As President-elect Donald Trump began building the top tier of his administration, he has turned to friends and advisers to ask just how many generals would be too many — suggesting he may want to tap as many as five — to fill his Cabinet and the highest rungs of the White House.

He’s already up to three, with retired generals in crucial national security posts: secretary of defense (James Mattis), secretary of homeland security (John Kelly) and national security adviser (Michael Flynn). On Thursday, Trump interviewed retired Navy Adm. James Stavridis for secretary of state, one of two military men among the finalists to become the nation’s top diplomat along with former Gen. David Petraeus.


Even before all his picks are finalized, Trump is on pace to assemble the most military-heavy White House and civilian administration since at least World War II.

Military leaders have long held a special allure for Trump, according to people who have spoken to the president-elect both during the formation of his Cabinet and in the years before, including some Hollywood portrayals.

“Frankly, he’s way too impressed in the generals,” said one confidant of Trump, who attended a military academy in high school but never joined in the armed services, instead receiving draft deferments during the Vietnam War. “The more braid you have on your shoulders and the more laurels that you have on your visor, the more impressed he is.”

Trump is drawn to their swagger, their straight talk and the kind of aggressive leadership style he adopts himself, people close to him say. “He likes people who are decisive and who are command-structure people,” said another Trump adviser who has spoken to Trump about the topic.

Retired Gen. Jack Keane, who interviewed with Trump last month and declined to be considered for defense secretary despite Trump’s interest in having him hold the post, said Trump “connects” to [generals] because he sees people who are very experienced, knowledgeable, confident, non-arrogant … and straightforward.”

“Mr. Trump himself is a leader, a strong leader, a person of conviction and straight talker, and it’s likely that’s why there’s a connection there,” Keane said, adding that after 15 consecutive years of America at war that “the generals may indeed represent the best athletes on the field” for Trump to fill out his administration.

But some who have interacted with the president-elect worry about the blurred lines between Hollywood dramatization, Trump’s conceptualization and the reality of military leadership. On the campaign trail, Trump, for instance, approvingly retold the unproven tale of a ruthless American general who ordered his men to dip bullets in pigs' blood to kill Muslim terrorists in the early 20th century, letting only one survive to spread the story as a warning. He also embraced killing the families of terrorists as a modern deterrent.

And ever since selecting Mattis as defense secretary, Trump has been visibly enamored with the fact that the incoming head of the Pentagon has a ready-made nickname that connotes strength: “’Mad Dog’ plays no games right?” Trump said in Fayetteville North Carolina.

Trump has a particular fascination with swashbuckling World War II Gens. Douglas MacArthur and George Patton. Four sources close to Trump said that "Patton," the 1970 film starring George C. Scott that depicted Gen. Patton, is among the president-elect’s favorite films — one he has watched repeatedly over the years. “Trump,” one of the people close to him said, “loves this movie.”

“Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser,” the actor playing Patton says in the memorable opening scene of the film, a line that is not hard to imagine Trump himself saying.

Trump has repeatedly tweeted out quotable tidbits attributed to Patton in recent years, such as, “May God have mercy upon my enemies because I won’t.”

And when Trump announced his plan to nominate Mattis, he declared, “They say he’s the closest thing to Gen. George Patton that we have and it’s about time.” (After their first meeting, he tweeted of Mattis, “A true General’s General!”)

Michael D’Antonio, a Trump biographer who spent hours interviewing him in 2014, worried that the president-elect could be “vulnerable” to the suggestions of the top brass.

“I think Donald has been fascinated by military men since he was 13 years old and sent away to this [military] academy,” D’Antonio said of the school where Trump and his instructors alike wore military-style uniforms and held various ranks. “Ever since, he’s believed that a certain Hollywood version of a World War II general represents real leadership. The danger in this is he won’t be discerning when it comes to their recommendations and may not value the civilian role over the defense establishment in the way that all other presidents have.”

“I think Donald is going to want to please them as much as possible and he’s very vulnerable to their influence,” D’Antonio added.

Trump has already said Mattis, who despite the Mad Dog moniker is known as a cerebral “warrior-scholar,” has altered his perspective on torture after saying that cigarettes and beer proved more effective. “I thought he would say — you know he’s known as Mad Dog Mattis, right? Mad Dog for a reason — I thought he’d say ‘It’s phenomenal, don’t lose it,’” Trump told The New York Times.

Trump’s relationship with “the generals,” as he called them on the campaign trail, has been complicated to say the least.

Donald Trump holds a photograph of his younger self while greeting supporters after a rally on June 17 in The Woodlands, Texas. | AP Photo

He has been dismissive at times. “I know more about ISIS than the generals do, believe me,” he infamously said last year.

He’s also been solicitous and sensitive, with another Trump adviser, saying the candidate was “mad” when Hillary Clinton rolled out a longer list of military brass that had endorsed her than he had this fall. Trump tweeted angrily at the general who delivered a speech on Clinton’s behalf at the Democratic convention.

In addition to the three posts he has already filled, Trump is considering installing Petraeus as director of national intelligence (if he does not end up as secretary of state), according to three transition sources. Another top contender for that post is Adm. Michael S. Rogers, who is the current director of the National Security Agency.

That’s just the start of a military-centric inner-circle: Rep. Mike Pompeo, Trump’s choice for director of the Central Intelligence Agency, attended West Point and then served as an Army Officer. Sen. Jeff Sessions, Trump’s pick as attorney general, rose to the rank of captain in the Army Reserve. And Steve Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist, is a former Navy officer.

“At some point, you worry about it being an echo chamber in the sit room,” said Phillip Carter, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security and an Army veteran.

The Senate, which must confirm many of Trump’s picks (although not Flynn, despite the fact that he has sparked the most controversy), is mulling what to make of the growing accumulation of military brass in the executive branch.

“There’s probably a ceiling on generals,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who praised Mattis as a “good choice” and said that he is a fan of Petraeus, too.

“I really don’t look at it as so many, too many generals, or is x amount, one too many …” Graham added. “But the concept of civilian control of the government is something that I think there’s only so much market cap there. And I don’t know when you hit it.”

Mattis will require a congressional waiver of a federal law prohibiting recently retired generals from overseeing the civilian-run Department of Defense. It is the only vote on which Democrats are guaranteed a say and, despite broad approval of Mattis, they could use it as leverage.

“What we’ve learned over the last 15 years is that the U.S. military, as capable as it is, is not great at bringing political reconciliation to other parts of the world,” said Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy, who is on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “I generally worry about a foreign policy that is heavily dependent on U.S. military when we have so many other tools at our disposal.”

Trump seems less concerned. On Saturday, he plans to attend the 119th Army-Navy football game in Baltimore. He’s slated to watch half the game from one side of the field and then switch to the other.