Citing incompatibility of views, Trump fired John Bolton, his national security adviser. GOOD RIDDANCE!
Although he’s unquestionably a smart guy — he graduated summa cum laude from Yale, and from Yale Law School (where he was a classmate of Clarence Thomas) — as a human being, Bolton is more rancid than cheese left out of the refrigerator in hot weather for a week. He’s like the flowers that died from lack of watering, or an avocado pit that sprouted roots in a water glass but was never planted in a garden.
As Wikipedia describes him, “Bolton was a supporter of the Vietnam War, but purposely avoided military service in Vietnam.” Lots of people avoided the Vietnam draft, which is understandable — who wants to get killed in a war? — but Bolton is the very definition of a “chickenhawk,” i.e., someone who sends other people’s children to fight wars he won’t fight in himself. But Bolton isn’t just any chickenhawk; he’s the poster boy of yellow rightwing warmongers. Hardly anyone in American public life is more aggressively militaristic than he. Bolton has no foreign policy ideas other than sending in the troops, and as a member of the Trump administration, he unremittingly agitated for a war against Iran. Which has a lot to do with why Trump finally got rid of him.
There probably never was a high risk that he would get Trump’s ear on that issue. As Rich Lowry, editor of the National Review put it shortly after Trump’s inauguration, “The good news about Trump is that he’s a coward,” or words to that effect. (Trump himself, you will recall, was a Vietnam-era draft dodger — even more blatantly than Bolton.) Events have borne Lowry out; in every foreign encounter that has threatened to turn violent, Trump has turned tail, which is actually a good thing. But Lowry, worried about Trump’s judgment, also said, “The bad news is that he’s a fool,” so there may have been some risk that Bolton might influence his decisions, so it’s better if Bolton doesn’t have his ear at all.
I kinda feel that humanity in general would be better off if Bolton just slunk away and died somewhere. Of course, I shouldn’t wish death on anyone (although in his case, it’s tempting). He’ll probably land at some think tank; God forbid he should get an academic slot, where he potentially could pollute young minds. Wherever he goes from here, count on him to do what he’s always done, which is agitate for a military response to every foreign relations challenge.
At least he won’t be doing it in the White House anymore, although he never should’ve been there in the first place, which is another strike against Trump’s judgment and another reason for voting him out of office.
Photo: John Bolton, chickenhawk warmonger