Politics and Money

[Elroy Jetson]

The chaos in Trumplandia.

The Washington Post ran a long story last month about Trump’s failure to check Russian threats to the United States. It included a disturbing anecdote involving Trump, McMaster and Fiona Hill, the NSC director for Russia:

In one of her first encounters with the president, an Oval Office meeting in preparation for a call with Putin on Syria, Trump appeared to mistake Hill for a member of the clerical staff, handing her a memo he had marked up and instructing her to rewrite it.

When Hill responded with a perplexed look, Trump became irritated with what he interpreted as insubordination, according to officials who witnessed the exchange. As she walked away in confusion, Trump exploded and motioned for McMaster to intervene.

McMaster followed Hill out the door and scolded her, officials said. Later, he and a few close staffers met to explore ways to repair Hill’s damaged relationship with the president for being a National Security Advisor rather than a secretary.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/01/11/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-of-h-r-mcmasters-national-security-advice/?utm_term=.23da346e1ad6

Every time I read this anecdote, I try to figure out why McMaster initially scolded Hill rather than explain who she was to the president. Perhaps McMaster surmised that once Trump perceived insubordination, persuasion would have been difficult. Still, acting like Hill made the mistake in this situation was poor leadership on McMaster’s part. Pleasing superiors is important, but so is protecting underlings. He appears to have failed in the latter task.