Trump's Top Ex-Aide Reveals the Former President Was Treated Like a 'Chump' By Foreign Counterparts

Former president Donald Trump's one-time national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster has released a new memoir titled At War With Ourselves. According to The New York Times, in the book, McMaster goes on to describe the Republican leader as a 'chump' for a string of authoritarian leaders. “Trump’s anxieties and insecurities rendered him vulnerable,” the retired general wrote. 

McMaster's book narrated a particular incident that goes to show how Trump could be manipulated. As part of his 13-day tour to Asia, the Republican leader made his third visit to China in November 2017. According to McMaster, it was his "most consequential" destination. He forewarned Trump during their flight to Beijing that Xi would attempt to dupe him into saying something beneficial for China at the expense of the US and its friends. He remembers telling his supervisor once that the C.C.P.'s favorite expression, "win-win," actually meant that China won twice.

Although it appeared as though Trump heard him, the president deviated from his talking points in the Great Hall of the People. In addition to concurring with Xi that military drills in South Korea were "provocative" and a "waste of money," he also raised the possibility that China might be entitled to Japan's Senkaku Islands. With a sick feeling in his gut, McMaster handed a message to Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly, stating that Xi had "[eaten their] lunch."

Trump campaign spokesperson, Steven Cheung, however, told NBC News, that the book “is riddled with untrue stories intended to use made-up and salacious fabrications" to sell copies. He remarked that the book should hence belong in "the bargain bin of the fiction section.” As per the work, Trump had a troubled past and was partly to blame for the chaos that surrounded him while leading the White House staff. “I was learning that Trump was open to new ideas and perspectives, but he was also prone to changing his mind based on whoever had his ear last,” McMaster wrote. 

As per The Hill, the former national security adviser said he is not interested in serving under the Trump administration in case of a second term. “I will work in any administration where I feel like I can make a difference, but I’m kind of used up with Donald Trump,” he told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. He added that the GOP nominee had "kind of used up" his talents. McMaster, who was in the White House from February 2017 to April 2018, stated that working under Trump was a "privilege," but cited the challenges he encountered.

“The president is quite often very offensive, brash, says things that are outlandish,” McMaster revealed. He added, “He’s an extremely disruptive person...I saw it as my job, you know, not to try to constrain him, but to help him disrupt what needed to be disrupted.” Trump's campaign spokesperson refuted the senior adviser's claims in a statement, writing, “He shouldn’t flatter himself...nobody is asking for McMaster to serve in the government in any capacity.”