It’s a familiar Trump move, preemptive firing-by-tweet. Iran policy in shambles, failure in every initiative, even in ones that seemed benign, John Bolton’s tenure as NSA was bound to implode. Trump’s lust for a Nobel Peace Prize led him to places Bolton could not abide, including talking to Iran directly and that failed Taliban “summit” at Camp David.
Since joining the administration in the spring of last year, Bolton has espoused skepticism about the president’s whirlwind rapprochement with North Korea and has advocated against Trump’s decision last year to pull U.S. troops out of Syria. He masterminded a quiet campaign inside the administration and with allies abroad to persuade Trump to keep U.S. forces in Syria to counter the remnants of the Islamic State and Iranian influence in the region.
Bolton was also opposed to Trump’s now-scrapped notion to bring Taliban negotiators to Camp David last weekend to try to finalize a peace deal in Afghanistan.
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who was traveling with Trump Monday, said reports of Bolton’s dissent on the Taliban meeting was a “bridge too far” for Trump.
One Republican familiar with the disagreements between Trump and Bolton said the adviser’s opposition to a possible meeting between Trump and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was a precipitating factor in the dismissal. French President Emmanuel Macron has been trying to broker such a meeting, possibly on the sidelines of the upcoming U.N. General Assembly, in the hope of salvaging the international Iran nuclear deal that Trump withdrew from.
NBC News reports that Trump had a list of officials he'd like to get rid of before the end of the year, after which such moves might have a negative effect on his re-election campaign. John Bolton's name was on that list, according to aides.
And Ted Cruz blames the Deep State: