelle: IANAV*, but everything I’ve ever read suggests that if you’re offered a shit sandwich while still in the uniform, your choices are (a) eat it, or (b) eat it.

    *I am not a veteran

  14. 14.

    MattF

    But there is a danger if there are too many rational staffers in the White House. Actual rational policy is a vain hope– but one can foresee a domino effect if things really get disrailed.

  16. 16.

    Brachiator

    This McMaster fellow seems kind of sane. What the hell is going on?

    I’d like to get Adam’s take on the guy, especially this:

    Of particular interest is McMaster’s book Dereliction of Duty that covers the early years of the war in Vietnam. The theme of the book is that John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson had little respect for the existing joint chiefs and the “old warriors” who had served under Dwight Eisenhower. Johnson in particular leaned on Defense Secretary Robert McNamara.

    I wonder if this is an honest critique, or a whiff of the old crap that civilian leaders, especially Democrats, should best shut up and let the military men, who are experts, run the war.

  19. 19.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I watched a clip of the announcement. The following is from memory, so paraphrased, but pretty close:

    “We’ve been working very hard all weekend, very diligently, and I read a lot of things that the General wrote and he is a great guy, very widely respected in the military, he’ll be great….”

    He actually had to look down at that paper in his hand to get the job title right.

    Whenever Obama announced a nominee, he made it a point to share some specifics, not only about the person’s credentials but always some little personal anecdote. You always came away knowing something about the nominee. With Trump, the announcements are interchangeable except for the name and position. “Great person, respected, wonderful guy, terrific person, experienced.” Well, that’s all nice and fine, but FFS say something that proves you’ve spent more than 30 seconds in his company, and know something beyond the bare-bones boilerplate résumé. Heck, even bare-bones boilerplate would be more than we get from these announcements.

    And wouldn’t it be a courtesy to your nominee to at least stand up while you introduce him? I’m pretty sure General McMaster would have felt much more comfortable and professional standing instead of sitting on one end of that ridiculous fringed gold brocade sofa.

  20. 20.

    jacy

    They’ve run out of people who are willing to be associated with this clusterfuck and now they’re just throwing darts at a board? Throw enough darts, you’re bound to hit at least one person who isn’t batshit insane. But I’m sure that’s totally by accident.

  24. 24.

    MazeDancer

    In the Ricks article at Foreign Policy about McMaster, this bit was most encouraging:

    I remember him telling his soldiers that understanding counterinsurgency really wasn’t hard: “Every time you disrespect an Iraqi, you’re working for the enemy.” They even had “Customer Satisfaction Forms” that detainees were asked to fill out upon release: Were you treated well? How was the food? What could we do better?

    Willing to overlook McMaster was suggested by Tom Cotton, because it feels like McMaster would say “no nuking” to Trump. Plus Cotton hates Russia. Also, former Russian Ambassador McFaul likes him.

  25. 25.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    IF he’s “sane” why did he take the job, especially when he has kooky conspiracy theorist KT McFarland looking over his shoulder.

  30. 30.

    dr. bloor

    @schrodingers_cat: The civilian in control wants to play solider. Not a whole fucking lot we can do about that except root for the seemingly rational guys who get put into positions of power.

    And to echo others, no one is “deferring” to them. It’s basically wish casting for a grownup.

  31. 31.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @schrodingers_cat: when a institution collapses and mass kaos ensues, the military is forced into the void.

    Trumplican party is Hurricane Katrina + Ebola writ large

  32. 32.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Gravenstone: I’m not sure about that. This is not a military coded billet. He, as all general officer/flag officers, serves at the pleasure of the President, but this isn’t the same type of assignment as being put in charge of Army Material Command (which would be a terrible fit as LTG McMaster isn’t a logistician).

  34. 34.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud: I’m sure you’d cut a fine figure in uniform.

    Happy to see that the Sur. Gen. is a 4-year appointment, so we might have the eminently sane and qualified Vivek Murthy in place (presumably) until 2018. Although that’s a norm, too.

    Surgeon General Baud: it would be great if you would whisper to SCROTUS that heavy use of the weed enhances hair growth and virility, especially in the case of previously non-smoking teetotallers. Makes one’s fingers appear longer too.

    Being on the weed might be the only way most of us get through the next weeks/days/months of this maladministration.

  36. 36.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Kelly never struck me as being wrapped real tight about the southern border and immigration, but compared to Flynn and Bannon, he’s St Francis of Assisi. I trust Mattis and and am relieved I can trust McMasters, given the endorsement of my friend (O-6, served under him as a direct subordinate).

  37. 37.

    Dave

    @schrodingers_cat: I think in this particular case it’s because for some reason sane competent GO’s are able to short circuit whatever heuristic Trump uses to find his normal rats nest of batshit malevolence. And that while I would normally agree that civilian control is paramount that sane and competent in these positions at least decreases likelihood of stumbling into a shooting war with say China.

  38. 38.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @Roger Moore: Hardly Kissinger. Though I realize the very serious people in the Village love him.

    I would say in the Nixon administration: Elliot Richardson, William Ruckelshaus, James Schlesinger, William Colby

  39. 39.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Brachiator: I’ve not read his book. I have provided some limited support to him at his current assignment and at his previous one as the Commandant of the Maneuver Center of Excellence (though he likely didn’t know about the latter). He is exceedingly smart, an innovative and strategic thinker, and he will not put up with poor performers. This is all I know.

  41. 41.

    dr. bloor

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    “We’ve been working very hard all weekend, very diligently, and I read a lot of things that the General wrote and he is a great guy, very widely respected in the military, he’ll be great….

    He was playing golf. And of course, lying about it.

    Undoubtedly cheating on the course as well. “Around 80” is an incredibly diplomatic statement from the likes of Rory, who was probably thinking, “the fat fuck foot-wedged it around the course for a 98.”

  44. 44.

    Adam L Silverman

    @SiubhanDuinne: He is so widely respected that it took three tries for him to be promoted to brigadier general. His intellect and willingness to think and act outside the box has regularly scared his peers, which is why he was promoted above the zone. Above the Zone is late and the last chance for promotion. Below the Zone is early promotion. Above the zone is also quite rare at that rank.

  45. 45.

    encephalopath

    @dr. bloor:

    Well, McMaster is the odds-on favorite in the “get fired” department, or they make life so miserable for him that he retires.

    McMaster and Mattis will conspire together to stop the White House from doing anything stupidly destructive to the point of openly defying the president.

    That will cost them their jobs.

  46. 46.

    Gindy51

    @dr. bloor: He can say he doesn’t to want to do it and retire. He’said fulfilled every obligation so he can bolt if he wants to. Might be the smart idea.

  47. 47.

    amygdala

    @Adam L Silverman: If it’s true that he’s going to get to pick his staff–I read this somewhere, but can’t remember where–any thoughts on why? Desperation (not that they’d ever admit it)? Hard bargaining by McMaster? Both? Something else?

  51. 51.

    Dave

    @encephalopath: And if it reaches that point they need to understand the situation of their service has changed and will require a strong public stance which honestly will probably be fairly difficult for them to do. To much institutionalization not to do so.

  54. 54.

    Adam L Silverman

    @amygdala: I don’t know. If he gets a guarantee and it is enforced to pick his staff and to organize the NSC and the Interagency properly and that he has primacy, not Bannon’s psuedo (alt?) NSC and Interagency the White House Strategic Initiatives Group (SIG), then we may see some normalcy return. If he gets the guarantee, but the President doesn’t enforce it or there is no guarantee, then not even he will be able to fix the problems.

  55. 55.

    JMG

    The relatively sane military men like McMaster have an ace in the hole in any internal struggle. If any of them quit, it will be taken as prima facie evidence Trump’s nuts and is being controlled by Bannon and his ilk. I took McMaster’s appointment as a realization by somebody in the administration that it would do a lot to shut up McCain, Graham and the other Republicans who don’t like Trump because of his attitude towards Russia.

  56. 56.

    amygdala

    @Adam L Silverman: Interesting, thanks. When I thought “hey, maybe this won’t be horrible,” I figured I was probably missing something. I mean, I know nothin’ about the military, but even I’d heard of McMaster before all this dropped today.

  57. 57.

    Adam L Silverman

    @amygdala: The other issue is he’s a 3 star. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the four Service Chiefs, the SecDef, and the Secretary of Homeland Security are all 4 stars. This is not a good dynamic.

  58. 58.

    Brachiator

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I’ve not read his book. I have provided some limited support to him at his current assignment and at his previous one as the Commandant of the Maneuver Center of Excellence (though he likely didn’t know about the latter). He is exceedingly smart, an innovative and strategic thinker, and he will not put up with poor performers. This is all I know.

    Interesting. Thanks for the info.

    I had heard some conservative pundits hoping that Trump would finally tap John Bolton for the job. Fortunately, that did not happen.

  60. 60.

    hovercraft

    @John Cole, he may seem or even be sane, but he will be working for a madman. The boss sets the tone and the policy, so as much as I may be relieved that it’s not a conspiracist loon taking the position, I’m still scared. The Yemen debacle was done at the instigation and taunting of the shitgibbon by the supposedly levelheaded experienced “grownups”.

  63. 63.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Brachiator: Also, I have also understood this as being the key takeaway from his dissertation/book:

    This is important. My former Boss/Commanding General used to refer to senior leaders that wouldn’t speak up as the Legion of Frightened Men. It is a constant problem and one of the things he was sent to USAWC to try to address. Unfortunately you can’t undo 20 plus years of socialization in a one year residential or two year distance advanced degree course.

  64. 64.

    Travels with Charley

    Adam – below the zone is an early promotion pick up. Above the zone means you have been passed over for promotion.

  65. 65.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Brachiator: Also, according to Tom Ricks, he was pegged out as a 3 star and had been told to prepare for retirement. So the Army didn’t have a 4 star billet for him.

  66. 66.

    Brachiator

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Ambassador Bolton doesn’t have the experience or expertise to be National Security Advisor.

    Supposedly Bolton was interviewed for the job.

    Bolton is on the shortlist for the job along with other candidates such as Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster and Keith Alexander, the former director of the National Security Agency.

    I heard Hugh Hewitt praise Bolton on one of the Sunday shows, and Rand Paul urged the Trump people not to select him. Maybe it was all a bit of misdirection.

    Also, according to Tom Ricks, he was pegged out as a 3 star and had been told to prepare for retirement. So the Army didn’t have a 4 star billet for him

    This almost sounds a bit like failing up. Or positively, finding a spot for someone who can still contribute.

  67. 67.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I’m afraid I didn’t state things clearly. There is no question my mind that he is experienced and widely respected. That’s a given. We know that, or should know that, going in. But it’s ALL we ever hear from Trump about any of his nominees for any position. It’s all we ever hear from Trump about anything. Every person, thing, and institution is described in superlatives (positive or negative — “She’s great! He’s terrible! That newspaper has lost all its readership! This is the biggest rally crowd I’ve ever seen!”).

    My beef here is with Trump and the flat, non-specific way he rolls these things out, not with the General.

    I don’t understand the Zone reference.

  69. 69.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Brachiator: Based on the reporting, the President asked KT McFarland, the Deputy National Security Advisor for a recommendation and she recommended Ambassador Bolton.

  71. 71.

    Adam L Silverman

    @SiubhanDuinne: He wasn’t promoted to brigadier general early, despite being a hard charger (above the zone). He wasn’t promoted to brigadier general on schedule for his time in grade (at the zone/in zone). He was promoted to brigadier general on the last attempt for that promotion behind schedule for his time in grade (below the zone).

  72. 72.

    amygdala

    @SiubhanDuinne: He has people who handle the specifics, don’t ya know?

    For starters, how about we hide his adverbs? Too much “very” and “really” every time he opens his mouth.

  74. 74.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Thanks.

    There’s so much I don’t understand about military hierarchy or advancement, let alone terminology. Or the implications of any of those things.

  76. 76.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @amygdala:

    For starters, how about we hide his adverbs? Too much “very” and “really” every time he opens his mouth.

    I once observed that if you removed all the adverbs from Atlas Shrugged you’d end up with a 300-page novel :-)

  77. 77.

    Wapiti

    @SiubhanDuinne: A year-group of officers gets looked at three times; so three years in a row.

    Those that get picked the first year are “below the zone”. These people are recognized as being ahead of their peers.

    Those that get picked the second year are considered normal; it’s still very competitive as people get to higher rank.

    Getting picked the third year (“above the zone”) is unusual. I think fewer people might get picked in the third year than in the first year.

  78. 78.

    Seth Owen

    I have read his book. He is precisely the man we need right now. I wouldn’t worry about the 3-star/4-star dynamic. Much more important is that this is someone with the chops to face diwn Bannon — at least in foreign affairs.

  81. 81.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Wapiti:

    Thank you. That’s a most helpful explanation.

    Edit: So, if you don’t get promoted on the third pass, you’re stuck at whatever level you are for the remainder of your career? Even if you do something extraordinary, on or off the field of battle?

  82. 82.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Adam L Silverman:

    The implication here is that there was a concerted effort by his peers and superiors to keep him from becoming a general officer.

    I finally picked up on that. I’m slower than usual tonight. But also, I tend to admire and, yes, respect people in any profession who are wicked smart and show a tendency to think outside of that bloody ubiquitous box.

  83. 83.

    stinger

    @SiubhanDuinne: In addition to being a shallow human being who doesn’t care enough about others to learn any interesting anecdotes, and being an egotist who can’t turn the spotlight onto anyone but himself, he has a surprisingly limited vocabulary. I read somewhere an analysis of his speeches, or maybe it was his debate performances, and he has the active vocabulary of a grade schooler.

  84. 84.

    Another Scott

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    So, if you don’t get promoted on the third pass, you’re stuck at whatever level you are for the remainder of your career? Even if you do something extraordinary, on or off the field of battle?

    In many positions in the military, it’s “up or out”. If you get passed over for promotion too many times, you have to leave/retire. There have been some efforts to reform that over the years.

    Rules of thumb like that need to change with the times, in my opinion. Times when the military is shrinking are very different from times when it is growing rapidly. Promotion policies, and many other policies, need to reflect that (otherwise you end up with far too many generals/admirals and far too many lower-ranked officers for the staff you have, or vice-versa).

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  85. 85.

    Jacel

    @Elizabelle: I think Robert Gates’s good reputation during the Bush administration carried him over into the Obama administration. I remember once Rachel Maddow saying that if the people in the Bush administration were orphans, and the orphanage was on fire, but you could only run in and save one of the orphans, Gates is the one she would grab.

  86. 86.

    Wapiti

    @SiubhanDuinne: If you don’t get picked up on the third pass, your career is basically done, and you generally retire within a year, unless the service is desperate for your specialty.

    ETA: one of the mindsets of the service is that every job, in part, is training you for a higher position. So if I get passed over, the service wants to fill my position with someone from a following/younger year group, to train him or her. So I need to leave to make room for promotions from below me.

  87. 87.

    J R in WV

    @Baud:

    @schrodingers_cat: I’m shaving everything, just to be safe.

    Ooh, Ooh, be careful shaving the tender bits!!

    You don’t want a nick or razor burn on your….parts!!!

  88. 88.

    J R in WV

    @schrodingers_cat:

    These military guys all report to and are under the management of the CEO of the nation, Donald J Trump! So you are safe from military control of the government. And, on a more serious note, much of the intelligence apparatus has always had senior leadership from the military.

    We’ve also had former military officers as president, from Dwight D Eisenhower and Jack Kennedy to Jimmy Carter, who is an Annapolis graduate and was in the nuclear navy, one of the more technical units of the military. But they had all left the military long before they became president.

    And I’m a veteran too, and retired from civilian work in the government. I was an E-2, which is the second lowest enlisted rank in the military.** In spite of that, I went on to a great career in software development for large corporations and both the Tax Department and Environmental Protection, in spite of my lack of officer-hood in the military. I did get 3 years service credit towards my civilian government pension, so there’s that!

    ** I was drafted and decided to do a good job at whatever I was assigned to, but to decline to strike for rank or rating, as a way of showing the involuntary nature of my service. I did do a good job, if I had dropped a torpedo it would have destroyed my ship, the submarines nearby, and the harbor. That never happened, because I never dropped a torpedo.

  90. 90.

    Another Scott

    @schrodingers_cat: It is very, very difficult to be promoted to general or admiral. Usually, though there are well-known exceptions, the promotion process eventually weeds out people before they reach their Peter Principle positions.

    Look at McCain. His father and grandfather were both 4-start admirals. He, himself, didn’t make it above Captain.

    Does that mean that generals and admirals are automatically a good fit for their civilian positions? No, of course not. But with some notable exceptions, people who do reach high rank in the military are extremely competent, smart people these days.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  91. 91.

    jonas

    It seems — if Adam was right in his assessment of Mattis as well — that a small group of generals has decided to suck it up and submit to becoming Trump dignity wraiths for a time if it means preserving what they care about, namely the independence and integrity of the armed forces. Mattis, like Pence, already seems to have gotten comfortable in his role as official “Trump bullshit walker-backer” on things like The Taking the Iraqi’s Oil Because it Sounds Badass™ program. We’ll see how that goes when it really comes to something Trump decides to go all-in on, but for now, it looks like McMaster took one for the team to avoid getting Bolton.

  96. 96.

    JDM

    But we’ve been repeatedly told that keeping out a Trump pick, or getting one to leave, will inevitably mean that someone worse will be installed. So that cannot happen.

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