Peacemaker Bolton Quits by Walrus.

It seems that another voice for peace and moderation in foreign policy has abandoned the Trump Administration. John Bolton has quit as National Security Advisor. It sounds to me like the constant calls for a more aggressive, warlike, stance from President Trump eventually became too much for this peace loving gentle flower child and he has taken a principled stand and resigned.

Who should the Administration now call on to provide some restraint on the Presidents warlike impulses?

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-fires-national-security-adviser-john-bolton-n1051986

 

 

Comments

[blue peacock]

How about another peacemaker and lady in waiting for the GOP 2024 nomination - Nimrata "Nikki" Haley. She will immediately call for a Peace & Friendship Treaty with that evil thug Vladimir Putin.

[anon]

I spoke to Don last night and offered to take bolt on moustaches place and he agreed there is place for me on his team.He commended my foresight and deft use of sharpie to make bold statements.Was it winston who said something about the "winds of change".Oh well who knows,in like flynn might be back again.

[anon]

Close but with initials k.a. also a nh

[Barbara Ann]

I'm sure the Administration will give the matter much thought and due deliberation and using the same selection process as before, choose the candidate most highly qualified recommended by the Adelsons. Tell me it ain't so.

[David Solomon]

I assume this is meant as sarcasm, I hope. I certainly never considered Bolton a voice for moderation.

[Fred]

He can always get Bibi, since he's (Bibi) all for wars of conquest. Take that Denmark; Greenland here we come!
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Prime-Minister-Netanyahu-expected-to-announce-annexation-of-Jordan-Valley-601207

[oldman22]

Chas Freeman for National Security Advisor

[Factotum]

Good point about Nikki Haley perhaps being the lady in waiting for this position. Good for a POTUS who open doors to develop a farm club talent for 2024.

Reminder what a fail Obama was, leaving his party in desperation and desolation, after his welcomed departure from office in 2017. Biden running on Obama fumes was the best succession legacy he could leave behind. Obama groomed no farm club.

[ted richard]

does it really matter any longer?

if you think that russia or china or iran takes this clown show seriously or trusts in word one washington will follow through on what they say i have a bridge to sell you.

even during obamas second term it was clear putin and his staff did not trust the obama administration to tell the truth about the weather let alone anything important.

to get anything done now with russia or china or iran i suspect its become impossible. all that's left between washington, moscow and bejing is to avoid a nuclear ww3.

we have an impasse which is impossible to bridge. russia and china are creating a new world order for those that become a part that's philosophically, morally and economically incompatible with the one washington and its european vassals are trying to sustain.

only one winner will emerge from the struggle and i do not mean war although that is not impossible once one side reaches denouement point of economic degradation.

its said a reputation arrives on foot and departs on horseback and with ours all you can see now is the tail wafting the air.

[catherine]

I don't usually find much value at the Atlantic but this article (written before Trump even fired Bolton) about Trump's FP timeline (and flip flops) and Bolton who was acting like he was President is very, very good.
It will allow Trump loyalist to more easily support Trump and give everyone else a tad bit of hope that Trump really won't go bonkers and start any wars.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/trump-tries-to-fix-his-foreign-policy-without-bolton/593284/

[Barbara Ann]

Seems this guy threw his hat in the ring:

https://twitter.com/FredFleitz/status/1171412928110714880

He looks perfect. NSC Chief of Staff, Bolton protégé, gives speeches entitled "Why Anti-Zionism is Anti-Semitism and a Threat to National Security", hates Iran and appears on Wayne Allen Root's show. (sarcasm)

[JerseyJeffersonian]

Heaven forfend. Col.Macgregor? Converstion between him, my friend our hostess, myself for a well spent hour or so. Loves this country, leader, versed in relevance of history, culture, religion, apt evocation of their respective relevance to matters of national interest. Nice to have in the NSA, no? Makes for a pleasant change from the fumbling asses with whom we have lately been saddled.

[JP Billen]

Is it true that he has been reaching out to his ex-advisor McMaster? And why did he fire McMaster anyway? Or did McMaster quit, and Trump claimed that he fired him to save face?

[different clue]

Since President Trump appears to talk about things and stuff with Tucker Carlson, perhaps he should ask Tucker Carlson to spend a week thinking . . . and then offer the President some names and the reasoning for offering those names.

If the President asks the same Establishment who gave him Bolton, he will just be handed another Bolton. "Establishment" include Pence, who certainly supported Bolton's outlook on things and would certainly recommend another "Bolton" figure if asked. Let us hope Pence is not consulted on Bolton's successor.

[Poul]

Really Fred.

As a Dane I think you really should start with Canada first. Yes, They are a bit uppity compared to Greenlanders, but it's a much better deal and offer the same benefits. The real estate would nicely supplement the US' existing holdings.

[Lyttennburgh]

Subhān Allāh! Sultan Danuld at-Trumphoon al-Quincy dismissed his wazir Yahya al-Boltoni, for verily it’s said to all Faithful: mustache is Shaitan’s brush. /s

[confusedponderer]

There is an nice article about his "Being fired by Don Donald / Nope, actually I quit myself" story:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/10/the-guardian-view-on-john-bolton-good-riddance-but-the-problem-is-his-boss

The Guardian view on John Bolton: good riddance, but the problem is his boss

Many will rightly celebrate the departure of the US national security adviser. But however welcome the news, it reflects the deeper problems with this administration
...
However satisfying it may be to see him leave, whoever is picked to succeed him may not be much of an improvement. No one should cheer the chaotic and dysfunctional nature of this administration. Its boss revels in divisions and factionalism among his staff, which allows him to continue governing by his whims, kneejerk reactions and vanity.

It is neither normal nor desirable for the national security adviser to be excluded from meetings about Afghanistan – even if it is a relief, when the individual concerned is (or was) Mr Bolton. It is more likely that he was fired because he dented his boss’s ego than because his advice was so bad: Mr Trump liked Mr Bolton’s bellicose style when he saw it on Fox News, not when it clashed with his own intentions.

The national security adviser may have been the most ferocious of the voices urging Mr Trump to turn up the pressure on Iran, but he was certainly not alone. Mr Bolton’s presence in the White House was frightening. But its continued occupation by the man who hired him is much more so.

I read that the main drivers of getting him kicked or retire himself were Mnuchin and Pompeo, both afflicted by that nasty goofy smile disease. I am always happy when I see Mnuchin's hands on the table, eliminating one explanation for the smile.

There is that reported sentence about Bolton - that there is no problem for which war was not his solution. I read about similar sentence about Pompeo - that he has an IR seeker for Donald's ass.

That written, good riddance indeed. Likely, if Bolton had his way, the US would likely be at war with North Korea and Iran.

When I studied I was at the UNFCCC for a time during Bush Jr. presidency and talked about what Bolton did at the UN with my superior, a 20 year UN veteran.

A 'malicious saboteur arsonist' is a polite summary of what he did there directly and indirectly, and with given his flirt with MEK and regime change in Iran he has likely not changed at all.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/07/world/middleeast/john-bolton-regime-change-iran.html

As far as Pompeo's "moderation" goes, don't expect anything moderate. But general mailiciousness and opportunism aside, as an evangelical he'll certainly get along perfectly with Pence.

[vig]

I love cryptic comments. But yes, wasn't it curious to witness how exchangeable Nikki felt to Power accross the poliitcal divide/trench warfare ... On the other hand this may need ladies,diplomacy?... considering Bolton didn't make it in 2005. ...

Maybe I am confused since I never really understood National Interests. Would Trump be a helpful teacher on matters?

[Barbara Ann]

Yup, I'd go with that list of qualities (in that order) if I were doing the choosing.

[confusedponderer]

different clue,
re "Let us hope Pence is not consulted on Bolton's successor."

Understandable point of view but then, Trump still is Trump. He can just by himself and beyond advice easily find suboptimal solutions of his own.

Today I read that Richard Grenell was mentioned as a potential sucessor.

As far as that goes, go for it. Many people here will be happy when he "who always only sais what the Whitehouse sais" is finally gone.

And with Trump's biggest military budget in the world he can just continue the arms sale pitches that are and were such a substantial part of his job as a US ambassador in Germany.

That said, they were that after blathering a lot about that we should increase our military budget by 2%, 4%, 6% or 10%, buy US arms, now, and of course the blathering about Northstream 1 & 2 and "slavedom to russian oil & gas" and rather buy US frack gas of course.

He could then also take a side job for the fracking industry in that context. And buy frack gas and arms company stocks. Opportunities, opportunities ...

[Morongobill]

I think the President should send for a wise and experienced person for counsel.
I suggest Colonel Lang.

[Keith Harbaugh]

How about someone from the academic sector, like Stephen M. Walt? Or John Mearsheimer?

[JP Billen]

Poul, we tried that in 1775. And we left two thousand dead men there, another thousand dying of smallpox, and another thousand captured including the formidable Daniel Morgan. Two American generals died there and three more, Generals Arnold, Sullivan, and Wooster scurried south for home.

Tried it again 37 years later. That did not work either. Don't be giving Donnie any wild ideas.

[JP Billen]

After Bolton's firing (or resignation?) was announced in Iran, President Rouhani said that in the future “America should understand that ... it should distance itself from warmongers”.

[catherine]

'' And why did he fire McMaster anyway? ''

He wasn't Israeli enough for the ZOA.....

Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) National President Morton A. Klein; ZOA Director of Special Projects, Elizabeth Berney, Esq.; and ZOA Director of Center for Mideast Policy, Daniel Mandel, Ph.D. released the following report:
The duties of the National Security Council (NSC) include “coordinat[ing] and direct[ing] the activities of the United States Government relating to combating transnational threats.” It is thus alarming that National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster purged from the NSC those officials who were carrying out President Trump’s policies of combating Iranian and radical Islamist transnational threats, and purged from the NSC those officials who support the U.S.-Israel alliance – an alliance that is vital to America’s ability to combat radical Islamist terrorism
The ZOA thus urges President Trump to remove General McMaster from his current position and reassign him to another position where he can do no further harm on these critical national security issues. General McMaster should not maintain a position where he can continue to undermine President Trump’s policies on Iran, Israel and the fight against “radical Islamic terrorism” – a term that General McMaster believes should not even be used.

McMaster Fired (the following) Officials Carrying Out President Trump’s Pro-Israel, Anti-Iran Policies That McMaster Opposes
https://zoa.org/2017/08/10371905-zoa-nscs-mcmaster-reassign-him-to-area-not-dealing-with-israel-or-iran/