Whether you like John Bolton or not, it’s impossible to deny that he is someone who spent almost 18 months in very close proximity to President Donald Trump. And someone who was in meetings in which major decisions about national security and foreign policy were made.
Whether you like John Bolton or not, it’s impossible to deny that he is someone who spent almost 18 months in very close proximity to President Donald Trump. And someone who was in meetings in which major decisions about national security and foreign policy were made.
Which is why these lines from Bolton — from his interview with ABC’s Martha Raddatz that ran Sunday — regarding how Trump conducted the business of being president are so incredibly striking (bolding is mine):
“There really isn’t any guiding principle — that I was able to discern other than — what’s good for Donald Trump’s reelection.
“Now, look, you can’t take the politics out of politics. It plays a role in every aspect of decision making in the executive branch. But there’s no coherent basis, no strategy, no philosophy. And decisions are made in a very scatter-shot fashion, especially in the potentially mortal field of national security policy. This is a danger for the republic.”
What those lines confirm is something I’ve long believed: There is no secret plan that Trump is operating against. He isn’t playing three-dimensional chess. He’s playing zero-dimensional chess. He’s just, well, doing stuff. And seeing what sticks. (There are myriadexamples over his first three years in office that prove this out.)
Read More
Trump himself told us all this years ago in “The Art of the Deal” (aka his second favorite book ever behind only the Bible). He wrote:
“Most people are surprised by the way I work. I play it very loose.
