H.R. McMaster on 13 months working for Trump

in Donald Trump's four years as president four different men served as his National Security advisor including US Army Lieutenant General HR McMaster this morning he's in conversation with David Martin lots of people told me not to do it you know people would were calling me up who who really detested president Trump and saying you can't do it it'll Sol your reputation and Lieutenant General HR McMaster had been a soldier for three decades when Donald Trump named him his National Security adviser just one month into his administration thank you very much you're going to do a great job 13 months later Trump fired I got used up essentially uh in the service of Donald Trump you know I was at peace with that and I was not going to try to keep my job by telling the president what he wanted to hear now in a book titled at war with ourselves McMaster a CBS News contributor describes a white house where everything was much harder than it needed to be none of the friction that I encountered in the White House was completely unprecedented but it was next level right it went to 11 right everything was cracked up uh to to a to a higher level what was your your first real business meeting yeah with the president the first meeting was a presidential Daily Brief which is an intelligence briefing that all presidents take and I have a distinct impression of that meeting of of being really not very effective for the president president Trump lays to an audience and and it was too big of an audience uh in the Oval Office and would the audience play to him the audience would play to him I describe the environment uh as an environment of competitive copany did he want advice or did he want flattery the president wanted advice you know he also wanted flattery I'd ask whether or not you think I will someday be on Mount Rushmore he really likes the agulation in many ways he's kind of addicted to agulation from his political base from people around him McMaster was happy to serve and eager to reverse what he considered Barack Obama's weak need foreign policy I saw actually so many of our policies as in need of disruption I was grateful for the president's disruptive nature I saw it as my job to try to help him disrupt what needed to be disrupted at his first NATO Summit Trump took disruption to a whole new level unhappy some members weren't spending enough on defense he made some last minute changes to his speech what did he written into the speech if countries don't pay their dues then we're not going to we're not going to defend that particular country when did you find out that was in the speech I found out just you know as we were departing for NATO headquarters as Trump's limousine pulled up there was an awkward delay while a frantic intervention took place in the back seat I convinced a reluctant Secretary of State Tillerson and Secretary of Defense Mattis to get in the Beast the president's armor car with me to talk him out of that it was one of the few times the three of them agreed on something what were your relations like with the secretary of state and Secretary of Defense so they they were less than harmonious they were difficult at times they regarded the president as a danger to us interests a danger to some of our relationships internationally the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense viewed the president of the United States as dangerous yes was dangerous in particular to what they thought an an effective foreign policy should be McMaster never considered Trump dangerous but the president's affinity for autocrats made him uneasy president Trump sees an authoritarian leaders the qualities that he wants other people to see in him Vladimir Putin in particular he would appeal to the president's you know desire for flattery he would appeal to the president's skepticism about uh long-term military commitments abroad could Putin play Trump he he knew really what Trump's pred elections were one of my roles was to alert him to that you know to say Mr President you know this guy is the best liar in the world but when it came to listening to his own advisers McMaster writes Trump could be reflexively contrarian oh my gosh so if you bring the president a course of action and say everybody agrees you know whatever you do don't don't do this thing he's going to do it just despite everybody with Venezuela's anti-American regime cracking down on protesters Trump walked out to Meet the Press with McMaster un Ambassador Nikki Haley and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Rex Tillerson says to him hey Mr President what whatever you do don't say that we're planning any military options for Venezuela we have many options for Venezuela and by the way I'm not going to rule out a military option Tillerson lasted just over a year before he was fire why do so many of the senior people who work for Donald Trump end up being either fired or quitting you get used up in that environment right president Trump does enjoy kind of pitting people against each other you know and that creates a lot of angst in in in people was he just playing nasty at times he could be nasty especially when he's tired especially when he's grumpy especially when he feels beered you know there were a couple of times where you know nobody wanted to be around him you know I'm like the last guy I mean I have to be with him right so I I would get I would get in the car and he would just unload on me the end came after a trump phone call with turkey's president erdogan which got off to a bad start when McMaster tried to prep him what did he have against preparation well he found it to be tedious you know and he had great confidence in his own instincts right so like why am I prepping for this McMaster decided to quit but Trump fired him first and at a private farewell ceremony told his family make sure he only writes nice things about me the Trump campaign did not respond to requests for comment about mcmaster's book it's a fun fun learning environment for all of us McMaster retreated to the Ivory Tower of the Hoover institution at Stanford University where he writes and teaches and where he watched the events of January 6th we're in he encouraged an attack you know on the first branch of government they broke the glass everybody stay down get down and an attack on the peaceful transition of power you know and and I think that that was a an abandonment of his responsibilities to the Constitution is he fit to hold office that's the Judgment that the American people have to make I don't want to tell people how to vote will he be getting your vote I'm not going to ever tell anybody my vote but he will tell you what he EXP experienced in the first Trump Administration so help me God congratulations Mr President and what that might mean for a second history doesn't repeat itself but it does Rhyme I think it does you know foreshadow what we might expect in a second Trump Administration as well