Michael Anton, the National Security Council spokesman, will be leaving the Trump Administration according to a senior official in White House.
This has been the latest move in the shakeup of the foreign policy and national security teams of President Donald Trump.
According to the senior official in White House, President Donald Trump had made a call to Anton on Sunday to thank him for his services. He expressed his personal regards for Anton and that he will be missed.
Anton was dismissed alongside National Security Advisor, H.R. McMaster, who is being replaced by John Bolton.
As the NSC’s outreach official, Anton has appeared on television multiple times defending the foreign policies of the Trump Administration and has also had clashes and heated debates with mainstream cable news anchors on numerous occasions.
The outgoing Anton has been praised from many quarters as a man of outstanding mental capability. A story that aired on February 2017 referred to him as “a fast-talking 47-year-old intellectual who, unlike most of his colleagues, can readily quote Roman histories and Renaissance thinkers.”
In the heat of the 2016 Presidential Campaign, he became well known for writing explisive essays under the pseudonym, ‘Publius Decius Mus’, where he defended the policies laid out by President Trump.
“Trump, alone among candidates for high office in this or in the last seven (at least) cycles, has stood up to say: I want to live. I want my party to live. I want my country to live. I want my people to live. I want to end the insanity,” wrote Anton in an essay.
As soon as the news of his departure broke, White House Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, paid tribute to the outgoing official.
“Michael is one of the smartest and most talented individuals I’ve ever worked with — not to mention an amazing chef,” said Sarah in a statement.
However, not everyone was in the support of Michael Anton, especially the ones that thought he was only moving with the tide.
Before his entry into the administration, he was seen as an advocate of the “America First” standpoints put forth by President Trump while the campaign was going on. He had been hired to operate with Michael Flynn, the first national security advisor who had a short tenure.
As soon as Flynn left, he began to face a lot of criticism for his views.
“Anton got the job for one reason — he was the most pro-Trump of anyone associated with the national security area,” claimed one source close to the administration.
The source also claimed, “He completely flipped. He was brought in because of Flynn but he became the biggest cheerleader for the McMaster faction that fought against implementing the president’s policies.”
