John Bolton Thinks Donald Trump Is Poison – A trend continues: another distinguished government official who served in the Trump White House has become a vociferous critic of the former president over the last few years.
John Bolton, who worked as Trump’s national security adviser, is always a straight shooter and not afraid to share his opinion – as he has here in 19FortyFive as an op-ed contributor.
Bolton recently called Trump “poison” for the GOP in 2024. The former ambassador to the United Nations believes that Trump’s campaign for president is already “going downhill,” in a CBS News interview.
Bolton Could Run for President
Bolton is thinking about running for president and wants to distance himself from Donald Trump. Bolton, who had a close view of Trump’s actions in the West Wing, thinks Trump “behaved in a very erratic fashion.”
Donald Trump Dishes Out the Abuse Against Bolton
Trump had problems with Bolton’s views on the use of military force and his national security adviser’s tough views.
Bolton often clashed with the president, and he is still smarting from when Trump called him “one of the dumbest people in Washington” in 2020.
Trump said he has plenty of Bolton “stupid stories,” from his turn as national security adviser from 2018 to 2019.
Bolton Won’t Back Down
Bolton recently said that “Trump cannot be elected president. If he were the Republican nominee, he would doom our chances to get a majority in the Senate and the House. I don’t think he’s going to be the Republican nominee.”
His Book Is an Indictment Against the Trump Presidency
Bolton wrote a book in 2020 called The Room Where It Happened that outlined evidence that Trump was not fit to be president.
Trump then threw the author under the bus. Bolton has replied that he agrees with the statement that the former president is a “threat to national security” because of his mishandling of classified material.
Could He Break Through on the National Stage?
Full disclosure: I know Bolton and have met him several times. He has always been nice to me and good to 19FortyFive for sure.
Despite Trump’s negative opinion, Bolton is still a highly intelligent and determined man. Once he gets the bite in an opponent, he rarely lets loose. He has nothing to lose by running for president to give him a national forum to air his grievances against Trump.
Bolton would have to improve his standing with “America First” supporters who view Bolton as a neoconservative who supported the war in Iraq – an unpopular position with Trump foreign policy isolationists.
Leader of the Never Trumpers
Bolton is articulate and media savvy. He can state that he has seen Trump in action in the White House and knows the former president’s faults and foibles up close.
Bolton would require total support from the “Never Trump” wing of the Republican Party in a run for president.
He would also need to edge out Republican rebel Liz Cheney who also travels in the “I hate Trump” lane. Cheney is out of politics after losing her House seat and there has been speculation that she is eyeing a White House bid.
Bolton is a worthy fund raiser who has his own Super PAC. Its web site points out Trump struggles in polling and displays other evidence of Trump’s difficulties with attracting voters in a general election.
Staunch Supporter of Israel
The former national security adviser would have to improve his domestic policy chops having served mostly in foreign policy positions in government. Bolton is also a strong supporter of Israel and has a base of support among Jewish Republicans.
Bolton Megaphone Could Be Turned Up a Notch
It will be interesting to see if Bolton gets a speaking role in the upcoming CPAC rightist confab that Trump is headlining. He could try out some of his critiques of the former president and see if he could make inroads with movement conservatives at the conference who are looking at candidates besides Trump. There will be a straw poll there that would measure Bolton support.
Author Expertise and Experience: Serving as 19FortyFive’s Defense and National Security Editor, Dr. Brent M. Eastwood is the author of Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare. He is an Emerging Threats expert and former U.S. Army Infantry officer. You can follow him on Twitter @BMEastwood. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and Foreign Policy/ International Relations.
