{"id":10674,"date":"2017-10-18T11:49:02","date_gmt":"2017-10-18T18:49:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/?p=10674"},"modified":"2017-10-18T11:49:02","modified_gmt":"2017-10-18T18:49:02","slug":"in-defense-of-the-generals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/in-defense-of-the-generals\/","title":{"rendered":"In Defense of \u2018the Generals\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Corner<\/p>\n

The one and only.<\/p>\n

by Victor Davis Hanson\/\/ National Review<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Recently there have been a number of quite different critiques from all political sides of Trump\u2019s generals (Kelly\/McMaster\/Mattis), and also from a variety of angles (too narrow experience, an unhealthy overdose of military thinking, a \u201csellout\u201d for working for the likes of Trump, etc.). While it is hard to know who exactly is to be praised or faulted for Trump\u2019s foreign policy (e.g., Secretary of State Tillerson and, of course, Trump himself), the record is so far pretty clear \u2014 and pretty good.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Prune away the rumors of cabinet shake-ups, \u201cadult in the room\u201d melodramas, tweets, fake-news accounts, and inter-cabinet spats, and we are left with a once-ascendant ISIS now shattered and in full retreat; a new honesty about NATO and its funding; an unsustainable Iran deal now on hold and sent to the Senate where as a treaty it belonged; honesty in describing the threat of both radical Islamic terrorism and Iranian hegemony; greater security on the southern border; a restored relationship with Israel and the Gulf States, and an improving one with Jordan and Egypt as well; a workable and constitutional immigration scrutiny of would-be entrants from war-torn Middle East countries; a growing deterrent stance toward Russia and China rather than the rhetoric of \u201creset\u201d and the \u201cAsian pivot\u201d; an active and growing allied response to the North Korean threat; the beginnings of an all-out effort on missile defense (rather than the prior open-mic presidential promises of a \u201cflexible\u201d post-reelection efforts to curb it in Eastern Europe); a determination to rebuild the military (slowly, given the still far too large annual deficits); some recent incremental progress in Afghanistan due to new rules of engagement; the real red line that Assad cannot use WMD against civilians; a far more adult stance toward U.N. hypocrisies; improved autonomy abroad through increasing energy independence and trading in natural gas; an out from a Paris climate accord whose goals the U.S. meets anyway through free-market solutions \u2014 and the emerging outlines of a comprehensive doctrine of \u201cprincipled realism\u201d that restores deterrence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Of course, the world is in crisis and scary, current U.S. assets and means do not match our strategic obligations, responsibilities, and would-be agendas, and rhetorically the administration often seems at cross-purposes, but nevertheless American foreign policy is already in an undeniable trajectory of restoration, and much credit is due to the advice and conduct of Trump\u2019s three generals.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/corner\/452780\/trump-generals-mcmaster-kelly-mattis-foreign-policy-realism<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Corner The one and only. by Victor Davis Hanson\/\/ National Review   Recently there have been a number of quite different critiques from all political sides of Trump\u2019s generals (Kelly\/McMaster\/Mattis), and also from a variety of angles (too narrow experience, an unhealthy overdose of military thinking, a \u201csellout\u201d for working for the likes of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[116,121,154,285,1,102,230,34],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-2Ma","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9674,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/has-trump-nominated-too-many-military-leaders-or-not-enough\/","url_meta":{"origin":10674,"position":0},"title":"Has Trump Nominated Too Many Military Leaders\u2014Or Not Enough?","author":"Megan Ring","date":"December 15, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0By Victor Davis Hanson\/\/ National Review Choosing military men for top cabinet spots is not unprecedented, nor is it foolish given how Washington insiders have performed. President-elect Donald Trump is being faulted for supposedly appointing too many retired generals to cabinet-level jobs and \u201cmilitarizing\u201d the government. Former lieutenant general Michael\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Jim Mattis"","block_context":{"text":"Jim Mattis","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/jim-mattis\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11034,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/trumps-generals-are-too-valuable-to-be-dismissed\/","url_meta":{"origin":10674,"position":1},"title":"Trump’s Generals Are Too Valuable to Be Dismissed","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 1, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ Town Hall Near-daily gossip surrounds Donald Trump's three marquee generals. The media sometimes blare out rumors that Gen. John Kelly, the White House chief of staff, is proving to be a loose cannon and might soon be fired. Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, Trump's national security adviser,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Donald Trump"","block_context":{"text":"Donald Trump","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/donald-trump\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10310,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/trump-and-his-generals\/","url_meta":{"origin":10674,"position":2},"title":"Trump and His Generals","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 22, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"By Victor Davis Hanson National Review Trump\u2019s reliance on his generals shows that he values merit over politics. Donald Trump earned respect from the Washington establishment for appointing three of the nation\u2019s most accomplished generals to direct his national-security policy: James Mattis (secretary of defense), H. R. McMaster (national-security adviser),\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "McMaster"","block_context":{"text":"McMaster","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/mcmaster\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12431,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/not-so-swift-smear\/","url_meta":{"origin":10674,"position":3},"title":"Not-So-Swift Smear","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 17, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review I recently\u00a0wrote\u00a0about a number of retired high-ranking generals and admirals, none running for office or currently serving in the Trump administration, whose strident criticisms of the present elected president were setting an unfortunate precedent. Many disagreed. There are certainly arguments to consider on both\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9906,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-metaphysics-of-trump\/","url_meta":{"origin":10674,"position":4},"title":"The Metaphysics of Trump","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 1, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson\/\/ National Review Paradox: How does a supposedly bad man appoint good people eager to advance a conservative agenda that supposedly more moral Republicans failed to realize? We variously read that Trump should be impeached, removed, neutralized \u2014 or worse. But until he is, are his appointments,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "McMaster"","block_context":{"text":"McMaster","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/mcmaster\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10669,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-method-to-trumps-madness\/","url_meta":{"origin":10674,"position":5},"title":"The Method to Trump\u2019s \u2018Madness\u2019","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 17, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"By Victor Davis Hanson| American Greatness The Democratic Party, as it did after Hubert Humphrey\u2019s close loss in 1968, seems still to be misdiagnosing its 2016 defeat. Democrats see too little identity politics rather than too much as their trouble, and thus are redoubling on what has been slowly shrinking\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conservatives"","block_context":{"text":"Conservatives","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/conservatives\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/amgreatness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/TDE-TrumpGreenBacklash-1024x576-1024x576.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10674"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10674"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10675,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10674\/revisions\/10675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}