I Can't Stand John Bolton and We Need to Defend Him
It's about democracy.
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I am not a fan of John Bolton. I think he’s dangerous.
He’s a hardline conservative known for his extremely rightwing outlook on foreign policy and national security.
He was one of the key evangelists for the invasion of Iraq. He's basically called for the U.N. to be dismantled. He's openly called for regime change in numerous countries. He's been accused of manipulating evidence to support his ultra-hawkish views.
In fact, he’s so extreme that the late Colin Powell—Bolton’s former boss—publicly opposed his 2005 nomination to U.N. Ambassador, seen by many to be a rather risky gamble by President Bush. Secretary Powell actually called Republican senators to oppose the nomination of Bolton.
He was basically the closest thing American politics had to Trump's abrasiveness many years before Trump entered the scene, which is why Trump brought him on as national security advisor for 17 months during his first term.
Keeping him in that role should have been easy. On paper, Trump was Bolton's dream for executive power, and Bolton was ideal for carrying out Trump's stated vision.
But Trump was so incompetent and Bolton was so repulsed by Trump's incompetence and Trump was so resentful of the perception that Bolton was tougher than he was that the two clashed repeatedly and Bolton ultimately left.
Bolton later wrote a scathing memoir about his time as Trump's national security advisor that laid bare Trump's incompetence on foreign policy and national security.
Today, the FBI searched Bolton's home and office on the absurd suspicion of mishandling classified documents, but it's really because Bolton wrote that scathing memoir.
If Trump is willing to do something this brazen against someone like Bolton, imagine what he's willing to do against anyone else.
In a true democracy that prioritizes due process as a guiding light, even the worst people should have protections against abuse by the government. What Trump is doing to Bolton is straight out of the authoritarian playbook.
Yeah, this certainly counts as yet another distraction from Trump’s governing failures and his likely involvement in Epstein’s massive sex trafficking operation, but it’s also very much an intentional signal Trump is sending to the political world.
Bolton has been pretty damn quiet about Trump this year, and yet, Trump is still going after him.
This is a big canary in the coal mine. If we’re not calling out the lawlessness of Trump’s retribution against Bolton, we’re allowing the permission structure for further lawlessness and fascism by Trump.
We can do both things here: we can make clear that Bolton is not the sort of person we want representing the U.S. government and also that he needs to be defended against political retribution.
This needs to be treated as a thick red line for Democrats.
Hard agree Charlotte! He’s a scumbag in many ways but what the regime did is unacceptable in a democracy. Talk about a thin skinned regime! These people are cowards who can’t handle any criticism.
Amen, sister!
Love your clear assessment of the situation.
Also notable for the horrid precedents set: having the New York Post as a ride along guest in FBI vehicles so they could photo and (almost) be the first to report; Kash Patel’s Twitter/X post about the raid. 🤢