The first victory against the Trump White House could be seen through the resignation of Michael Flynn in February. A man whose son was central to the “pizza gate” conspiracies that put the lives of people at risk when a believer of the conspiracy entered a D.C. pizza restaurant and fired a shot. Initially, Flynn Jr. had also been with the Trump transition team and was removed over the conspiracy.
Blasting News reviewed the resignation of a CIA analyst who saw the horror of what the Trump administration would become when unqualified people in it were given seats in the National Security Council.
Among the unqualified: Jared Kushner, Steve Bannon and Ezra Cohen-Watnick who was reportedly one of two members of the council who gave Devin Nunes intelligence documents -- which Blasting News also covered, that would eventually force him to remove himself from the House Intelligence Committee investigation on Trump over Russian interference into the 2016 Presidential Election.
Disarming Trump's potential power grab
Steve Bannon's recent removal from the Council apparently came down to one man, Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, who – since replacing Michael Flynn – shows some effort to restore a sense of normalcy to the Trump administration, pulling it away from its extremist and most dangerous agenda of using unqualified ideologues to essentially cripple the government and allow Trump to centralize power for himself.
According to the New York Times which first reported Bannon's removal, “The shift was orchestrated by Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, Mr. Trump's national security adviser, who insisted on purging a political adviser from the Situation Room where decisions about war and peace are made.”
Their report revealed the problems White House staffers have had with Bannon, such as President Trump's advisers -- his daughter and son-in-law Kushner – who complained about setbacks on issues Bannon didn't prioritize which would explain why Bannon was absent from some meetings.
The article referred to his initial purpose on the N.S.C. which was to make sure that he kept his eye on Flynn, suggesting he would prevent the N.S.C. from functioning as it should under an experienced general who might guarantee it. Bannon said in a recent statement that Obama's National Security Advisor Susan Rice had operationalized the Council during his administration and that he was there “to ensure that it was de-operationalized,” and that “General McMaster had returned the N.S.C.
to its proper function.”
Purge and restore
The Times felt that Bannon needed to explain what he meant by “operationalized” but Blasting News has already clarified how Mr. Bannon has tried to create dysfunction in the government. S, obviously, creating dysfunction in the National Security Council was the goal until, as he said; General McMaster returned it to its proper function. But it also states that this was McMaster's intention the entire time: “The initial structure approved by Mr. Trump not only gave Mr. Bannon formal membership on the committee but also downgraded the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the director of national intelligence to occasional participants.” This if further confirmation that Bannon trying to dominate the Council, or in his words, “de-operationalize” it.
The Times points to when McMaster tried to remove Ezra Cohen-Watnick but Bannon and Kushner intervened, convincing Trump to leave Cohen in his position. A sign of McMaster's effort to “operationalize” the N.S.C. was reported by Politico saying that his decision followed “weeks of pressure from career officials at the CIA who had expressed reservations about the 30-year-old intelligence operative and pushed for his ouster.” The Times now says that on Tuesday, President Trump ordered that the Joint Chiefs of Staff and others more qualified be added. It might be that Trump is realizing the limits of his and Bannon's nationalistic agenda against a nation that gave Clinton the popular vote over him.
