Review

There are so many books by former Trump inner-circlers that I tend to lose count. And given the November election results; the American people must be rejecting anti-Trump memoirs. McMaster's Trump book is better than the rest--absent are doom or sour grapes. Instead, it is big on policy, psychology and the stuff of competition between nations. The author is a retired Army lieutenant general who served in the Gulf war and in Iraq. He writes beautifully and the book is full of literary allusions to Shakespeare, Chaucer, Roman orators, and Churchill. McMaster is also a PhD historian, the author of acclaimed books on military and foreign policy and a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford. He likens the debacle in Afghanistan to Vietnam (which he has written about extensively), noting that 19th century philosopher von Clausewitz warned against wars "alien" to the nature of a country's cultures. McMaster loves California and writes that it is a "culinary ritual" for him to visit In-N-Out Burger when in the state. He served as Trump's National Security Adviser from early 2017 (taking over for the embattled Michael Flynn) until March 2018, when he resigned after Trump called him and said, "I have decided to go with John [Bolton]." This followed a sack campaign orchestrated by Steve Bannon and Alex Jones, despite McMaster's work with Trump to reverse Obama's overly "passive" foreign policy. McMaster's disagreements with Trump's first Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis underscore the narrative. Henry Kissinger sent McMaster a note that McMaster was "walking a tightrope with chasms on both sides." McMaster begins the book with his departure from the administration: "allies, authoritarians and Afghanistan" were the "millstones that ground down" his relationship with Trump. The memoir then recounts the many consequential foreign policy events and trips that occurred during his tenure. None more colorful than the state visit to China where Trump's off the cuff comments caused McMaster to pass Trump chief of staff John Kelly a note that "he [Xi] ate our lunch." McMaster describes how Trump's "lack of historical knowledge" was problematic, that his insecurity made him like Othello "susceptible to manipulation," and that his "personality and character frustrated his potential." Yet McMaster acknowledges that Trump's "disruptive nature could be advantageous" and reversed negative elements of Obama's lack of engagement. He also notes that Trump had a "compassionate side" around any alleged abuse to children. On balance, this informed scholar and insider defends significant foreign achievements and goals despite Trumpian atmospherics.

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