Trump’s Early Picks Worry John Bolton

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has flooded the zone with nominations for key national security positions that raise questions even among longtime Republican foreign-policy hands about the U.S. approach in a second Trump administration.

Trump campaigned on promises to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, to start a global trade war, to use the U.S. military in controversial and even illegal ways to enforce his immigration plans at home, and to use the Justice Department to settle personal scores. His early picks for top posts bear out plans to make those promises reality, and some of them have sparked concern even in a Washington that will be entirely in Republican hands.

“The basic problem is that [Trump] can’t tell the difference between the national interest and his personal interest,” said John Bolton, who served as national security advisor for a time during the first Trump administration and has warned about the risks of a repeat since. “As Louis XIV used to say, ‘l’état, c’est moi.’”

Having served with Trump before, in addition to decades of experience in previous Republican administrations, Bolton has seen how the next president’s limited grasp of international relations weakens his ability to be an effective advocate for U.S. interests. “He has a very limited appreciation of what is at stake in international affairs. He can’t be an effective bargainer, because he often has no idea what he is giving up,” Bolton said, recalling Trump’s unilateral offer to curtail U.S.-South Korean military exercises to curry favor with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

“Hard men like Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin know what their national interests are, whereas Trump is just being taken for a ride,” Bolton said.

Some of Trump’s early picks for key roles in the next administration have not calmed many fears among more establishment-minded Republicans, not to mention Democrats. They stand in stark contrast to his reliance on proven, relatively uncontroversial professionals during his first term, such as former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Bolton himself. Trump’s latest selections include Rep. Mike Waltz for national security advisor, Sen. Marco Rubio for secretary of state, former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard for the director of national intelligence, Rep. Matt Gaetz for attorney general, and Rep. Elise Stefanik for United Nations ambassador.

“I am very worried about some of the names announced so far,” Bolton said, adding that “the appointments have been uneven right along the spectrum.”

Some names, such as Waltz and Rubio, have generated little concern or been well-received. Others, especially Gabbard and Gaetz, are already worrying the Republican-controlled Senate, as well as old veterans such as Bolton.

“Their connection is fealty to Trump, not loyalty. Loyalty is a good thing, but fealty, that’s a medieval idea of being subservient. He just wants yes-men and yes-women,” Bolton said. He was particularly concerned by the nomination of Gaetz to head the Justice Department, given its broad role in U.S. national security, including the FBI. Gaetz’s sudden resignation on the day of his nomination would end the House ethics investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct and illegal drug use.

The nominations “reminded me of the apocryphal story of Emperor Caligula making his horse a consul. The whole point is how demeaned and degraded the Roman Senate was,” Bolton said. “That he could nominate two people so manifestly unfit for the job—this will be a real test for the Senate, because the damage they could do if confirmed could be incalculable.”

Asked which worries about the next administration are keeping him up at night, Bolton highlighted three: an early trade war turning into a global economic crisis, a quick end to the war in Ukraine that would be bad for Kyiv and for NATO, and a hard line toward China that could precipitate a reaction from Beijing akin to the one that faced the George W. Bush administration.

“The point is that all of these crises are going to come very early on,” Bolton said.

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