Firing H.R. McMaster Makes Biden Look as Petty as Trump
By: Matt Lewis (MSN)
Oh oh.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Joe Biden's bipartisan fantasy league cut another player this week with the petty, crass, and unnecessary removal of former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster from the United States Military Academy (also known as West Point).
© Provided by The Daily Beast Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast
Every president has the right to make such moves, but that doesn't mean this decision isn't scandalous. If Trump had removed a predecessor's appointee of McMaster's stature, the resulting criticism would have been deafening. Compare that to the current mainstream outrage level, which sounds more like crickets.
This much is indisputable: Lt. Gen. McMaster is highly qualified for this role. He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy and has also served there as an assistant professor of history. As Politico reports, "Later this week McMaster is getting honored by West Point's Association of Graduates as a Distinguished Graduate of the academy." This is all to say his academic and military qualifications are beyond reproach.
Now, McMaster didn't always cover himself in glory during his tenure at the White House. But to the degree that he was complicit in the Trump administration's sins, McMaster—much like former Defense Secretary James Mattis—helped mitigate some of the damage Trump might otherwise have inflicted.
The same could not be said of some of the other Trump administration officials who are also being asked to step down from military boards. Mixed in with names like McMaster, the list includes some partisan political operatives with dubious qualifications. White House Press Secretary Jennifer Psaki hinted at who these might be in what amounts to a strawman argument about the purge: "I will let others evaluate whether they think Kellyanne Conway and Sean Spicer and others were qualified, or not political, to serve on these boards." Psaki seemed to suggest that Conway and Spicer were indicative of the 18 military academy board appointees being pushed out.
In this regard, McMaster's sacking is both obscured and diminished by virtue of being part of a large-scale "massacre" (Purging one person can be a tragedy. Eighteen is a statistic). Instead of being overwhelmed by the number of people involved (or distracted by the worthy victims like Conway and Spicer), a purge of this magnitude is about pandering to Biden's progressive base and paying back his critics.
I have no idea what Conway's connections to the military are, but Spicer is a commander in the US Navy Reserve. As far as we know, he has served his country honorably in uniform, but the same can't be said of his service in a suit and tie, in which capacity he brazenly and routinely violated the U.S. Navy's honor code: "Be honest and truthful in our dealings with each other, and with those outside the Navy," and "Encourage new ideas and deliver the bad news, even when it is unpopular."
Both are refusing to go quietly, with Spicer now threatening to sue. In a tweet, Conway complained that the move "seems petty and political, if not personal." That may not apply to Conway, but it does to McMaster and others Biden just pushed out.
McMaster recently criticized Biden and Trump for "capitulation" to the Taliban. And Jack Keane, a retired four-star general who was also sacked, has also been a staunch critic of Biden's foreign policy decisions. They have both been removed from their board seats after progressives ripped TV news for having them on to comment on the Afghanistan withdrawal.
Trump liked to boast about "my generals." Now Biden gets to fire them, albeit from what were board positions rather than command ones.
Trump was not a normal president, and it is unreasonable to ask Biden to simply accept all of his eleventh-hour appointments. Still, he could have easily removed a couple of unqualified or unfit board members, instead of going overboard like this.
McMaster and Conway represent extreme ends of a tumultuous presidency. But Biden has treated them the same way, choosing a path where everyone from the Trump era is politically dead to him. Take no prisoners. No mercy. No exceptions. They're all bad.
Revenge is Biden's prerogative, but it's not what we were promised and it's an approach that will almost certainly lead to more such reprisals in the administrations to come.
Read more at The Daily Beast.
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LOL. The handlers/puppeteers have gone wild.
It will be fun watching the same people who bagged on Trump for making decisions like this, defending Biden for this one.
A clown car full of dimwits
And there it is
Yep and then some .....
Trump did just that and the right cheered.
Who did he do that to? And in this quantity? McMaster isn't the only one if you've been paying attention.
Point? Some just left AS IN THE CASE OF PRIOR TRANSITIONS The others were hanger onners that probably had an agenda to keep Mr. Obama's "legacy" (LMMFAO) alive. A bit different than the boards of the military academies.
Jes sayin'
And what the fuck is Conway's qualifications to sit on a military advisory board?
Actually yes it is. Each administration when from the other party normally removes and replaces all the Justice Dept. attorneys with their own nominations but what made the Trump era different is that previous administrations did this at a slightly slower pace. From your article :
But this seed isn't about replacing US Attorneys but other appointee's of Trumps. This is almost like how Trump was hell-bent on removing all traces of Obama from the federal government, now Biden is trying to do the same for any mention of Trump. The actions of Trump and now Biden remind me of that movie, The 10 Commandments.
I see your point. But there had to be some other Obama appointees trmp fired. He tried to do undo everything Obama did with a stroke of a pen
Because it's Biden
I'm sure there are some that he fired. He gave me the distinct impression that he wanted to remove all traces of Obama from the Federal Government. Some of what he removed I agree with. When Trump removed some of the (IMO) over-reaching business regulations I cheered.
Now it seems to me that Biden is following directly in Trump's shoes by wanting to remove any and all traces of Trump from the Federal Government. How it will work out, time will tell. But with the partisan divide continuing to grow in this country I worry that future administrations may, at least temporarily, weaken the government during the first year transition by removing all traces of the previous administration and embolden offensive actions against our country.
But I was only responding to your post where you talked about the removal of the federal district attorneys.
I know, but the rest of your comment is thoughtful and gives me something to think about
She shouldn't be. And we have this
Ah. Thank-you. I didn't know all that. But now I do, thanks to you. In this case, I agree that Biden is wrong
Yet YOUR seed is about the fact that the others are immaterial but McMaster is eminently qualified and respected, isn't it Jim?
So I will cite an equally qualified and respected person who Trump fired for a purely political reason.
Sally Yates.
Oh how I tire of RWers posting links under MSN when they're actually from RW sources. Man up and post from the REAL source of the posit. Sheesh...
Not with Trump's nominees they aren't.
I'm sure trmp fired some Obama appointees. And I'm sure I'll get the inane answer of "he cleaned house"
Well, back atcha Boys
Revenge is Biden's prerogative, but it's not what we were promised and it's an approach that will almost certainly lead to more such reprisals in the administrations to come.
Since he entered office, Biden has been determined to undo everything Donald Trump did as President. There is a vicious and a petty nature to it.
That's politics unfortunately. Most all of them do it.
As Conway would no doubt remind us, "they serve at the pleasure of the president", he can fire who he wants. Sean Spicer said he is going to sue for being fired. "Good luck".
This is nothing new, as Sparty pointed out. It's nothing more than fake outrage.
See 4.1.11 above.
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If you acknowledged that is EXACTLY what Trump did, your comment would be relevant. Alas...
Elections have consequences. More feigning shock and outrage on the right. Nothing to see here …
Lol .... now elections have consequences again,
Hilarious!
(Purging one person can be a tragedy. Eighteen is a statistic)
How cute, miming Kurt Tucholsky ... no, it was not Stalin.