TrueWordMinistry
No Result
View All Result
Sunday, January 24, 2021
  • HOME
  • BLACK NEWS
  • BLACK STARS
  • AFRICA
  • POLITICS
  • PODCAST
DONATE
Order Book
  • HOME
  • BLACK NEWS
  • BLACK STARS
  • AFRICA
  • POLITICS
  • PODCAST
No Result
View All Result
TrueWordMinistry
No Result
View All Result
Home Politics

Donald Trump fires John Bolton, his third national security adviser

Stephen Small by Stephen Small
October 15, 2019
Reading Time: 5min read
0
Donald Trump fires John Bolton, his third national security adviser

MANY were justifiably puzzled when Donald Trump named John Bolton national security adviser. Mr Trump entered office as an outsider who sneered at Washington; Mr Bolton has spent his career ping-ponging between Republican administrations and conservative think-tanks. Mr Trump is sceptical of overseas entanglements; Mr Bolton believes in force projection. They shared a disdain for Barack Obama’s Iran deal, though for different reasons—Mr Trump wants to erase his predecessor’s legacy; Mr Bolton never trusted Iran. Mr Bolton supported NATO and mistrusted Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin; Mr Trump held opposite views on both.

RELATED POSTS

Polls: 76% of Black Americans are ‘Almost Certain’ They’ll Vote in 2020 Election

Trump Derangement Syndrome

A ‘War on the Poor’: Amid Avalanche of Criticism, Trump Administration Restricts Food Stamps for Hundreds of Thousands

A rocky marriage, which lasted 17 months, has now ended. On September 10th, Mr Trump sacked Mr Bolton in his usual unceremonious fashion—by tweet. “I informed John Bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the White House,” said the president, adding, “I disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions, as did others in the administration.” Mr Bolton and the White House spent the ensuing hours disputing the terms of his resignation. Mr Bolton says he offered it freely; Mr Trump’s press secretary says Mr Trump demanded it. Whatever the truth, his departure was sudden—he was scheduled to brief the White House that afternoon—and indicative more of Mr Trump’s erratic managerial style than a substantive policy shift from his administration.

Get our daily newsletter

Upgrade your inbox and get our Daily Dispatch and Editor’s Picks.

Mr Bolton was appointed to the job in April 2018, succeeding H.R. McMaster, a cerebral general whom Mr Trump derided as a boxy-suited “beer salesman”. Mr Bolton, by contrast, was a hardened ideologue and political bruiser, having served the federal bureaucracy during the previous three Republican administrations. His unapologetic scorn for multilateralism, the United Nations and international accords, and his obsession with rogue states, typified a muscular and pugnacious strand of conservative foreign-policy thinking.

Predictably, that appears to be precisely what put him on a collision course with Mr Trump, who had joked that Mr Bolton was “going to get us into a war”. On North Korea, Mr Bolton was sceptical of the president’s charm offensive towards the country’s dictator, Kim Jong Un. In May Mr Bolton complained that a pair of short-range missile launches by North Korea violated UN Security Council resolutions. Shortly afterwards, Mr Trump insisted that the “small weapons” had “disturbed some of my people…but not me”, batting away his adviser’s concerns. One month later the president stepped into North Korean territory for his third meeting with Mr Kim, while Mr Bolton was pointedly dispatched to Mongolia.

Mr Bolton had more luck steering American policy on Iran, tightening sanctions and intensifying a campaign of “maximum pressure”. In June it was Mr Bolton, rather than the president, who announced the dispatch of an aircraft-carrier strike group and bombers to the Middle East, in response to concerns over Iran-backed attacks on American forces in the region. But soon after Iran shot down an American drone, Mr Trump called off airstrikes that Mr Bolton had supported.

In the end, it was Afghanistan that brought matters to a head. Mr Trump, exasperated with the war, was close to signing an agreement with the Taliban that would have begun the process of American withdrawal. He devised a plan to invite the Taliban and Afghanistan’s president to Camp David, the presidential retreat, the weekend before September 11th. Though Mr Trump reversed course after a Taliban suicide-bombing killed 12 people, including an American soldier, he lost patience with Mr Bolton’s dogged opposition.

As well as his bellicose views, Mr Bolton was also criticised for his overbearing style. He was known for keeping dissenting views from the president and reducing the number of high-level policy meetings. He has few allies, and wears out his welcome. A member of Mr Obama’s national-security team called him “national-security furniture with a moustache, a really loud couch no one wanted.” George W. Bush, whom Mr Bolton served as ambassador to the United Nations, said near the end of his administration that he did not “consider Bolton credible”.

Mr Bolton departs as Mr Trump’s hunger for a legacy-defining international deal grows more apparent. Notwithstanding the scotched Taliban talks, Mr Trump is still playing footsie with Mr Kim and has recently expressed a willingness to meet Iran’s foreign minister. If the administration has any sceptical voices left, they have been awfully quiet, and Mr Bolton’s head on a spike will keep them quieter still. That leaves America in a dangerous place—with a mercurial president who has long given a higher priority to personal interests than national ones, eager to strike a historic accord to cement his legacy, and apparently prizing pliancy above honesty in his staff.

For now, Charles Kupperman, long an adviser to Mr Bolton, is acting national security adviser. Mr Trump said he would make a permanent appointment to the post next week. That would make his fourth—a single-term record. The only one for whom he seemed to harbour genuinely warm feelings was Mike Flynn, who will be sentenced in December for lying to federal investigators. Mr Trump publicly derided both Mr McMaster and Mr Bolton. Whomever he chooses next needs either the hide of a rhinoceros or, more likely, an ability to flatter and keep below the parapet.

But America has probably not heard the last of Mr Bolton, who is unlikely to replicate the dignified silences of Mr McMaster or James Mattis, an ousted defence secretary. Two years after leaving the second Bush administration, he cast a withering judgment on its decision to engage in limited diplomacy with North Korea. “Nothing can erase the ineffable sadness of an American presidency, like this one, in total intellectual collapse”. Little did he then know how much further things could go.

Tags: Politics
ShareTweetPin
Stephen Small

Stephen Small

Rev. Small realized God was present in his life as a child, and grew into an adult with a passion for knowing and understanding God, people and the difficulties of life. Rev. Small soon can to know Jesus Christ, and the presence of the Holy Spirit has he experienced the storms, trails, and tribulations of life as a Black man in America. Rev. Stephen C. Small survived numerous demonic assaults on his life, which gave meaning to God’s grace and mercy. Rev. Small reasoned that God’s presence in the world gives hope, meaning and purpose; it is the essence of learning, love and relationships. Rev. Small humbled himself and opened his heart and mind to listening, learning and obeying God. On sabbatical from a business career, Rev. Small earned a Biblical Studies degree, and Master of Divinity. Rev. Small’s faith and dedication to serving God is the reason he created Trueword Ministry; TWM’s website as an evangelism tool, designed to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to Africans, African Descendants and the entire human race.

Related Posts

Black Voters
Politics

Polls: 76% of Black Americans are ‘Almost Certain’ They’ll Vote in 2020 Election

by Stephen Small
January 6, 2020
0

A new survey of black Americans found that nearly half are more motivated to vote in 2020 than they were...

van jones
Politics

Trump Derangement Syndrome

by Stephen Small
January 1, 2020
0

This week, NewsBusters is recounting the most obnoxious liberal bias of the decade. On Monday, we presented some of the...

Next Post
Another African country starts issuing visas on arrival for Africans

Another African country starts issuing visas on arrival for Africans

From slave in Michigan to first black female landowner in the 1820s, the story of Elizabeth Forth

From slave in Michigan to first black female landowner in the 1820s, the story of Elizabeth Forth

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Recommended Articles

The Fear Of Jesus

The Fear Of Jesus

January 22, 2021
Befitting sendoff? Mugabe’s funeral takes place in almost empty 60,000 seater stadium

Befitting sendoff? Mugabe’s funeral takes place in almost empty 60,000 seater stadium

November 24, 2019
Willie Simmons

This Man From Alabama is in Prison For Life For Stealing $9 in 1982

January 15, 2020

Daily Prayer

Tweets by @https://twitter.com/stephencsmall
TrueWordMinistry

Trueword Ministry’s website offers 24/7 access to bible lessons, podcasts, sermons and news that inspires. The central purpose of the website is to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to Africans, Afro-descendants and friends.

LEARN MORE »

About Us

  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Service
  • Mission Statement
  • Submit A Story
  • Our Ministries

Categories

  • Africa
  • African Diaspora
  • Black News
  • Black Stars
  • Christian Awareness
  • Politics

Sign up for our news letter

Get Bible Lessons, News and Inspiring Articles in your inbox.

© 2021 All rights reserved by TrueWordMinistry.

No Result
View All Result
  • Politics
  • Podcast
  • PREACHING
  • Weekly Word
  • Black News
  • Black Stars
  • Politics
  • Donation

© 2021 All rights reserved by TrueWordMinistry.