“There is no United Nations. There is an international community that occasionally can be led by the only real power left in the world, and that's the United States, when it suits our interests and when we can get others to go along.” ~John Bolton, 2005
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By now, you may have heard that the man squatting in the Oval Office for the past 406 days has decided to ditch his national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, for somebody new. If not, you can read my colleague Joan McCarter’s take on it here or click on her links to the original story. The replacement is expected as early as next month, assuming the unnamed sources that NBC has cited for this bit of news are correct, and that fickle Donald Trump doesn’t change his mind. The claim of those sources almost immediately got pushback from the White House Thursday:
National Security Council spokesman Michael Anton dismissed reports of McMaster’s departure, telling CNN, "I was just with President Trump and H.R. McMaster in the Oval Office. President Trump said that the NBC News story is 'fake news,' and told McMaster that he is doing a great job."
It should not be forgotten that several months ago it was Rex Tillerson who media sources said was headed for the exits. So caution is advised.
But if it is true that McMaster—who obviously has a low opinion of the Commander-in-Tweet’s intelligence and maturity—will soon get booted, the choices for his replacement include John Bolton, the ultrahawkish Jesse Helms protégé who was U.N. ambassador for 16 months of a recess appointment under George W. Bush. Calling Bolton a “diplomat” stretches the word way beyond any reasonable meaning.
Not that everything Bolton says is wrong. But books could be written on why his imperial and imperious approach to America’s role in the world is counterproductive. However, I need something to eat. So I’ll just provide the condensed version, some excerpts from what he has said in the past three days in his own words in an op-ed and an interview.
Here he is yesterday in The Wall Street Journal:
CIA Director Mike Pompeo said in January that Pyongyang was within “a handful of months” of being able to deliver nuclear warheads to the U.S. How long must America wait before it acts to eliminate that threat? [...]
In contemporary times, Israel has already twice struck nuclear-weapons programs in hostile states: destroying the Osirak reactor outside Baghdad in 1981 and a Syrian reactor being built by North Koreans in 2007.
This is how we should think today about the threat of nuclear warheads delivered by ballistic missiles. In 1837 Britain unleashed pre-emptive “fire and fury” against a wooden steamboat. It is perfectly legitimate for the United States to respond to the current “necessity” posed by North Korea’s nuclear weapons by striking first.
Here he is in an interview with Rob Bluey in the propaganda arm of the Heritage Foundation, The Daily Signal, three days ago:
Bluey: You served distinguishably as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Nikki Haley has received many compliments and praise for her leadership there. What advice do you have for her in that job?
Bolton: She’s doing a great job. She is a very effective spokesperson for the United States.
I told her a couple months ago, I was up in New York, I was really envious of her, because she seemed to function without the supervision from the State Department. I wish I could have said the same.
If he gets the job, he certainly won't have to worry about hollowed-out State Dept. interference.