What Will Trump’s Foreign Policy Look Like without Bolton?
Security Advisor John Bolton is the latest White House figure to fall prey to the Trump staff’s high turnover rate. Bolton was seen by many as a hawkish influence on a president who, for better or for worse, has tremendous faith in his own ability to make diplomatic inroads with hostile foreign leaders. Now that Bolton’s out, what will Trump’s foreign policy look like?
Once in a while, even President Donald Trump makes a wise decision, and firing Bolton as his national security adviser—which he did Tuesday, tweeting, “I disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions, as did others in the Administration”—ranks as one of his best.
Had Trump selected a national security adviser aligned with his foreign policy views, it is entirely possible that by now he or she might have accomplished a number of valuable foreign policy achievements to advance our national security.
One of the questions many of us had was whether Bolton and other hawks like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo might succeed in manipulating Trump into a new war on Iran that he was plainly disinclined to launch.
That never happened, but we’re still in a very bad place with regard to Iran.