Another member of the Bannon-Flynn wing of Team Trump is getting the boot from Trump's national security team: K.T. McFarland, a Fox News analyst who was elevated to the position of deputy national security adviser because Trump knew her from his teevee, will be "promoted" from her current position to become the equally unqualified but significantly less powerful ambassador to Singapore. Her departure is being widely reported in the press as a victory for Flynn replacement H.R. McMaster, who wanted her gone since he first came on board—Trump vetoed that choice back then, but is apparently on board with the move this time around.
The official said H.R. McMaster, the current national security adviser, has not decided what to do about replacing McFarland, but acknowledged that Dina Powell's role as deputy national security adviser for strategy "will probably expand." [...]
McMaster's power inside the White House has been rising in recent weeks, proven by his orchestration of Steve Bannon's departure from the National Security Council.
McFarland's departure is no different. This means more power for McMaster and people he trusts, such as Powell, who moved over once McMaster took over.
This is probably good news, as McFarland is a flippin' loony; having one less conspiracy monger plotting out "national security" responses is, at least, unequivocally a good thing. Those pundits attempting a little Kreminology to deduce what this might mean longer-term are probably making the same mistake as those pundits attempting to parse out a Trump "Syria strategy" from one notably ineffective missile strike; it again ignores the aspect of Trump's personality we are all most familiar with, his infamous inconsistency. McFarland may be in favor this week; he may lose favor next week or the week after, depending on what stories are featured between then and now on Fox & Friends.
So it's good news, but indicative of not much. Coming on the heels of chief of staff Reince Priebus losing his own key deputy, however, it's still more churn in an administration that's struggling not just to staff key government positions, but doesn't know which core staff members might themselves be gone tomorrow.