Trump, frustrated by Afghan war, suggests firing U.S. commander: officials

[Jacob]

Isn't it spelled Bieber?

[Ed Anger]

Ugh

[jimmy olsen]

Interesting fact - more than six months in - here's what you get if you search for the National Security Council:

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National Security Council
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Kind of says it all . . .

One feature of the Trump White House and cabinet is that there is no civilian with any meaningful expertise on the defense/security/foreign policy side. 

His defense/security team is heavily military: Mattis, McMaster, Waddell, Kellog - and now they are being reinforced with Kelly as Chief of Staff.  With Trump basically an empty chair on these issues, it raises real concern about blurring the bright line of civilian control over the military establishment.

Problem is - there is no real alternative.  There are some civilians with expertise but they are a few steps down the org chart.  Bossert I guess is the most senior civilian with real experience.   Tillerson is an oil man.  The only other source of advice for POTUS is Bannon and his people and the freelance son-in-law and they are in turn easy dupes for some shady nasty people.  Not to mention they are pretty shady on their own to begin with.

The Kelly appointment seems to have been the impetus for a mini-shadow coup, with Bannon's guys getting purged from the NSC.  One would expect Kelly to side with McMasters and against Bannon and it's hard to argue against that.   But it does mean that there will be no credible civilian voice to offer a differing perspective.

It feels like we are sliding towards the old Turkish model with the military as the last bulwark against the crazies.