Fear: Trump in the White House

“We’re going to fail on the political,” he said. A peace settlement with the Taliban was the only way out. “The Pakistanis are going to double deal until they see the Taliban losing.”

Trump had a solution. Did Graham want to be the ambassador to Pakistan?

“No, I don’t want to be ambassador to Pakistan,” Graham said.

They left it at that.

At the White House, Trump began repeating a line he had heard at a meeting: “The way we’re going to win is to run an insurgency against the insurgency of the Taliban.”

Trump loved the idea of a renegade operation, a campaign that the establishment was sure no one could win. The president said, “These guys in the 1980s against the Russians on horses.” Perfect.

Bannon added fuel to the renegade fire by criticizing the weak Afghan Army. “We spent a trillion dollars to take the world’s best fighters,” Bannon said, “and turn them into the world’s worst army.”

Trump loved that also. Bannon had pushed about as far as he thought he could. They were trying to make policy on a string of one-sentence clichés.

Graham had one more warning for Trump.

“Pull them all out, because 8,600 [troops] ain’t going to work, and accept the consequences,” he warned Trump, referring to the number currently in Afghanistan. “And here are the consequences: It becomes Iraq on steroids. There are more international terrorists in Afghanistan than there ever were in Iraq. The deterioration will be quick and the projection of terrorism coming from Afghanistan will exponentially grow. And the next 9/11 is coming from where the first 9/11 was. And you own it. The question is, are you going to go down the Obama road, which is to end the war and put us all at risk, or are you going to go down the road of stabilizing Afghanistan?”

CHAPTER

16

You’ve got to be kidding me,” Priebus had told Secretary of State Tillerson in a phone call in early March. The controversial Iran deal negotiated by Obama had to be reviewed every 90 days. They now had two days to renew or reject, Tillerson said. In February, Trump had called it “One of the worst deals I’ve ever seen.” As a candidate in 2016, he had said, “My number one priority is to dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran.”

Tillerson wanted to renew as a matter of both practicality and principle. Central was the fact Iran was in compliance with the deal as Obama had negotiated it. He came up with some language for renewal.

“The president’s not going to go for it,” Priebus said. “You need to come up with a better statement. Mild, matter-of-fact won’t cut it. We need language that’s going to actually make the case for President Trump’s position. He’s not going to like it. Secondly, if he reads this, he’s going to really blow up.”

When Priebus briefed Trump on Tillerson’s proposal, the president retorted, “You aren’t going to jam this down my throat!”

Priebus ran shuttle diplomacy between the president and the secretary of state.

“They’re not in violation,” Tillerson said. The intelligence community and the allies who were signatories to the deal agreed that Iran was not in violation.

“Those arguments would not fly” with the president, Priebus said. Tillerson held his ground. “We’ve got a problem then,” Priebus said. He felt he had to remind Tillerson. “The president is the decision maker here.” He took himself off the hook. “I’m not trying to give you a hard time.”

Tillerson went to see the president. “This is one of my core principles,” Trump said. “I’m not in favor of this deal. This is the worst deal that we have ever made, and here we are renewing this deal.” Since it was only for 90 days, he would go along. “This is the last time. Don’t come back to me and try to renew this thing again. There’s going to be no more renewals. It’s a shitty deal.”

Mattis found a diplomatic, quieter way to agree with Tillerson. “Well, Mr. President,” Mattis said, “I think they are probably in technical compliance.”

Priebus watched in admiration. Mattis was not meek but he sure knew how to handle Trump.

Tillerson had to send a letter to Speaker Paul Ryan by April 18. Trump didn’t like the first draft. He directed that the short letter include that Iran was “a leading state sponsor of terror” and that the NSC would review whether to continue the suspension of economic sanctions that were part of the deal.

When the letter was first released, television commentators pounded Trump. Watching this made him more upset. He ordered Tillerson to hold a press conference to denounce both the deal, which had just been renewed, and Iran. It was extraordinary to unleash an attack within hours of renewing a landmark diplomatic agreement.