KT McFarland - Revolution: Trump, Washington and We the People

Advance Praise for
REVOLUTION

KT McFarland has been at the center of Republican foreign policymaking for decades, starting in the 1970s when she first worked on the National Security Council, continuing through the Reagan Administration, Fox News, and then as President Trumps first Deputy National Security Advisor. Well written and perceptively argued, Revolution provides interesting insights into the beginning stages of Trumps foreign policy and the reasoning behind it.

Henry A. Kissinger , Former Secretary of State

KT McFarlands foreign policy experience spans decades. She was a junior aide to Kissinger, a foot-soldier in the Reagan Revolution, and a national security and foreign policy leader of the Trump Revolution. Her insights into American national securitypast, present and futureare indispensable.

Joseph Lieberman , Former Senator

KT McFarland has personal insider knowledge of how big the fight for freedom is and how dangerous the opponents of freedom both inside the United States and outside are to all of us. An important testimony to the great struggle of our times.

Newt Gingrich , Former Speaker of the House

Over the years KT McFarland has had the courage to challenge conventional wisdom on foreign policy, and has almost always been right. In this book she sounds the alarm about the strategic, technological and economic threats posed by an aggressive, rising China, and lays out what America can do about it.

Matt Schlapp , Chairman of American Conservative Union

KT McFarland is an exceptional student, writer, and professional warrior. She had the extraordinary experience of learning from the masters of foreign policy and defense in the Nixon and Reagan presidencies, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and Defense Secretary Cap Weinberger and the others that mattered. Shes a pros pro! She watched it up close; learned the lessons of diplomacy, both the successes and the failures, and was prepared to offer that experience to the new Trump White House. She now shares those lessons with you the reader. If in the room decision making interests you, this is a must read!

Ed Rollins , Former White House Assistant to President Reagan, National Campaign Director Reagan-Bush 84

KT McFarland has been focused on the national security interests of the United States since her time as a young aide to Dr. Henry Kissinger. She has never stopped studying how to protect the U.S. since that time, through her time advising President Trumps 2016 campaign and setting up its national security shop and in her distinguished media career before and after. Now comes her account of the Revolution we are all living through. The Washington elites were stunned by Trumps victory, McFarland writes in the opening pages of this eyewitness account. If they want to get over their shock while also recognizing the growing perils to the country from abroad, this timely important book is the place for themand all Americansto start.

Hugh Hewitt , Nationally Syndicated Radio Talk Show Host,
President of the Richard Nixon Foundation

A POST HILL PRESS BOOK

Revolution:

Trump, Washington and We the People

2020 by KT McFarland

All Rights Reserved

ISBN: 978-1-64293-404-5

ISBN (eBook): 978-1-64293-405-2

Cover photo by Tom McCall

Cover design by Juan Pablo Manterola

Interior photos edited by Justin Hoch

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author and publisher.

In several cases, this book deviates from the more accepted capitalization and grammatical rules. This is deliberate, to give special emphasis to certain offices, organizations, and unofficial groupings.

Post Hill Press

New York Nashville

posthillpress.com

Published in the United States of America

To my husband, Alan Roberts McFarland

the love of my life,

the song to my soul,

and the north star to my purpose

Contents

Chapter 4 : I Joined the Trump Revolution for the
Same Reasons I Joined the Reagan Revolution

I was as surprised as anyone by Donald Trumps victory. As a FOX News National Security Analyst, I had spent the day at our studios in midtown Manhattan, watching election commentary, and occasionally providing analysis myself. I was convinced Hillary Clinton would win and, as President, take us even further along the path of economic and global decline. She might have been a less combative President than Trump, but she would have done nothing to stop the erosion of American power and increased indebtedness. She would not have taken the steps necessary to restore America to robust economic growth. As a result, she would have presided over the slow decline of American power and influence and, in time, other countries would rise to take our place on the world stage. In the past, Clinton had picked the wrong foreign policy priorities. She had neglected the aggressive rise of China, yet pushed for interventionism abroad, especially in the Middle East and North Africa. I took no joy in being on cable news that day; I was just going through the motions, resigned to Hillary Clintons blowout victory.

But as polls started closing across the country, and Trump unexpectedly won a few key counties and then some key states, the chatter in the green room at FOX changed. Was there a chance Trump might pull an upset victory? After I finished my last FOX Business News appearance, I headed to Trumps election night headquarters a few blocks away to watch the impossible first become possible and then inevitable. County after county and state after state posted unexpected wins for Trump. Someone said the Clinton campaign had just cancelled their victory party caterer and the Hudson River fireworks display. Trumps upset victory was actually going to happen.

I was a Trump supporter from the beginning. As a fellow New Yorker, I had followed him over the years and liked a lot of what he said, especially when it came to foreign policy. Trump had the guts to stake out contrarian positions at odds with both Republicans and Democrats. He may have expressed his views in an unconventional manner, but he had a better track record than most of the experts. I had given foreign policy advice to a number of presidential candidates over the last decade or so, but they were more or less interchangeable. None impressed me as having understood the urgent necessity of reorienting our attention away from the Middle East and toward Asia.

Trump was the outlier. Finally, here was a Republican candidate who wasnt afraid to face reality, to admit the mistakes we made in foreign and economic policy, and commit to a major course correction. If he could ever manage to get elected, Trump might actually get something done, no matter how many people he offended along the way.

I joined Trumps National Security Advisory Committee in the fall of 2016, after the Republican Convention, and was one of the few well-known and experienced foreign policy experts to do so. I participated in prep sessions for his final debates, and was impressed by his ability to cut through the details and zero in on the core of an issue, almost intuitively.