Day 428: Trump Taps Warmonger for NSA Post
Like Trump, John Bolton talks tough on military action, but evaded it himself.
A year ago, Michael Flynn was out, H.R. McMaster was in. Now, after a tumultuous year on the job as Donald Trump’s National Security Advisor, H.R. McMaster is out, John Bolton in.
Bolton previously served as George W. Bush’s ambassador to the United Nations (a job for which he had to be jammed through during a recess as the Senate was unlikely to confirm him), though he stated his disdain for the U.N. multiple times. In fact, that is largely his position with many areas of diplomacy.
Regarding North Korea, Bolton argued as recently as last month that the U.S. should strike first and strike now.
It is perfectly legitimate for the United States to respond to the current “necessity” posed by North Korea’s nuclear weapons by striking first.
A strike on North Korea would ultimately lead to a very messy and deadly war for Americans stationed on the Korean peninsula and citizens in the area. The implications as it relates to China and Russia are incalculable. Millions of lives would be at risk and the global economy could be ground to a halt.
Additionally, over a decade after the invasion, Bolton somehow still believes that despite the hundreds of thousands of lives lost, including over 4,000 American servicemen and servicewomen, the trillions of dollars wasted, and the never-ending turmoil, the decision to invade Iraq was the right one.
The hawkish former United Nations ambassador, 66, told the Washington Examiner in an interview this week that he stands by the decision made by his old boss, President George W. Bush, to invade Iraq and topple dictator Saddam Hussein. Bolton, long a strong supporter of the Iraq war, said his opinion wasn’t altered by the post-war discovery that Hussein’s regime did not possess weapons of mass destruction.
He’s also repeatedly called for an end to the Iran deal, which would allow Iran to resume working on nuclear weapons.
Much like Trump, Bolton himself managed to avoid service in Vietnam saying, in his book, that he considered the war to be a lost cause so he found ways to avoid going.
The National Security Advisor is responsible for advising the president on a day-to-day basis and oversees a staff at the National Security Council to provide research and briefings to better inform decisions to be made by the president. The NSA’s role is crucial in showing the commander-in-chief pertinent information and largely acts as a filter to what he does or does not see and hear.
The Trump-McMaster relationship, by all accounts, was doomed from the start. McMaster is three-star Army general and like most military members was fastidious and direct. He was able to provide comprehensive analysis of critical issues push back on some of Trump’s tendencies. Trump has been aloof in meetings, often skipping or ignoring briefings entirely. Trump grew tired of feeling like he was being lectured so forced him out.
Bolton is much more likely to be Trump’s yes-man, and validate some of his worst instincts. He has no real experience in the realm for which he’s been tapped and has been a Fox News talking head for years. He’s a conspiracy theorist who has muddied the waters on Russia election meddling, claiming that the Barack Obama administration may have planted “false flags” to implicate Russia for something they didn’t do.
Bolton is similar to Trump in many ways, and both men’s instincts are frequently betrayed by facts. Trump’s selection of Bolton increases the chances that the U.S. ramps up military activity around the world and makes more likely another full-fledged war somewhere in the world.
428 days in, 1034 to go
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