The Trump Presidency

February 15, 2017, 02:02 PM

olfuzzy

Mattis and Flynn didn't get along.

Mike Flynn’s resignation Monday from the national security adviser position opens an opportunity for Secretary of Defense James Mattis’s close colleague to take the post.

Retired Navy Vice Adm. Robert Harward is reportedly the favorite among three potential Flynn replacements. Harward served as deputy to then-Gen. Mattis during his tenure as the head of United States Central Command and is a known Mattis ally. A former Navy SEAL, Harward reportedly was under consideration to serve as undersecretary of defense for intelligence under Mattis.

Vice President Mike Pence has been leading discussions on Flynn’s replacement, according to a Washington Post report. Mattis, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, CIA director Mike Pompeo, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, chief strategist Stephen Bannon and Chief of Staff Reince Priebus are also involved in the discussions.

Mattis and Flynn have a less-than-friendly history. One month after Mattis took charge of United States Central Command in 2010, then-Gen. Flynn was recalled from Afghanistan while the Army investigated allegations he “inappropriately” shared secrets with “various foreign military officers and/or officials in Afghanistan.”

The former generals also had divergent views on policy issues, specifically Russia. Flynn has historically maintained a cordial approach on Russian relations, while Mattis once claimed Russia was the “most dangerous” threat in the near term, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin as “delusional.”

Harward offers the Trump administration a safe and steady pick following the fallout from Flynn’s resignation, two White House officials told the Washington Post.

The former admiral served on President George W. Bush’s National Security Council, specializing in counter-terrorism strategy, and is highly respected among security circles, despite maintaining a low public profile. As far as Mattis is concerned, Harward could be another ally in the White House on top security concerns like Iran and Russia.

http://dailycaller.com/2017/02...be-a-win-for-mattis/

February 15, 2017, 02:02 PM

sdy

https://www.yahoo.com/news/tru...osure-175814852.html

Reuters

As a teenager in the early 1970s retired U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Robert S. Harward played football and basketball, was popular with classmates and, like many American high school students, was known for partying.

But Harward, to whom President Donald Trump has offered the post of U.S. national security adviser, to succeed Michael Flynn, spent his teenage years not in his native Rhode Island, but in pre-revolutionary Iran, where his father, a Navy captain, advised the Iranian military.

During his teenage years, Harward lived in an Iranian neighborhood, attended school with Iranian-American students and played sports against Iranian teams. Those experiences gave him an unusual familiarity with Iran's culture and people in the years before the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted the pro-American Shah.

"During very formative years of his life, he was exposed to everything that was Iran," said Joseph Condrill, who knew Harward, known by his classmates as Bobby, when they were students at the Tehran American School. "Iran was one of our homes, and we got to know the Iranian people very well, in a very intimate way."

The Trump administration has offered Harward the job of national security adviser, two U.S. officials familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear if Harward had accepted, the sources said. A White House spokesperson had no immediate comment.

"I think back to the days when I graduated from the Tehran American School in 1974, where as a Westerner I could freely travel through Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and other countries in the region and be greeted, and welcomed, because of the policies and strategy the West employed in the region," he said. "Yet I look today, we are in a much different world."

Harward did not respond to a request for comment and officials at Lockheed Martin, where he is a top executive, declined to comment.

After graduating from high school in 1974, Harward returned to the United States, joined the Navy, became an elite SEAL and rose through the ranks, eventually serving as deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, which oversees American forces in the Middle East. He served there under General Jim Mattis, now the U.S. defense secretary.

February 15, 2017, 02:39 PM

roberth

quote:
Originally posted by MRBTX:
Just so nice to see class and respect has returned to the White House. No more pimp-slide Barry and latte salutes.

It really is. That was a wonderful thing to see.

February 15, 2017, 04:14 PM

JALLEN

quote:
Originally posted by sdy:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/tru...osure-175814852.html

Reuters

As a teenager in the early 1970s retired U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Robert S. Harward played football and basketball, was popular with classmates and, like many American high school students, was known for partying.

But Harward, to whom President Donald Trump has offered the post of U.S. national security adviser, to succeed Michael Flynn, spent his teenage years not in his native Rhode Island, but in pre-revolutionary Iran, where his father, a Navy captain, advised the Iranian military.

During his teenage years, Harward lived in an Iranian neighborhood, attended school with Iranian-American students and played sports against Iranian teams. Those experiences gave him an unusual familiarity with Iran's culture and people in the years before the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted the pro-American Shah.

"During very formative years of his life, he was exposed to everything that was Iran," said Joseph Condrill, who knew Harward, known by his classmates as Bobby, when they were students at the Tehran American School. "Iran was one of our homes, and we got to know the Iranian people very well, in a very intimate way."

The Trump administration has offered Harward the job of national security adviser, two U.S. officials familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear if Harward had accepted, the sources said. A White House spokesperson had no immediate comment.

"I think back to the days when I graduated from the Tehran American School in 1974, where as a Westerner I could freely travel through Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and other countries in the region and be greeted, and welcomed, because of the policies and strategy the West employed in the region," he said. "Yet I look today, we are in a much different world."

Harward did not respond to a request for comment and officials at Lockheed Martin, where he is a top executive, declined to comment.

After graduating from high school in 1974, Harward returned to the United States, joined the Navy, became an elite SEAL and rose through the ranks, eventually serving as deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, which oversees American forces in the Middle East. He served there under General Jim Mattis, now the U.S. defense secretary.

His bio says not only did he "join the Navy" but attended the Naval Academy Prep School and then graduated from the Naval Academy.

Luckily, I have enough willpower to control the driving ambition that rages within me.

When you had the votes, we did things your way. Now, we have the votes and you will be doing things our way. This lesson in political reality from Lyndon B. Johnson

"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." - Justice Janice Rogers Brown

February 15, 2017, 04:27 PM

Dtech

Any of our naval experts care to share about the Russian ship off our coast? It doesn't seem like it was just pure coincidence that it happened to show up just as Trump was going to have his meeting with Netanyahu.

February 15, 2017, 04:35 PM

stoic-one

quote:
Originally posted by Dtech:
Any of our naval experts care to share about the Russian ship off our coast? It doesn't seem like it was just pure coincidence that it happened to show up just as Trump was going to have his meeting with Netanyahu.

Intel ships typically shadow subs out to sea until they submerge... But they are always in international waters (12+ miles).

Those intelligence ships are around all the time. Sometimes you can tell what they are sometimes you cant. Nothing really new, and I have no idea why it's such a big deal except the press wants to bring it up.

February 15, 2017, 05:46 PM

sdy

Donald Trump 6:40 AM - 15 Feb 2017

The fake news media is going crazy with their conspiracy theories and blind hatred. @MSNBC & @CNN are unwatchable. @foxandfriends is great!

******************

http://thehill.com/media/31969...-ask-trump-questions

CNN's Jim Acosta said Wednesday that President Trump only called on conservative news outlets during his joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu because "the fix is in" on which outlets get to ask questions.

indeed it is Jimbo. Screw you

Acosta, who was at the White House but was not called upon and was heard shouting a question when the news conference ended, was asked by King for his take on the president's choice of outlets that asked questions.

"The two questions that were asked or called upon from the president in this news conference went to the Christian Broadcasting Network, no accident, which is obviously owned by Pat Robertson, the televangelist down in Virginia," said Acosta. "It's a very conservative broadcasting network."

Acosta then characterized TownHall.com, which got the second question, as "a very conservative website."

for the record Townhall was very anti-Trump until he was elected

February 15, 2017, 06:08 PM

JALLEN

quote:
Originally posted by sdy:

for the record Townhall was very anti-Trump until he was elected

I wouldn't say that at all, dubious maybe, but not "very anti."

February 15, 2017, 06:14 PM

parabellum

Hilarious that a CNN reporter is talking about a fix being in. You'd better take a look in the mirror, pard.

February 15, 2017, 06:19 PM

mikeyspizza

quote:
Originally posted by Dtech:
Any of our naval experts care to share about the Russian ship off our coast? It doesn't seem like it was just pure coincidence that it happened to show up just as Trump was going to have his meeting with Netanyahu.

Trying to cut the long distance charges off their phone bill

February 15, 2017, 06:22 PM

BamaJeepster

Just unprecedented for a president to criticize a media outlet...

February 15, 2017, 06:27 PM

BamaJeepster

Oh, and this too CNN:

February 15, 2017, 08:06 PM

feersum dreadnaught

Below is the e-mail invite I got to the Fourth Annual Navy Crew Alumni Banquet

Alumni, Parents and Friends,
We are pleased to announce our fourth annual Navy Crew Alumni Reunion and Spring Kickoff Banquet on Saturday, March 4th, 2017. Last year we had over 200 guests and we expect another great crowd this year. Please join our special guest speaker, VADM Robert S. Harward '79, USN ret., (pictured below) in welcoming our First Class Heavyweight, Lightweight, and Women rowers into the ranks of alumni.

Admiral Harward was a four-year lightweight rower at Navy, who graduated in the Class of 1979. After qualifying as a surface warfare officer aboard the destroyer USS Scott (DDG 995), Harward transferred to the Naval Special Warfare Community, where he was the "Honor Man" of the BUD/S class 128. Born in Newport, Rhode Island, Harward grew up in a Navy family and graduated from the Tehran American High School in Iran. Some of his many distinguished assignments were: Deputy Commander U.S. Central Command, Commander of Combined Joint Interagency Task Force, Deputy Commander of U.S. Joint Forces Command and a tour in the Executive Office of the President at the White House as director of Strategy and Policy for the office of Combating Terrorism.

February 15, 2017, 08:10 PM

porterdog

Speaking of CNN, bet they don't do much with this story:

http://www.floppingaces.net/mo...er-cover-of-protest/

February 15, 2017, 10:53 PM

flashguy

quote:
Originally posted by Palm:
Just watched Netanyahu's arrival at the White House. Trump saluted the Marines before going inside. Every time I see him return the salute. I realize that as commander in chief he is not required to do that, but I like it and it shows respect.

I can't say whether or not he is "required" to do it, but in my eyes he is "obligated" to do it. Saluting is, and always has been, a 2-way process of showing respect. In the military, an officer can be brought up on charges for willfully failing to return a properly rendered salute from a lesser rank--it's called "conduct unbecoming an officer". I am quite sure that President Trump is aware of this mutual respect situation and is simply doing what is right. (And that is good!)

flashguy

February 15, 2017, 11:14 PM

sdy

http://www.breitbart.com/video...nd-on-the-democrats/

During an interview aired on Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Senate Majority Leader Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said that whether or not he needs to use the nuclear option to confirm Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court “will depend on the Democrats.”

McConnell further vowed that Gorsuch will get 60 votes, and that “In any event, Gorsuch is going to be confirmed.”

McConnell: "The Supreme Court nominee was superb. I think he picked the single most outstanding circuit judge in America."