President Trump has confirmed that retired Lt. General H.R. McMaster is his new choice to be his National Security Adviser.
Score one for the swamp. A source that has asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals has informed me that he was present in August 2014 when McMaster was the featured speaker for the President’s Lecture Series at National Defense University in Washington, D.C. McMaster addressed an assembly of all the students in the colleges of the National Defense, including the National War College, the College of International Security Affairs (CISA), the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy (formerly the Industrial College of the Armed Forces), and the others. There was, therefore, a large crowd, and multiple witnesses.
In his address, McMaster said flatly: “The Islamic State is not Islamic.”
Now, this was during the Obama regime, when that was the official policy of the U.S. government, but President Trump has repeatedly criticized his predecessor (and his 2016 election opponent) for not being willing to call the problem of jihad terror by its right name. Since he has become President, he has repeatedly reiterated his determination to eradicate “radical Islamic terrorism.” If McMaster genuinely holds the view that the Islamic State is not Islamic, then he is a disastrous pick as National Security Adviser, and will continue the willful ignorance of the Obama administration, hamstringing efforts to understand, and counter effectively, the motives and goals of the enemy.
If McMaster was stating his conviction and not just the party line, this would represent a victory for the compromised Republican establishment that is trying to neutralize Trump and keep the swamp from being drained. Say it ain’t so, General McMaster.