Politics : Robert Harward turned down President Trump

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Donald Trump is trying to convince his preferred candidate to succeed Michael Flynn as national security adviser to change his mind after the retired admiral tapped for the role told the US president that he could not accept the White House position, according to two people familiar with the situation.

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http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/robert-harward-turns-down-trump%E2%80%99s-national-security-offer/ar-AAn1USW?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartanntp

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One of the people familiar with Mr Harwards decision said he was concerned about whether the top advisers around Mr Trump would allow him to install his own staff on the NSC particularly after suggestions that KT McFarland, Mr Flynns deputy, had been asked to remain.

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Not a bad idea considering what happened to the last guy.







Not knowing history is like being a leaf that doesn't know it's part of a tree.

Lot of unnamed sources Could be a bit of fake news.

the guy who wrote the conan books?

Maybe the US military will take out Trumpie in the end. They don't want to hail to the cheeto.

NO DAKOTA ACCESS PIPELINE / WASHINGTON RACISTS

Who could blame him?

Only a fool would jump aboard the U.S.S. Trumptanic when it's about to sink.

********
War is a racket. It always has been. A few profit - and the many pay.

Smedley Butler

Apparently, Mr. Harward wanted to clean house so the relationship would have been contentious if he had accepted. Probably for the best that he declined as Robert already has a pretty cushy gig at Lockheed Martin.

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If, as expected, Harward accepts the job today, he is likely to bring in his own team, from deputy on down, with a focus on national security types with some experience under their belts.

I think he would look especially to people he knows from his time working for the George W. Bush NSC from 2003 to 2005. No more Fox News talking heads. Instead, I think he would try to take a Scowcroftian approach to trying to run the interagency policy formulation process deliberate, rigorous, careful. Just how that will fit with the style of the Twitterer-in-Chief, I dont know.

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If he had accepted it would have put Defense Secretary Mattis in quite a unique position.

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Harward is, like the ousted Michael Flynn, a retired military flag officer. But I think he would be very different from Flynn.

Most importantly, he is not an ideologue, as Flynn seemed to have become in the last few years. Harward thinks of himself as a national security professional and indeed once served on the NSC staff, during the Bush Administration. Before that, early in the Afghan war, he headed the Special Operations task force in Kandahar.

Harward also would work well with Defense Secretary James Mattis. When Mattis was chief of Central Command, Harward was his deputy. Mattis trusted him enough to put him in charge of planning for war with Iran. Mattis has urged Harward to take the NSA job.

If Harward becomes NSA, Mattis would emerge from the Flynn mess in a uniquely powerful position: He would have two of his former deputies at the table in some meetings. The other one is John Kelly, now secretary for Homeland Security, who was his number two when Mattis commanded a Marine division early in the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

At this point, Mattis has far greater influence over former military officers than the president does. His presence at the Pentagon is the sole reason some are considering climbing aboard Trumps sinking ship.

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http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/02/15/robert-harward-plans-a-housecleaning-of-trumps-national-security-council-staff/



I don't want to belong to any club that will accept people like me as a member

And while I was reading, I wondered how in the fck such a man would be able to function in the Trump Home for Batsht Crazy. I didn't think it would be possible, and apparently Harwood saw it that way too.

Quite frankly, Robert Harward should have asked for a private audience with Donald, then when they were alone, he could have cut his head off. But Americans are all cowards, so that will never happen.