Where is Annie Leibovitz when we need her? Leibovitz, a widely-celebrated photographer with a liberal political philosophy, is well-known for her photos of famous celebrities and public figures. If the current administration was a Democrat one, you can bet that her assistant would be booking a photography session with a historic group of women in the Trump administration.
President Trump has a historic first in American history to document – for the first time, half of the senior leaders of the National Security Council are women. Twelve of the 24 directorates are led by women, including three of the six regional directorates. Not bad for an Orange Man who is supposed to have a low opinion of women, right? Not surprisingly, this milestone has not received much notice in the press at all.
Leibovitz is probably best known for her work for Vogue magazine, for which she is compensated with a multi-million dollar annual contract. She regularly photographed the Obama family and members of his administration. The last big splash Annie Leibovitz made that I’ve noticed was when she took a photograph of five Democrat women running in the Democrat primary for the presidential nomination. Remember that photo of Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Kirstin Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar, and Tulsi Gabbard? Sorry, Marianne Williamson.
So, the women in the Trump administration are speaking up and commending the president for his appointments. The women speaking out include Ivanka Trump. (That will tick off #TheResistance feminists.) The Federalist has a quote.
“President Trump has demonstrated his commitment to empowering women in the U.S. and across the world, implementing a pro-growth, pro-family agenda that lifts up women of all backgrounds. It’s no surprise that women are leading the way across the Trump administration, including more women leaders at the National Security Council than at any other time in history,” adviser to the President Ivanka Trump said.
The phoniest trope of all coming from the left is that the Democrat Party is the party for women. Not only is the Democrat Party the one of abortion on demand right up until the time of birth but it has sheltered and protected bad actors like Bill Clinton, JFK, Harvey Weinstein, Chris Dodd, Ted Kennedy, and so on. Democrat women have supported them most of all – right up until the #MeToo movement began to expose a lot of nefarious behavior. I am old enough to remember a woman reporter who “joked” that she’d be happy to, um, service Bill Clinton on Air Force One. Joe Biden is running on past legislation he is taking credit for that he says benefitted women but even sleepy old Joe has a pervy history of his own – and there’s the Tara Reade story. Did you notice the press didn’t bother to report about her allegations until they absolutely had to do so?
I wish Republican politicians were more skilled at noting important appointments of women by Republican presidents. Ronald Reagan appointed Jeane Kirkpatrick as the first woman to serve as United States Ambassador to the United Nations and Sandra Day O’Connor as the first woman Supreme Court justice. George W. Bush appointed Condoleezza Rice as the first female National Security Adviser and then the first black female Secretary of State. President Trump’s campaign produced the first woman campaign manager to win a presidential election. Frankly, the Trump administration should be better at tooting its own horn.
Last year, National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien announced he would be streamlining the National Security Council. Past administrations have had security councils of different sizes, with Obama’s being particularly large – over 200 staffers. (And he still got everything wrong!) O’Brien wanted to get back to more of a George H.W. Bush size model under Brent Scowcroft or George W. Bush size model under Condoleezza Rice. Members of the community approve of his decision.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, over the past nine months we have brought the NSC back to its proper size and role as a lean and efficient advisory body, and we were able to make that happen because we have some of the strongest leaders in the history of the NSC, half of whom are women for the first time ever,” O’Brien said.
The streamlined NSC has received plaudits within the national security community. “There are some exceptionally capable people over there focused on getting wins on the board for the country,” said Rebeccah Heinrichs, a national security scholar with the Hudson Institute, citing a “willingness to reconsider approaches to persistent problems and guts to do some things that are long overdue.”
Despite how the left speaks about Trump, he doesn’t seem to have a problem working with women in leadership positions. In February, O’Brien named Deborah Birx to the NSC, where she works on detail from the State Department. She was named the head of the Coronavirus Task Force. O’Brien said that streamlining the NSA and making it more efficient was a priority for Trump.
“Under previous administrations, the NSC more than doubled in size and duplicated many of the functions of DoD, State and the intelligence community,” O’Brien told The Post on Tuesday.
“Under President Trump, we have brought the NSC back to its proper size and role as a coordinating body,” he continued.
“To make that happen we require the best leaders, many of whom are women. Our goal is always to find the very best professionals for each job, and I am very proud of the team we have assembled at the NSC to further President Trump’s agenda,” he said.
Any time a government organization can be cut and streamlined is ok with me. To bring in smart, accomplished women to make up half of the top leadership positions is the icing on the cake.
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