Working with Trump

Bolton believes that once in the White House, “the impact and the severity of the consequences of his decisions will provide some form of discipline for Trump.” That’s why he agreed to join the government.

“I thought I knew what I was getting into… I was wrong,” he said.

While working for Trump, the president acted in ways that “I don’t think a normal person would do.” This includes childish distraction and preoccupation with things that are unusual, inappropriate or irrelevant, he explained.

In 2016, for example, Bolton was rumored to be Trump’s nominee for secretary of state. However, the election winner reportedly decided against this because he didn’t like Mr Bolton’s beard.

An insider recently confirmed this to the former ambassador, saying that during a car ride, “Trump spoke for 15 minutes about beards.”

“I can laugh it off now and make no difference,” Bolton said. “But this is the man who was the leader of the free world for four years — and will probably be the leader again.”

He also recalled a bizarre moment during Venezuela’s political crisis in 2019.

The country’s President Nicolás Maduro has threatened opposition leader Juan Guaidó after a disputed election.In solidarity with Mr Guaidó, the White House hosted meeting with wifeFabiana Rosales.

Bolton said she told how her children “were terrorized by Maduro’s thugs and how the chief of staff’s wife saw her husband dragged from their home and thrown into jail.” It was a very serious discussion.

After the meeting, Bolton returned to the Oval Office and told Trump that it was “really very effective and very helpful in supporting Guaidó.” But before I could say that, he said to me, “Did you notice she wasn’t wearing a wedding ring?” I thought to myself, what? ! This is what Trump does. “

He also remembered Trump’s 2018 trip to Europe, when he was to attend a NATO summit, meet with then-British Prime Minister Theresa May and end with talks with Putin in Helsinki.

Before boarding the plane, he told the media: “Frankly, Putin is probably the easiest of them all to get along with. Who would have thought?”

Bolton said bluntly: “The answer is no one except Donald Trump.”

Allies of the former president are dismissive of their old colleague. When Mr Bolton published his book in 2020, former White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said he “drunk on power” and had a “separate agenda.”

“For someone who claims to have such disdain for President Trump,” Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump, said in January.Booking Offer Bolton‘Definitely found a way out of the relationship. ”

When the two men worked together, there was a clear divide between Bolton’s hawkish attitudes. During a meeting with the Irish prime minister in 2019, Trump reportedly jokingly asked his national security adviser: “Is Ireland one of the countries you want to invade?”

In another discussion about foreign countries, he apparently said: “Well, John, let me guess, do you want to nuke them all?” He is said to have said privately: “John never saw a war he didn’t like“.