A general’s bracing farewell, &c.

One of the best speeches of the Trump era, I think, was delivered by H. R. McMaster, just as he was leaving the post of national security adviser. He delivered it to the Atlantic Council on April 3. It is worth your while.

I want to highlight a couple of things — for instance, “The Kremlin’s confidence is growing as its agents conduct their sustained campaigns to undermine our confidence in ourselves and in one another.”

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And especially this: “Even in the United States and in other free nations, some journalists, academics, public officials, and saddest of all young people have developed and promulgated idealized, warped views of tyrannical regimes.”

I see it every day. Bravo, McMaster.

• Did you see Garry Kasparov on the U.S. and Syria? In a tweet? Brutal — and pointed: “Obama made liberals feel good about doing nothing to stop a genocide, as if it were a heroic choice. Trump does the same for his nationalist base with America First.”

• Mitt Romney is running for the Senate from Utah. He was asked if he would stand by his previous criticism of Trump. He said, “I look forward. I’m not going to look backward.”

I’ve heard that before. I have had exactly one exchange with Hillary Clinton. It was when she announced for the Senate in New York. I was at a press conference. I said, “Do you stand by your claim that your husband’s troubles were the result of a ‘vast right-wing conspiracy’?” She looked at me with deadly eyes and said, “I’m not going backward, I’m going forward.” As she spoke, she pointed to the next questioner.

• For my Jaywalking podcast — sort of an audio version of Impromptus, with music, licks of speeches, and other things — go here. To write me, try [email protected].

• Let’s have a language item. Above, I quoted Romney, who spoke of “forward” and “backward.” Do you say that? Or “forwards” and “backwards”? Or does it depend? Both are acceptable in English, unquestionably.

• Trump continues his name-calling — as in, “Thank you to Rasmussen for the honest polling. Just hit 50%, which is higher than Cheatin’ Obama at the same time in his Administration.”

I don’t even get this one, frankly. “Cheatin’ Obama”? This must not refer to marital vows, does it?

Also — remember how Republicans and conservatives blasted Obama for criticizing and blaming his predecessor? Did he do it on anywhere near the Trump scale?

• Talking to voters in West Virginia, Trump said, “In many places, like California, the same person votes many times. You probably heard about that.” (Yes, from him, the president.) “They always like to say, ‘Oh, that’s a conspiracy theory.’ Not a conspiracy theory, folks. Millions and millions of people.”

The president offered no evidence of this massive fraud, and neither did his staff. The tip-off, probably, was “Not a conspiracy theory, folks.” Is that what Alex Jones says, too?

McMaster and others speak of the Kremlin’s efforts to undermine confidence in our democracy. No one can do that more effectively than a U.S. president.

• The “radios” — Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, etc. — were essential tools in the Cold War. They are still around. Relics? No, unfortunately: They are still needed, and they are doing their old jobs of countering propaganda and spotlighting injustice. They are serving as “surrogates,” to use the time-honored phrase.

Here is what Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty says about its mission: “RFE/RL journalists report the news in 20 countries where a free press is banned by the government or not fully established. We provide what many people cannot get locally: uncensored news, responsible discussion, and open debate.”

I write about all this in the current issue of National Review. To read the piece, go here.

• The great Jim Buckley — James L. Buckley, JLB, an older brother of the founder of this magazine, William F. Buckley Jr., WFB — served as president of RFE/RL in the 1980s. I quote him in my piece.

• President Trump has been attacking Amazon, whose founder he dislikes. I am reminded of something he did last year: “Health Insurance stocks, which have gone through the roof during the ObamaCare years, plunged yesterday after I ended their Dems windfall!” It is quite odd to have a president bragging about causing stocks to plunge. As a reader of ours wrote, “This affects my 401(k). Am I not an American?”

When Democratic presidents attack private businesses, we conservatives jump on them (the presidents, not the businesses), and quite rightly. What’s the difference?

• I have another question: What percentage of the White House staff uses Amazon? One hundred? It’s a life-betterer, isn’t it?

• Mirabile dictu, Pioneer High School — my crosstown rival in Ann Arbor — is in the news. The national news. Picture and everything. Here is an Associated Press report. The subject is guns — a gun case. And a highly interesting article it is too.

The original Ann Arbor High became Pioneer High School. A new school — not so new anymore — was built elsewhere: Huron High School, home of the River Rats. (My dad and Ed Klum wrote the fight song.) Huron’s colors were green and gold. Pioneer’s are purple and white. In the stands — at a basketball game, for example — Huron fans used to chant, “Pur-ple pan-sies.” I doubt that happens anymore. Also, PiHi usually kicked our butt.

• Did you see this article? “Trump family hotel business asked Panama president for help.” Kinda dicey. #DrainTheSwamp

• Daniel Akaka, the longtime senator from Hawaii, has died. In 2012, Carl Hulse of the New York Times wrote a charming piece about him — for Akaka’s name was first on the Senate roll. When the clerk called the roll, he would begin, “Mr. Akaka . . .”

In the fall semester of 1984, I was an intern in Senator Bob Dole’s office. First on the roll then was James Abdnor of South Dakota. I can still remember the drone-like way in which the clerk began: “Mr. Abdnor . . .”

• If William Safire were here, he’d surely note that “Akaka” is a palindrome. He used to refer to Lon Nol as “the palindromic Cambodian leader.” Then there was U Nu . . .

• Howard Jacobson, the British novelist, has written an essay about his country and anti-Semitism — a superb essay, “anthologizable,” as WFB would say. For when you have time . . .

• A man named Josh Harms said his town stinks — literally. His town is Sibley, Iowa, home of Iowa Drying and Processing, a company that makes “a high-protein animal food supplement from pig blood.” I am quoting from this report. The town tried to shut him up — threatened to sue him. Harms preemptively sued, and won.

The city is paying Harms $6,500 in damages and $20,000 in legal fees. Is issuing a written apology. And is holding “First Amendment training” for its staff.

Heh. Harms said, “Personally disagreeing with something that’s been written is understandable, but threatening the writer with a lawsuit while representing the government is censorship. It violates the First Amendment and our freedom of speech.”

An Amurrican has the right to say his town stinks. What do you think this is, Canada? Britain?

• Last week, I was in Dallas and noticed an establishment: Contemporary Ballet Dallas. Very confusing. I know ballet, which is timeless. I also know contemporary dance. But “contemporary ballet”? What the . . .?

• I liked a Taco Bell in Dallas — its marquee, which said, “Need a job? Let’s taco ’bout it.”

• During the Masters, Sergio Garcia, the defending champion, took a 13 on Hole No. 15. He kept hitting the ball in the water. Yet, his shots were often a few feet from the cup. But the green and the fringe were so fast, and downhill, that the ball traveled a long way into the water.

Now, you’re supposed to hallow Augusta National, and I do. You’re supposed to speak about it in hushed reverential tones — and I mainly do. But, I’m gonna say it: There is something false — something tricked up — about a course where you hit it a few feet from the cup and still can’t keep it out of the water.

Amirite, Cliff? (Cliff Roberts, the late, and fearsome, chairman of the club.)

• Get a load of this: “A man was injured north of Anchorage after a moose that he had just kicked stomped his foot in return, state officials said.” There are two priceless quotations in this story. Both belong in Bartlett’s.

Megan Peters, spokeswoman for the state troopers, said, “I am not a biologist, but as a lifelong Alaskan I would advise people not to go around kicking moose.” And Ken Marsh, spokesman for the fish and game department, said, “If you get into a kicking contest with a moose, guess who’s going to win?”

Words to live by.

• I was watching an episode of What’s My Line? from 1953. Ronald Reagan was the mystery guest. And there was an ad that teaches us something about social history. Apparently, deodorant was thought pretty girlie.

The moderator of the show, John Charles Daly, says, “Here’s a man’s angle on an everyday subject.” Then we see a commercial which has some guys in a locker room. One says to another, “Say, don’t tell me a big he-man like you uses a deodorant.” The man in question says, “There’s nothing sissy about it.”

You know what the tagline for this ad is? “Poof!” (It refers to squeezing the bottle or container, to get a spray.)

Later.