McMaster's Memoir Exposes Trump's Vulnerability to Authoritarian Leaders

H.R. McMaster, the former National Security Adviser to President Donald Trump, has unveiled insights in his memoir, "At War With Ourselves," about how authoritarian leaders treated Trump with a sense of manipulative ease. Reflecting on a pivotal trip to Asia, he identifies China as the most critical stop and warns that Chinese President Xi Jinping would likely attempt to spin Trump's words to serve China's interests rather than those of the United States and its allies.

McMaster specifically discusses how the phrase “win-win” used by the Chinese Communist Party actually signified a significant advantage for China. Despite the warnings he provided to Trump, the former president ended up agreeing with Xi's assertions that military exercises in South Korea were excessive expenditures and showed a willingness to entertain Chinese territorial claims over the Senkaku Islands, which are under Japanese control.

In his observations, McMaster describes moments that illustrate Trump's susceptibility to flattery from authoritarian figures like Xi, Vladimir Putin, and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan. An example cited is when McMaster found Trump writing a note to Putin, praising him in a way that conflicted with the context of ongoing geopolitical tensions and designated attacks linked to Putin in the UK. He ultimately refrained from sending this note, explaining to Trump that it could create the impression that he was aligned with Kremlin interests.

Furthermore, McMaster points to a tumultuous atmosphere within the Trump administration, marked by accusations of disloyalty among staff, which compromised their overall goals. He acknowledges a chaotic environment where Trump's erratic behavior often thwarted the administration's plans, including the controversial withdrawal from Afghanistan, which McMaster attributes to the prevailing inconsistency in leadership. As he reflects on Trump's capacity to govern effectively at 78, McMaster expresses concern about the intense demands of the presidency, particularly after the exhausting experience of his diplomatic travels just a few years prior.