At War with Ourselves summary

Things started off innocently enough. After accepting the role, he immediately set about establishing order within the National Security Council, or NSC. Or, at least, attempted to.

This was easier said than done. Among the personalities he would soon clash with was Steve Bannon, whose appointment to the NSC had shocked many in Washington – and beyond. 

It turned out that working under Trump was challenging, to say the least. But it didn’t take long for McMaster to realize the best way to make sure things stayed on track: keep Trump as grounded as possible, and stay focused on national interests. This was because restraining the President’s impulses was all but impossible. So, instead, the general decided that preparation would be his chief weapon.

For example, before an important NSC meeting on Afghanistan, McMaster had an idea. He arranged for Trump to meet with soldiers who’d recently returned from tours of duty, hoping that their first-hand accounts might help counteract Trump’s preconceived notions of the situation on the ground. It worked. By providing Trump with unfiltered, human stories, McMaster successfully bridged the gap between military strategy and the personal sacrifices made by the troops.

The months wore on – and, as they did, tensions increased, particularly between McMaster and two of Trump’s top cabinet members: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis. In an ideal world, the three of them would’ve been working together to craft coherent foreign-policy decisions. But in reality a power struggle was brewing, and McMaster was finding it hard to keep his head above water.

Of course, things had been difficult since day one. Both Tillerson and Mattis viewed McMaster’s very presence with intense skepticism. On the one hand, Tillerson didn’t like what he perceived as White House interference in State Department matters. He went to great lengths to sideline McMaster’s NSC staff; in some cases, he flat out refused to let them attend State Department policy discussions – and made it difficult for them to connect with counterparts in his department. This meant that there wasn’t a whole lot of coordination on important issues, which delayed decision-making and sometimes prevented McMaster from providing timely advice to the president. 

McMaster found himself facing an attack that he could never have foreseen. The charges against him were as wide-ranging as they were fantastical, but they seemed to be gaining traction. Some accused him of being a globalist intent on sabotaging the president’s “America First” agenda. Others labeled him as anti-Israel, or simply as out of step with Trump’s populist base. All of this was then amplified by Russian bots and trolls. And, with each wave of attack, McMaster felt his standing in the White House erode further.

Then, members of his team started receiving threats. The mood was now firmly one of chaos and isolation. And while McMaster still had Trump’s public support, the relentless nature of the onslaught was making his work increasingly difficult.

After arriving back in Washington, it wasn’t long until McMaster was confronted with yet another crisis – the poisoning of Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter on British soil. Trump’s response to the Kremlin’s flagrant act of aggression would be key to projecting American power. 

McMaster knew he had to give everything to convince the president to make the right call and project American strength. He recommended expelling diplomats straight away, as well as implementing strict sanctions against Kremlin officials.