John Bolton is the ultimate insider man. For 18 months, he was present in The Room Where It Happened (the title of his controversial book) as the National Security Adviser of the most powerful man in the world, President Donald J. Trump. Even before he got appointed to his post, Bolton had been regularly consulted and summoned by the White House.
Bolton had served in the last three Republican administrations prior to Trump. He was President Ronald Reagan’s Assistant Attorney General and was tapped by both Presidents George H.W. Bush and his son, George W. Bush, as Assistant Secretary of State during their respective terms. He also served as interim Ambassador to the UN but had problems getting confirmed by the Senate. His rich experience at the State Department easily made him a likely nominee for the State Department post under the next Republican presidency. Bolton had spoken to Trump’s transition team about the possibility of offering his services as Secretary of State. He wanted to join the Trump government because he personally believed that after eight years of Barack Obama there was much to repair. He thought of the threats and opportunities in a “tempestuous world” with rogue players like Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. His credentials compared favorably against the other possible nominees, which included Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. Bolton believed that loyalty was the key factor in the Trump selection process, pretty much like LBJ who once said: “I want real loyalty. I want him to kiss my ass in Macy’s window at high noon and tell me it smells like roses.”
On November 17 after winning the presidency, Trump called Bolton and said to him, “We’ll have you up here in the next couple of days and we are looking at you for a number of situations.” Important appointments were announced that week led by the new Attorney General. More appointees followed but no Secretary of State was yet in sight. On Thanksgiving Day, Jared Kushner, Trump’s 39-year-old son-in-law, called and told Bolton that he was “still very much in the mix for Secretary of State… Donald is a big fan of yours, as we all are.” Then on December 13, Rex Tillerson was nominated for the position. He was offered to be Tillerson’s deputy, but Bolton declined. The Trump transition ended without Bolton on board.
In another meeting, Trump proclaimed “how much he wanted to fire Tillerson” and added, “I’d love to have you there,” but he worried Bolton would not get confirmed. “What else would you be interested in?” Bolton had a ready answer: “National Security Advisor.” He shared former NSA Condoleezza Rice’s advice that “the best job in government is State and the hardest job is the National Security Adviser.” The post doesn’t require a Senate confirmation. Trump remarked, “So I don’t have to worry about the clowns up there,” referring to the US Senate where the Republicans held the slimmest majority, 50-49, with the absence of Senator John McCain who was already very sick.
On April 9, 2018, Trump named Bolton to the position, replacing General H. R. McMaster. A noted hawk, Bolton disagreed with Trump on many policy issues, particularly those concerning Iran and North Korea. He was a hardliner while Trump favored negotiations. Bolton was galled when Trump accepted Kim Jong Un’s invitation to hold a summit with North Korea without even getting any trade off for it. He was livid “for such foolish mistake.” He denounced “that for a US President to grant Kim a summit with no sign whatsoever of a strategic decision to renounce nuclear weapons—in fact giving it away for nothing—was a propaganda gift beyond measure.” Another unfortunate event was the Trump-Putin press conference following the two leaders’ critical meeting in Helsinki where the issue of election meddling was taken up. Putin, as expected, said “the Russian state has never interfered and is not going to interfere into internal American affairs, including the election process.” To the great dismay of his fellow Americans who were with him in that event, Trump virtually took Putin’s explanation over the findings of the American intelligence community that Russia did meddle in the 2016 elections. Bolton reported that “shock waves are rolling across Washington” because of Trump’s self-inflicted injury.
On September 10, 2019, Bolton submitted his resignation but Trump insisted that he asked Bolton to resign. In his own words, Trump is not qualified for the presidency. “There really isn’t any guiding principle…other than what’s good for Donald Trump’s reelection. There’s no coherent basis, no strategy, no philosophy. And decisions were made in a scattered-shot fashion…. This is a danger for the republic.” Now, Bolton hopes that Trump is a one-term president. “He is not fit for the job. He does not deserve to be reelected.” His assessment is that ”Trump did not understand much of what the Federal behemoth did before he won. And he did not acquire much, if any, greater awareness during the transition which did not bode well for his performance in office.”
On his first meeting with Trump after his appointment, Trump said, “Some of them think you’re the bad cop” to which Bolton replied, “When we play the good cop/bad cop routine, the President is always the good cop.” And Trump responded, “The trouble is, we’ve got two bad cops.” But as events had borne out later, there’s no room for another “bad cop” in the US government. Trump is enough and he couldn’t share the dishonor of having another one.