He certainly had the option of refusing, or saying he wasn’t interested. Then they’d have looked elsewhere. Had they insisted, literally ordered him to take the job (a rather unlikely tactic, but hey, it’s Trump), he could simple retire. He was only a year or two out from retirement anyway.

VERY true.

I suppose it was always clutching at straws to think Ivanka and her husband would have any influence against the Bannon bubble that surrounds our Great Orange Leader. Now when he’s asked about anti-semitic incidents he just burbles about how he won so many more electoral votes than anyone ever and Hillary Hillary blah…

I think that’s why a lot of people are finding this choice extremely surprising.

Has the bar ever been lower?

He was a year or two out from retirement. If he didn’t want it, he could have just retired.

Yup. When the last guy he offered the job to described it as a “shit sandwich,” well, that’s not good optics.

I also think he, like many civilian authoritarians, has a kind of uniform fetish.

That’s good to know, thanks! And I hope so, too.

I’m somewhat skeptical that a political/national security neophyte, even with a seat on the principals committee, can “head” anything. He’s more of a political commissar, but the rest of these guys are not children to be bullied.

“Eating the Shit Sandwich: My Seven Months in the Trump White House.”

Yes, actually. I think, for reasons all his own, generals make him star-struck.

Hm, MSNBC is reporting that he will be allowed to build his own staff. Again, not sure what that exactly means.

That’s... relatively encouraging. I mean, low bar and all, but still...

Well, yeah. He ran off the rails, fast and hard.

Probably so. I’m not really sure what that means, though.

General McMaster is seen as one of the Army’s leading intellectuals, first making a name for himself with a searing critique of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for their performance during the Vietnam War and later criticizing the way President George W. Bush’s administration went to war in Iraq.

Baby (naked) steps! :)

I’m so sorry for your loss. I don’t know if it’s any comfort, but a long good life and a sudden death are not a bad thing, it’s kind of what I wish for all of us. I hope that doesn’t sound glib, I’ve lost a couple of friends, both furry and non, in the past few years. I hope the hole in your heart fills up with good…

The part where he joins the panel is from the “Overtime” section that’s posted online. Both East and West coast see the same show.