President Trump has decided to stand up and defend his national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, amid increasing pressure to get him fired from some members of the commander in chief’s electoral base. “General McMaster and I are working very well together. He is a good man and very pro-Israel. I am grateful for the work he continues to do serving our country,” Trump said in a statement to the New York Times. The president’s defense of his national security adviser came amid anger over the firings of three officials that turned McMaster into “Public Enemy No. 1 of the pro-Trump online brigades.” The president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, also gave his vote of confidence to McMaster, calling him “a true public servant and a tremendous asset for the president and the administration.”
In addition to the firings of people seen as particularly pro-Trump, many on the right also seized on a decision to extend a security clearance for Susan Rice, President Barack Obama’s final national security adviser. Although officials emphasized the extensions were a mere formality, many seized on that move to question his loyalty and also blame him for recent leaks of Trump’s conversations with foreign leaders. Many of the attacks came from online outlets popular with the far right, including Breitbart, which until last August was run by White House adviser Stephen Bannon. Far-right blogger Mike Cernovich even published an anti-Semitic cartoon that showed McMaster as a puppet to George Soros, who in turn was a puppet to the “Rothschilds.”
At a time when the White House has been engulfed by infighting and firings, Trump’s support seemed to send a sign that McMaster is safe for now. But of course what will happen in the future is anyone’s guess in a White House where uncertainty often reigns. Trump’s efforts to cool speculation about McMaster’s future seems to be another example of how new chief of staff John Kelly is bringing some order to the chaotic White House. Politico recently reported Kelly told McMaster he hoped he would stay on at the White House and encouraged him to move forward with any staffing changes he saw fit. Little wonder then that McMaster was filled with praise for his old military colleague in a Saturday interview with MSNBC, saying his arrival improves the ability of the White house to “operate together as a team.”
