We have all heard the old saying that "even a broken clock, is right at least twice a day", however as it relates to the Trump Administration, at least for the first 70+ days of its existence, it seems to me that the Broken Clock Theory has been, well, broken. That's because I have struggled to find any action that Trump has taken, any statement he has made, any tweet that he has tweeted, that actually adds value to the world around us.
Take heart my friends, I was wrong! The Broken Clock Theory, is not dead, it's just been dormant. Yesterday, President Trump removed his Chief Strategist, Steve Bannon from the National Security Council's cabinet-level "principals committee". The NY Times and other sources have reported that the change was orchestrated by Lt. General H.R. McMaster who actively pushed to purge the political adviser from the Situation Room where discussions and decisions are made about war and peace.
On March 2, in #15 Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones, I embraced the selection of H.R. McMaster as Trump's second selection as his National Security Advisor (acknowledging that Trump's first selection of Michael Flynn was an unmitigated disaster) and stated: "I applaud President Trump for his most recent selection of H.R McMaster as his National Security Advisor. It is my sincere hope that he will listen to McMaster's advice ...on important topics. I believe it will be imperative to do so."
The stated rationale for removing Bannon at this time, that his presence there was to "keep an eye" on Flynn, and with Flynn's ouster, his presence was no longer required, is outright laughable (but not out of ordinary for this administration), but I don't want to detract from the substance of this important course correction.
The original move placing Bannon on the National Service Council was criticized by just about everyone on the planet, as potentially politicizing the most important responsibility of government which under any and all circumstances had to be completely unfettered from politics.
Equally baffling at the time was that the structure of the principals committee approved by Trump not only provided Bannon with formal membership, but it actually downgraded the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the director of national intelligence to occasional participants as issues demanded. This too, has now been corrected.
Even Karl Rove, the very political senior adviser to President George W. Bush, who was never allowed to join national security meetings — said this was a move back to a better process. “It was wrong for him (Bannon) to be added in the first place, and it was right to take him off,” he said.
So, now it seems that McMaster has been successful in earning the ear of the President, and this should be considered a huge win for all of us, for with all the issues in the world today, this provides us with a degree of hope that Mr. Trump is not completely incapable of making an intelligent decision, now and again.
At least a broken clock is right twice a day. And thank God for that.
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