CNN is reporting that the White House is trying to find a different job for McMaster in the Pentagon, one that would be considered a promotion so they can get him out of the White House:
CNN – With tensions flaring between President Donald Trump and national security adviser Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, the Pentagon is considering options that would allow the President to potentially move the three-star general out of his current role and back into the military, according to half a dozen defense and administration officials.
A search is quietly being conducted by the Pentagon to see if there is a four-star military job suited for McMaster, these officials said.
Several sources told CNN that the push for a replacement comes after months of personal tension between McMaster and Trump. The task of easing McMaster out of his role as national security adviser presents a unique challenge for the White House.
While administration officials have privately said the preference is to move McMaster into a position within the Army or Defense Department that qualifies as a promotion, some within the Pentagon feel he has become politicized in the White House and have expressed reservations about him returning to the military in a prominent role. Some defense officials caution that the President could also go as far as not to offer him a fourth star and force him to retire.
We do know there’s been tension. After all, Trump reproved him publicly on Twitter a couple of weekends ago:
General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems. Remember the Dirty Dossier, Uranium, Speeches, Emails and the Podesta Company!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 18, 2018
CNN reports that Trump and McMaster have never gotten along:
The two have never gotten along, and Trump continues to chafe at McMaster’s demeanor when he briefs him, feeling that he is gruff and condescending, according to a source who is familiar with his thinking.
He prefers the briefing style of someone like CIA Director Mike Pompeo or Defense Secretary James Mattis, who patiently answer his questions, regardless of the premise. McMaster, meanwhile, is the person who delivers the news that Trump doesn’t want to hear on a daily basis, according to the senior Republican source.
The issue is not political but mostly stylistic, as McMaster and Mattis tend to discuss information before it is presented to the President, the same source added.
I’ve never thought McMaster was a good fit for Trump, especially with other good candidates out there like John Bolton. But for whatever reason Trump hired him and then kept him onboard all this time. So if they do end up getting rid of McMaster as this report suggests and it becomes controversial, I won’t have a lot of sympathy for Trump.
It’s just like Comey. He should have dumped him in January of 2017 when he came into office. But instead he waited several months before he fired him. It was a poor management decision by the White House and it cost them a lot of heartache. Knowing the media, this will too.