Trump's 'Warrior-Scholar' Praised as 'Fantastic Choice'

After the abrupt exit of Mike Flynn and a "Thanks but no thanks" from Bob Harward, it could be the third time is lucky for President Trump with his choice of national security adviser. Army Lt. Gen. HR McMaster, a highly respected military strategist, was unveiled as the choice at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate Monday, and the decision received a lot more praise than many of the president's other recent moves. A roundup of reactions:

• Politico describes McMaster, author of a 1997 book on America's mishandling of the Vietnam war, as "one of the military's leading warrior-scholars" and predicts that he will help Trump build bridges with GOP defense hawks like John McCain, who praised McMaster on Monday as "a man of genuine intellect, character, and ability."

• Retired Lt. Gen. David Barno tells the Washington Post that he knows McMaster well and he believes the general will excel at coordinating policy. "I don't see HR as director of an orchestra; I see him as someone who is getting all the instruments to play together," Barno says.
• Cosmopolitan rounds up eight things to know about McMaster, including the fact that he "is known for standing up for his beliefs" and was chosen as one of Time's "100 Most Influential People" in 2014.
• National Review reports that Charles Krauthammer, one of Trump's fiercest conservative critics, described the choice as encouraging, noting that McMaster's willingness to go against prevailing opinion of the time when planning the Iraq troop surge shows "this is a guy who will say what he thinks and promote what he wants."
• At Business Insider, Paul Szoldra praises McMaster as a "fantastic choice," not least for the great deal of respect he commands from the troops
• The AP notes that McMaster has a "reputation for being willing to speak truth to power"—and he "appears to hold a much dimmer view than Trump of Moscow's military and political objectives in Europe."

(More national security adviser stories.)