A Neocon Yosemite Sam

What You See is What You Get

The last thing a normal president would want is an ideologue as a national security advisor. It’s a bureaucratic position, often filled by an academic or a retired military officer. Ideally, the NSA would have a detailed knowledge of world history, particularly since World War II, when the pieces took up new places on the chessboard in light of the outcome. There’s a requirement for a certain kind of personality as well. Not everybody can get the best out of so many really smart people, many of whom have strong opinions based on many years of experience.

The NSA is charged to distill the best ideas from within the National Security Council and other agencies as needed and give the POTUS the very best recommendations that can be generated by the government he heads. Not, if I may repeat myself, the personal opinion of the NSA. That’s what a normal president, Democrat or Republican, expects.

The United States has been lacking a normal president for almost three years. Back in 2016, on Morning Joe, Donald Trump was asked to name his foreign policy advisors. Quoth Candidate Trump:

I’m speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I’ve said a lot of things. I know what I’m doing and I listen to a lot of people, I talk to a lot of people and at the appropriate time I’ll tell you who the people are…