Trump administration NSA H.R. McMaster says there was "inconsistency" in foreign policy

and we are joined Now by CBS News foreign policy and National Security contributor retired lieutenant general HR McMaster he has a new book out at war with ourselves my Tour of Duty in the Trump White House about his service there as National Security adviser uh welcome back to the program um just on the news of the moment centcom has about 40,000 US troops in the region this real muscular show of force uh how concerned are you about miscalculation and blowback to those US forces yeah well what what I'm concerned about Margaret is that those forces will be constrained and what they're able to do in response I think what we've seen is a reluctance to act like we know what the return address is for for this violence and of course the return address is is Iran and I think all Americans well what it means is Iran is pursuing a strategy that in which it is willing to expend every Arab life you know every Palestinian life uh every Lebanese life in pursuit of its objective of destroying Israel meanwhile Iran is continuing to funnel weapons not only into Southern Lebanon but to essentially a proxy Army in Syria into the West Bank and this is why the Philadelphia Corridor is so important to Israel is to keep Hamas isolated from a resupply from the Iranians as well at the same time Iran is racing to produce a nuclear device so I think what we have to recognize is this horrible situation in the region that's been going on for 40 years right it's important to remember that Sher the the the the Hezbollah commander who was who was killed and and who who the uh the the Hezbollah is now trying to launch these attacks and retribution for that I mean he was responsible in part for the 1983 bombings they killed 20 241 Marines you know so in 1983 so this has been going on for decades and I think that the narrative that you constantly hear about turning down the temperature escalation management the reluctance really to confront Iran directly and oppose cost on Iran that actually gives Iran license to escalate on their own terms with impunity well this is just one of many extremely serious situations that the next commander-in-chief will be walking into it doesn't go away in January right um and that's why I want to get to some of what you wrote about in your book uh you had this front row seat you advised Donald Trump on very sensitive National Security matters you right he found it difficult to distinguish quote between those who brought him sound analysis and those real or imagined who brought him hacked rides he'd say outlandish things like Go bomb the drugs in Mexico or why don't we take out the whole North Korean army during one of their parades if Trump wins reelection will he be able to recruit high quality advisers who can actually help him make sound decisions Margaret I think so especially in confirmed positions in and if it's a trump administration because Congress would stop him from putting someone who isn't quality is that what you're saying well I I I think so you know I think so and and and there are people who are willing to serve who can help do what we tried to do in that first year and you know the the narrative around that first year was all about chaos but we got a lot done in fact the story is largely about overcoming that kind of infighting that that war with ourselves to produce policy outcomes that advanced America's interests one of those was a dramatic reversal of the Obama Administration Iran policy which sadly the Biden Administration is put back into place well Iran continued with its nuclear development after Trump exited the the nuclear deal against the advice of his secretary of state and his defense secretary so I'm talking more about like the sanctions relief Margaret and the degree to which not enforcing the Trump e sanctions had really resulted in about1 billion transferred to the Iranians which they've used to intensify their proxy wars in the region from Iraq to Yemen to Syria to Lebanon and obviously to Gaza with the October 7th attacks you detail specific examples of China xien ping Vladimir Putin even Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu manipulating Donald Trump and you saw it as it happened you wrote that Trump's lack of historical knowledge made him susceptible to xiin Ping's efforts to generate sympathy so what is the scenario you fear that in a second term Donald Trump pulls US troops out of Asia or that he Brokers a transaction to give up Taiwan right well I I read in the book Margaret about this dissonance you know that that Donald Trump carries with him these opposing ideas that sometimes he finds it difficult to reconcile and that's why I think it's important that he has a competent team around him to help him identify his own agenda I mean the story in at war with ourselves is in large measure my effort to guard his independence of judgment because in any Administration there are people who try to manipulate a president into decisions they don't want to give a president options what my experience was during that first year and the period in which we put into place a lot of these big shifts in policy is if you give him best analysis if you give him multiple options it's in the comparison of those options that that he can consider the long-term costs and consequences and make sound decisions also in the book though Margaret I WR about at times he finds it tough to stick with those decisions uh because people know kind of how to push his buttons especially buttons associated with maintaining the the complete support of his of his political base manipulate him you you also wrote a specific example where Trump wrote a flattering note to Vladimir Putin in 2018 and it happened to be the same time that this poisoning had happened on the soil of a US Ally by Russia right when you got home you said to your wife after a year in this job I cannot understand Putin's hold on Trump how do you explain that now well I explained it in the book I try to place the president's belief that he could have a good deal with Vladimir Putin in context of the two previous presidents who thought that they could have a good deal with with with Putin but also you know president Trump and people know this he he likes a big splashy deals he liked he was pursuing that with Putin he was pursuing that with xiin ping and of course Putin is the best liar in the world and so I struggled Mar should I write about how Putin tried to manipulate president Trump or not and I thought well Putin knows how he was trying to do it so maybe in writing about how Putin was trying to press Donald Trump's buttons that will make a future president Trump if he's elected less susceptible to those kind of tactics because he on the campaign Trail argues these counterfactuals that Putin was afraid of him that Putin wouldn't have invaded Ukraine if he had been president well he has a point in a couple of areas in that first year of the Trump Administration I tell the story of how we imposed more sanctions on Russian entities in that one year than the previous eight years of the Obama Administration and the Really critical decision though Margaret I think was to provide the ukrainians with defensive capabilities especially in the form of Javelin missiles right but in the area of inconsistency I also tell the story about how that support was suspended you know to to get to get you know evidence of of the Biden family's you know corrupt activities in Ukraine the grounds for impeachment which basically you're saying were right Justified right so there is there's an element in this story about how he can make really sound decisions and disrupt things that need to be disrupted in terms of foreign policy and National Security but often times struggles to hang on to those decisions and and see them through HR McMaster thank you it's an interesting read thank you Margaret