Rumors of departing generals

At Town Hall, Victor Davis Hanson writes,

...few Cabinet or White House appointees ever serve throughout an entire administration. Burnout is natural. Lucrative private-sector job offers multiply monthly. Normal people do not enjoy living inside the Beltway.

Barack Obama had four defense secretaries, three national security advisers and five chiefs of staff. That is about par for a presidential tenure covering eight years.

But the problem with all these rumors of departing generals is not just that they are likely false and shopworn. They also make no sense because the three generals have been radically successful. In just a year, they have markedly enhanced U.S. national security as well as the image of the Trump administration itself.

The media, which is mostly anti-Trump, has always been schizophrenic in the coverage of the three generals. Some media outlets initially echoed old worries about too many Pentagon tentacles or the militarization of the executive branch. They forgot that generals, both active and retired, have long held administration jobs. Gen. Colin Powell, for instance, served four different presidents, starting with his tenure as national security adviser under Ronald Reagan.

...By late 2016, strategic deterrence had mostly been lost due to the prior administration's failed Russian reset; unchecked Chinese ascendance; a comatose approach to North Korean nuclear enhancements; the Iran deal; empty red lines, step-over lines and deadlines; the Syrian and Libyan misadventures; the collapse of Iraq and rise of ISIS; and the alienation of Israel and the Gulf states.

In reaction to these growing threats, our friends have been reassured, enemies have been warned, and stability is returning. ISIS is on the run. North Korea is forcefully embargoed. Defense spending is up. Missile defense is recalibrated. And reset fantasies are over with Vladimir Putin.

Trump's improving poll numbers reflect the order that Kelly established out of chaos in the West Wing. In delusional fashion, the media had hoped that a four-star Marine general might be a liberal wolf in conservative sheep's clothing -- so it's easy to understand why the number of Kelly's media critics has grown.

...Who wishes to return to Obama's principles of "strategic patience" and "lead from behind"? Do critics want more of the massive Defense Department cuts that had been the most severe since the end of the Korean War? Should there be more apology tours, or further outreach to Cuba and Venezuela?

So far, Kelly, Mattis and McMaster -- along with Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson -- have avoided both nation-building interventionism and lead-from-behind abdication of postwar responsibilities.

Read more here.