President Trump seems to enjoy ruining everyone around him. It’s more than a bad habit.
When Trump nominated H. R. McMaster as his National Security Advisor (NSA), we were all surprised. McMaster was knowledgeable, well-respected and independent. He was an excellent choice for NSA.
Which is why everyone was surprised that Trump nominated him. A grown-up with a reputation for honesty? Nominated by Trump?? It seemed so unlike him.
Yesterday, Trump sent NSA McMaster out to spend down his reputation to protect Trump’s mistake. McMaster played Trump’s yes-man loyally. He pounded out to the microphone and angrily shouted out a dishonest non-denial to the evening news. Normally a stand-up guy, McMaster angrily denied things that nobody had accused Trump of doing, while carefully edging around the real accusations against the President.
You could argue that McMaster didn’t lie technically if you like, but that’s nonsense: he was deeply dishonest, and knew it. McMaster was in the room when Trump disclosed events and locations that McMaster had to know were true secrets, ideas that we swore we wouldn’t tell anyone — not even our allies — and yet there was Trump, bloviating about it to the Russian ambassador and foreign minister.
The Russians, of all people.
And the next morning, Trump did his usual thing, tweeting the truth he’d had his aides deny the night before:
As President I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled W.H. meeting) which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining….
–@realDonaldTrump
…to terrorism and airline flight safety. Humanitarian reasons, plus I want Russia to greatly step up their fight against ISIS & terrorism.
–@realDonaldTrump
I have been asking Director Comey & others, from the beginning of my administration, to find the LEAKERS in the intelligence community…..
–@realDonaldTrump
Burma Shave
–@fakeDonaldTrump
(So maybe he didn’t tweet that last one, but he did end with an ellipse as if he meant more, so I figured the field was still open.)
And like he does, Trump spits on McMaster as he throws the man’s reputation into the trash. I know Trump’s admission damaged Sean Spicer and Kellyanne Conway the same way, but they’re already ruined, and there’s nothing more he can do to them.
McMaster was respected and admired. Now he’s in the same boat as Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Not ruined yet, but surrounded by that strong putrid smell he has to either accept or clean off.
McMaster mistook loyalty for duty. Now we know he made that decision once. Now the question is whether he’ll recover.
Not under Trump. I can tell him that now. I wrote about this in a post from February:
One technique commonly used by despots is to usurp their opponents. Tie them to you, destroy their credibility with anyone else, and make them completely dependent on you, and they can’t betray you. Where else would they go? Credibility is the hardest asset to build, and the easiest to break….
Ruined Lives, Three String Raconteur, Feb. 15, 2017
Trump ruins everyone around him, obviously and quickly. It’s too consistent to be an accident.
