A few months later, Mr. Trump has already ditched that approach, closing the door on the Chinese and going back to military threats. At the margins, the generals may dial back their boss’s impulses, and occasionally stand up to Mr. Trump in small ways, as Mr. Mattis did when he declined to praise Mr. Trump in a televised cabinet meeting in June. PhotoBut it’s unlikely that the generals will consistently rein in Mr. Trump at the strategic level. Relying on the generals was always a dubious, ad hoc plan prompted by Mr. Trump’s uniquely troubling peculiarities. General McMaster admitted that Mr. Trump went into his private meeting with President Vladimir Putin of Russia at last month’s G-20 meeting without an agenda — indeed, without General McMaster.

Source: New York Times July 28, 2017 15:33 UTC