Thank God Donald Trump Fired John Bolton
Trump may have been joking about "World War 6," but John Bolton's approach to the world stage was no laughing matter. | Source: Sergei Gapon/AFP
- Donald Trump tweeted he had to fire John Bolton to keep us out of World War 6.
- It’s funny because everyone knows it’s true.
- If John Bolton had his way, the U.S. would be fighting three full-blown ground wars in Iran, Syria, and Venezuela right now.
America woke up Wednesday to the shock of “World War 6” trending on Twitter.
We had to worry about a world war again for the second time this month. And wonder how on Earth we already missed the last three!
But there’s no cause for alarm.
We’re not about to start World War 6, or even merely World War 3.
If Donald Trump had listened to John Bolton, though, instead of firing him as National Security Advisor last year, we would be at war for sure. Maybe not a world war – that was obviously hyperbole.
But we would be in the major regional war that people feared when they were Googling and tweeting about World War 3 after the Soleimani strike earlier this month. In addition to Iran, Bolton has called for war to change regimes in Syria, Libya, and Iraq. He got his wish in Iraq and Libya, where the U.S. interventions unleashed years of death and chaos.
Last January, during the height of U.S. tensions with Venezuela, photographers snapped Bolton’s wish list for “5,000 troops to Columbia” scrawled on a legal pad tucked under his arm. It seems like Bolton has never heard of a corrupt third-world or developing country he didn’t want the U.S. to “improve” with bombs or an invasion.
John Bolton Plans Wars in His Sleep
Days after Trump appointed Bolton to be his National Security Advisor in March 2018, The Atlantic said “his militancy: his incessant, almost casual, advocacy of war,” is what stands out most about Bolton :
Bolton—in his pre-Iran deal columns—again and again arrived at the same conclusion: There is no alternative to war.
Indeed, he argued in 2016 that regime change is the “only long term solution” in Iran. Last May, he directed the Pentagon to draw up plans for a 120,000 troop invasion of Iran and pitched the war to Trump.
John Bolton takes the controversial Bush Doctrine of preemption even further. The Bush Administration asserted a right to self-defense if a foreign power was about to attack. The Bolton Doctrine nixes that condition. He advocates full-tilt, regime-toppling wars against countries that could, someday, be capable of attacking.
No one tell John Bolton that the sun at the center of our solar system has nuclear capabilities. He’ll advocate drafting half the country into the Space Force.
The Democrats, Bolton, and Impeachment
This isn’t the first time Trump has ridiculed John Bolton’s crazy obsession for war.
White House officials reported last summer he would constantly goad and mock Bolton in front of other officials . He’d make quips like:
Let me guess, you want to nuke them all.
House Democrats will lay down with anyone who says they’ve got dirt on Donald Trump. The Democrats want John Bolton to testify in Trump’s impeachment trial after the New York Times leaked explosive allegations in Bolton’s new book. Bolton says Trump directly tied Ukrainian foreign aid to the Biden investigation in conversations with him.
Trump denies it.
When NBC News reported the “World War Six” tweet this morning, it quite incorrectly headlined the report, “Trump rages at Bolton.” One rages at something they’re impotent against; one laughs at whatever is impotent against them.
Donald Trump is the one in the position of power here, not Bolton. The president got tired of having to yank Bolton’s leash like the weary new owner of an aggressive rescue pitbull. And we’re lucky he did!
Trump told him “You’re Fired!” last September. And his hopes for Iraq War 2.0 went down in flames.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of CCN.com.
