A particular genius to Trump’s generals

mostly apolitical generals would nudge the wild-card Trump left of center and embed him within the Washington foreign-policy establishment.

But now, most journalists seem baffled that the generals are either proving too conservative or not standing up to Trump enough — as if playing the role of the loud maverick to a president had been in the job description of any Cabinet secretary or White House official of the past.

Trump’s improving poll numbers reflect the order that Kelly established out of chaos in the West Wing. In delusional fashion, the media had hoped that a fourstar Marine general might be a liberal wolf in conservative sheep’s clothing — so it’s easy to understand why the number of Kelly’s media critics has grown.

Kelly is a no-nonsense traditionalist and serves Trump not just by improving the mechanics of day-to-day operations in the White House, but also by helping Trump with the shared goal of restoring U.S. economic and military dynamism.

Mattis and McMaster are said to play good cops abroad to Trump’s bad cop. By warning that the alternative to negotiations is a raging Trump who might do anything, the two generals are purportedly leveraging everything from delinquent NATO members’ defense contributions to European help in isolating Iran and North Korea.

The problem with that scenario is not that it is absolutely false, but that it’s exaggerated and simplistic. After all, it is difficult to see where Mattis and McMaster have disagreed with Trump.

The real challenge for the generals has been how to warn enemies and reassure friends that past global provocations against U.S. interests will now be deterred — but without a major war.

So far, Kelly, Mattis and McMaster, along with Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, have avoided both nation-building interventionism and lead-from-behind abdication of postwar responsibilities.

When they go abroad, their wide portfolios and latitude are signaling that they are in charge because of Trump and not despite him.