Michael Anton, Trump’s Chief Intellectual, Will Leave the White House

But Anton was also valued by others in the young and inexperienced West Wing for his relative expertise in how a White House should operate. He found allies in other important figures, such as Hope Hicks and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the latter of whom called him “one of the smartest and most talented individuals I’ve ever worked with” and a “true friend” in a statement after news of his departure.

Anton outlasted Flynn’s brief tenure heading the NSC and he spent most of his time at the White House working for H.R. McMaster (whose last day as national security adviser was Friday). Anton grew close to McMaster and frequently served as a bridge between the brainy Army general and President Trump, who did not have a good relationship. But acrimony between McMaster and those on the NSC staff who viewed themselves as Flynn loyalists—fueled largely by Steve Bannon and Breitbart—complicated internal politics within the White House. By remaining loyal to McMaster and defending him against attacks on him in the right-wing media, Anton was viewed suspiciously by others loyal to Flynn and, supposedly, the “true” Trump vision on foreign policy.

The truth, however, is that Trump himself grew to like Anton—and would, throughout his time, rely on the communications aide for helping shape the administration’s foreign policy. Before John Kelly was installed as chief of staff, Anton found himself in several high-level meetings between the president and foreign leaders. As his colleagues did, Anton was valued by Trump for his past experience working for a president on national security issues. This gave him outsized influence for a spokesman in terms of defining Trump’s policy on major issues, including Afghanistan, the nuclear deal and broader Iran policy, and the release of the Osama bin Laden documents.

But by being in the room for much of those deliberations, Anton also had a front-row seat to some of the more frustrating moments in a White House defined by chaos. Previously, high-profile aides who have left the White House have been candid about the disorder within Trump’s West Wing. Will Anton, with his new academic perch, now feel free to share publicly his views about the White House, and about Trump himself?

One More Thing—Trump called Anton Sunday after learning of his plans to leave. The president wished him well and even suggested Anton could return one day to the West Wing—a proposition similar to that offered to Hope Hicks, the former communications director.

Reports of a chemical weapons attack by Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad on his own people in a suburb of Damascus prompted condemnation from President Trump. Here he was on Twitter this weekend:

The horrific attack has killed at least 42 people so far, the New York Times reports, mostly civilians in Douma, which has been held by rebels opposing Assad’s regime. “The attack appeared to break the will of Douma’s rebels, who agreed on Sunday to a deal with the government to hand the area over and be bused to another area outside government control in the country’s north,” reports the Times. “Thousands of fighters and tens of thousands of their relatives are expected to leave soon.”

President Trump last week told his national security team he wanted to withdraw the 2,000 or so American troops from Syria soon. Those troops have been deployed to fight ISIS in the eastern part of the country, and the United States is not officially engaged with Assad in his civil war with several different opposition groups.

Must-Read of the Day—Thomas Joscelyn, one of the smartest terrorism analysts around, has an important piece on the website examining Assad’s brutal regime and the complicity of outside actors like Iran, Russia, and even North Korea, in giving the Syrian dictator cover. Read it here.

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After deepening trade tensions between China and the United States caused turbulence in the stock market last week, the White House spent Sunday reassuring Americans there was no need to worry about a trade war. On Fox News Sunday, Trump’s chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow insisted that the president was using tariffs as a cudgel to force China to accept free-trade practices, and that none of the White House’s protectionist moves were set in stone.

“It’s a long process. Several months here. We put our papers, we take public comments. We then review the public comments and then decisions will be made. So far, no tariffs and no action has been enacted,” said Kudlow, who began his job as the chairman of the National Economic Council last week. “If you talk to the president as I have, he regards himself as a free trader, all right? As do I. But his argument, and it’s a good one, you can’t have free trade, which is pro-growth around the world, unless China brings down its barriers, opens up its markets, and stops this technology steal that they’re doing.”

But Kudlow’s characterization of the tariffs as a mere far-off possibility was undercut by comments Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro made just an hour before on Meet the Press.

“What we’ve done in a very measured way over the course of many months is develop a plan to make the situation significantly better. That plan is being implemented, includes both tariffs to recover the damages that China inflicts, as well as investment restrictions,” Navarro said. “We are proceeding in a measured way. And those tariffs will be imposed, and those investment restrictions will be imposed.”

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Song of the Day— “Stranglehold” by Ted Nugent