By: Lisa M. Hayes – Confluence Daily is your daily news source for women in the know.
John Bolton, in about a dozen real ways, is the monster under the bed, who has just crawled out.
When Trump announced via Twitter, he was appointing Bolton to the position of National Security Advisor the word “dangerous” started spreading like a wildfire after a three-year drought.
John Bolton is not an unknown. His positions on issues that affect national security are a matter of public record and have been for decades. People call him, “Hawkish”. Let’s call that what it is. John Bolton loves the sound of explosions halfway around the world. Bolton is a man who digs war.
Bolton has publicly stated he would support preemptive strikes against both Iran and North Korea.
Bolton is openly anti-all-things-Islamic.
Bolton still loves to relive the glory days of the Iraq war and frequently goes on record saying the only thing we did wrong there was to withdraw too early – even though it was the longest conflict in American history.
However, chances are very high, that as much as those kinds of things also make Trump drool with glee, that is not the reason he tapped Bolton for National Security Advisor. John Bolton is a right-wing conspiracy peddler. John Bolton likes to get behind a mic and talk about how Mueller’s investigation is a blackhat operation designed to discredit Trump and stage a coup.
Trump hired Bolton because it gives Bolton a stage from which he can spew his narrative of Trump the victim to discredit Mueller. It’s that simple, and from that perspective, Bolton isn’t nearly as scary as he might seem at first glance.
As Trump plows through everyone in his inner-circle, replacing them with people more and more “loyal” to him, we drift further and further in the direction of a literal dictatorship. However, Bolton is more of a toothless tiger.
Yes, Bolton will have a bigger stage from which he will spew his bullshit. However, in practical terms, National Security Advisor isn’t as glamorous or as powerful a position as it might sound. There is a difference between influence and power. Bolton might have influence. As a high-level advisor, he will have the presidents ear. However, he will have no actual power.
The national security adviser is supposed to be the coordinator, conciliator, and honest broker among Cabinet officials, managing a process by which all get a fair say and the president makes well-informed decisions. In a lot of ways, it’s a middle management position that has more to do with coordination of conversations than it does an implementation of anything.
When John Bolton isn’t on stage, he’s going to be bored and craving more power than he has. Additionally, John Bolton is the kind of guy who likes all eyes on himself – as is Donald J. Trump. If Bolton stays on message and never waivers, Trump will love him. However, John Bolton isn’t a man who stays on script for long.
In a sea of too many dark days in American politics, the day John Bolton got a desk in the White House is one of them. However, it’s dark more because of what he symbolizes than for what he will be capable of doing. Bolton is a shadow from the past, passed his prime, who’s been given a title that makes him seem scarier than he will be.
In an administration that is about 90% bluster, Bolton will fit right in. Do not be distracted by bluster.
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