Evan Osnos has pointed out that one element to look for in Trump’s decision-making is exploitation—how he is influenced by those around him who want things like taxpayer money, or contracts, or time with the President, for themselves or their clients.
.. All of this love seems, for Trump, to demand enemies. He told the crowd that he was not against all immigrants, but “they are going to come in legally!”
.. “We have no idea who they are, where they come from, do they love us?” Trump said. “In a lot of cases, nooooo, they don’t love us.” This is the rhetoric that he has used in the past to argue for bans on Muslims or on people from certain parts of the world. It would be a mistake to believe that he has put aside those goals.
.. He walked out, with a smile, and thanked them and Trump “for the confidence you have shown in me.” Then he said, “I look forward to being the civilian leader, so long as Congress gives me the waiver and the Senate votes to consent.” He was referring to the need to work around a law that normally keeps generals from leading the Department of Defense until they have been retired for seven years. (Mattis has been out for three.) Then Mattis left the stage, as Trump returned, nodding approvingly. “Oh, if he didn’t get that waiver there’d be a lot of angry people,” he said. “Such a popular choice.”
.. Trump did not explore one of the reasons that the choice has been popular: the idea that Mattis will be someone he will listen to, and will guard him from the recklessness that others around him, such as retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, Trump’s designee for national-security adviser and an in-Tower conspiracy theorist, might encourage.
.. Trump went on to say that torture might not yield the information people expected, but, “if it’s so important to the American people, I would go for it. I would be guided by that.” This was a remarkable admission: that torture might be something worth doing just for the emotionally satisfying spectacle of it.
.. And that is why the rallies are likely to endure: to serve as calibrators of or infomercials for what Trump believes that “the public” wants. One can waste a lot of time delving into the question of Trump’s psychological need for affirmation. What is politically more important is how he might use the set piece of a cheering crowd to brush aside other considerations, particularly those involving the checks on the Presidency, and the willingness of those in other areas of the government, or in the White House itself, to exercise them. Should courts worry about “a lot of angry people”?
Trump Is Wise to Surround Himself with Generals
How can the most disliked and most distrusted president-elect in American history signal that he’s competent and capable of leading the nation? By appointing people from the nation’s most trusted institution to important positions. We can’t forget that in an era when trust for government and other civic institutions is plunging, the military has retained strong public support.
And it has that support for a reason. In 15 years of war since 9/11, the military has consistently fought with honor, courage, and excellence. The best military in the world isn’t built by accident, nor is it maintained through negligence. The generals who are responsible for some of the military’s greatest recent successes — whether it’s the brilliant push to Baghdad in the 2003 Iraq invasion or the intelligence innovations that empowered the deadliest aspects of the Surge — have proven that they’re worthy of respect. And in polarized times, respect is a precious commodity.
.. A general is accustomed to dealing with bloated bureaucracies and making them bend to his will. The military has an extremely sharp and deadly spear, but behind that small tip is a bureaucracy so unwieldy that it can make you weep with frustration.
.. Selecting retired generals for key national-security posts is a key signal that Trump is shunning a law-enforcement approach to the war on terror. For the time being, the longstanding debate about whether terrorism is primarily a police challenge (like fighting a Mafia on steroids) or a military challenge is over. And that’s very welcome news
.. but if the Founders of that republic had the slightest concern that former officers were less qualified to govern, they wouldn’t have wanted the commander in chief of the Continental Army to become our nation’s first president.
Is Trump hiring too many generals?
It could be particularly dangerous in an administration with a president who has no policy experience.
.. In addition, they warn, Trump’s administration could wind up seeing too much of its foreign and defense policy through a military lens, disregarding diplomacy and other levers of national power. And that could be particularly dangerous in an administration with a president who has no policy experience.
.. “Having a general as secretary of state and secretary of defense I think is not a good idea. I would certainly never recommend that. I’d rather see somebody who has more background in diplomacy and background in policy than another general in that position.”
.. “It isn’t about personalities,” said Gordon Adams, a former White House official who now teaches at American University. “The problem here is structural. A president who doesn’t know much about foreign policy and a vice president who doesn’t know much about foreign policy are surrounding themselves with people who served in uniform. It runs counter to the American tradition of civilian control.
.. “Just because they shed their uniforms, it doesn’t make them civilians,” he added. “They are still giving military advice. Mattis is a great battlefield commander, but he has never been a policymaker.”
.. “A very major part of the Anbar Awakening was not war, it was economics,” Woolsey said. “They did a great deal to get the local Sunnis back into a world of being able to be employed and making money. That is the reason things went so well.”
Talent still in the mix for defense secretary
This weekend saw a flurry of speculation that retired Marine Gen. James Mattis has emerged as President-elect Donald Trump’s leading pick for secretary of defense. But inside the Trump transition, there’s still a big push for former senator Jim Talent (R-Mo.).
Talent, who met with Trump last week, is favored by those inside the Trump camp who believe a civilian should lead the Pentagon, not a former military officer. Talent’s supporters include incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, who also has supported consideration of former national security adviser Stephen Hadley
.. Talent may also find support from an unlikely source: incoming national security adviser Mike Flynn, a retired three star general who last headed the Defense Intelligence Agency. Sources said Flynn, who is heavily involved in the national security personnel transition discussions, doesn’t want any military officer who outranked him to be part of the Trump Cabinet.
.. “You don’t want a military attitude in the civilian position,” Rogers told CNN.
.. If Trump does choose Talent, it would be a signal to the foreign policy community that he intends to build bridges with a part of the GOP establishment that remains very wary of his plans for the United States’ role abroad.
..The question is whether Trump is interested in a senior foreign policy civilian or a general with warfighting experience atop the Pentagon.