Life support system for an unkempt pornstache and hardcore warmonger John "Loose Bolt" Bolton has a well-deserved reputation for pushing war as a solution to any crisis or issue. His contempt for international treaties and alliances is a matter of record, largely because they constrain the ability of the U.S. to launch preemptive wars on its own.
Demagogue and con artist Donald "Not Exonerated" Trump showed his deep lack of judgement when he picked Bolton to be his National Security Advisor, after talking about "stupid wars" on his campaign trail. Bolton was one of the fiercest advocates for invading Iraq on the false premise that they had a robust program for weapons of mass destruction. But now it appears that Bolton's warmongering has caught the attention of Trump with regard to the crisis in Venezuela, as the Washington Post reports:
"President Trump is questioning his administration’s aggressive strategy in Venezuela following the failure of a U.S.-backed effort to oust President Nicolás Maduro, complaining he was misled about how easy it would be to replace the socialist strongman with a young opposition figure, according to administration officials and White House advisers.
The president’s dissatisfaction has crystallized around national security adviser John Bolton and what Trump has groused is an interventionist stance at odds with his view that the United States should stay out of foreign quagmires.
Trump has said in recent days that Bolton wants to get him 'into a war' — a comment that he has made in jest in the past but that now betrays his more serious concerns, one senior administration official said."Again, it's a reminder that Trump's vetting process for his staff goes, "fire, ready, aim." And if Trump is concerned about his Yosemite Sam going off half-cocked on Venezuela, maybe someone should interrupt his "executive time" to let him know what Bolton's doing with Iran.
Bolton's pursuit of his military interventionist agenda may be what his predecessor H.R. McMaster was referring to when he said some of Trump's advisors are "there to try to manipulate the situation based on their own agenda, not the president’s agenda," whatever agenda that is, aside from aligning with the Russian Federation.
(photo: Cliff Owen/AP)
