Ever wondered why Trump likes dictators? This three-star general can tell you [View all]

*In his only interview with the Australian media, the former national security adviser talks about Donald Trump’s attempts at self-worth.

Donald Trump invited US Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster to Mar-a-Lago and asked him to serve as his national security adviser, then asked a question that exposed the stark divergence in their world views. “How much does a three-star general make?” the newly inaugurated president asked. It was 2017. “I don’t really know,” replied McMaster. “Every month my cheque goes to Katie,” his wife, “and whenever I use an ATM, it works.”

“Wow, you really are in this just for the service, aren’t you?” responded the president. Trump was “shocked”, McMaster tells me in an interview this week. “He’s a business guy. It’s just a whole different world.”

Their different worlds might have complemented each other in useful ways, but ultimately fated McMaster to a tenure of only 13 months in the post. Which, by Trump standards, verges on the longer side.

Trump White House spokesman Anthony Scaramucci lasted all of 11 days, and that became a unit of time measurement among Trump staff. McMaster can boast that he served for 41.3 Scaramuccis.

https://www.theage.com.au/world/north-america/ever-wondered-why-trump-likes-dictators-this-three-star-general-can-tell-you-20240927-p5ke0t.html

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