An ex-Republican columnist described how Donald Trump's "loveless marriage" with former military leaders has come to a close.
"Like many a loveless marriage of convenience," conservative Max Boot wrote in a Wednesday night Washington Post column, "the union between President Trump and 'his' generals has ended in recrimination and heartbreak."
The "impetuous" departure of former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis over the president's pullout from Syria marked the last of the military figures he'd formerly surrounded himself with.
Boot noted that the fates of Trump's generals varied.
In spite of the president's claim that he "fired" Mattis, the former Defense secretary resigned -- and took Trump down a notch in doing so.
Former national security adviser H.R. McMaster also blasted Trump on his way out, opining that the president failed to impose "sufficient costs" on Russia for its electoral interference in 2016.
John Kelly, a four-star general who was until recently the White House chief of staff, was indeed fired, Boot noted.
"During a post-firing interview," the columnist wrote, "Kelly did not praise his boss’s achievements but rather his own success in averting disasters — including preventing Trump from breaking the law."
That leaves Michael Flynn, McMaster's predecessor as national security adviser who was indicted for lying to the FBI.
Generals, Boot added, all share a similar set of traits that set them apart: preparation and study before acting, a personal honor code, nonpartisanship and a commitment to the United States.
"With his insufferable boastfulness, Trump claimed, 'I think I would have been a good general,'" the columnist wrote. "Actually, he would never have made it to first lieutenant, because his me-first ethos is so at odds with the military’s stress on service and sacrifice."
