America’s Most Famous Draft Dodger has just hired America’s Most Famous Warmonger to bring back jobs for The Base.
72
Well, you thought Trump was a good idea and HIllary was awful. You weren't objective back then (uh just a little over a year ago!!). Why do you even care? You helped to create this mess. Hillary just told the truth. Really.
100
Trump should take up painting before leaving office.
20
John Bolton is a early 20th century manifest destiny conservative who follows Kissinger style real politic and has a definable mindset based on a the idea of the United States as a credible world leader. The idea such a man would tolerate the shallow self serving vanity project that is Donald Trump is laughable. After about ten days Mr. Bolton will either take a walk or corner the president and read him the riot act, and then get fired by Chief of Staff Kelly. Bolton is a true believer and has a serious grasp of how to get things done. His lack of diplomatic style is more calculation than actual lack of decorum. He plays the firebrand to take control over moderates and shove them where he wants to go. Donald Trump loves drama and delights in sensationalism, Mr. Bolton will prove to be far to methodical for the president.
14
I agree with your comparison of W with Trump, but I can't forget how you relentlessly went after W's opponent Al Gore. I was never sure why you did that, but I guess you have no responsibility to be consistent.
98
I wonder. Trump's style is a well developed bargaining technique where you demand way more than you expect to get. Then you dicker with your opponent and, between you, you arrive at a compromise.
I hope that Pompeo and Bolton will provide his initial, extreme "proffer". At least I hope so!
1
Why do we see many of the most vocal supporters of war (Bolton, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and a long list of Republican congressmen, supporters ...) have never served in the armed forces? They would rather risk someone else's life.
Could we make it a rule that unless you have served in the military - and in combat - that you are not allowed to send anyone else to face what you refused to?
If he takes a position to serve this country then his desire is not important in the least. He must serve to best protect this country and this country is not served by starting pre-emptive wars.
40
It is easier to serve the country mouthing off, than putting your life on the line in a rice paddy, in the desert, wherever...I remember something about patriotism being that last refuge of scoundrels...
57
Although I do not dispute your overall point, it should be noted that Donald Rumsfeld served as a naval officer after college. I believe he attended Princeton on an ROTC scholarship.
2
I think foreign policy views played a very small part in hiring Bolton. Bolton does one thing very well and it's his admitted gameplan - "kiss up, kick down." Trump obviously grew enamored by the man who kissed up to him via Fox.
36
Alas, Trump illustrates perfectly the adage;
“All you need in life is ignorance and confidence and success is sure!”
(Mark Twain)
The way he “peopled” his administration confirms it everyday!
48
Trump is fulfilling his greatest dreams, to have sycophants whisper tragic nothings into his ear inflating his already deluded ego. That these words will be mixed with the constant drum beat of hatred and war does not matter. It only helps that Trump sees war as a fine way to energize his voting base.
Trump, Pompeo and now Bolton are all on the same page, but perhaps with different motivations. Trump only seeks profit for himself no matter the cost in lives and treasure while Bolton sees war as the answer to everything and lashes out at anyone who disagrees with him. Pompeo hides behind an air of respectability that covers up a disdain for negotiations and compromise. So the three stooges will now stick their fingers into the eyes of the American people with a terrifying yuck yuck yuck straight out of fifties grade C movies.
40
If Trump and Bolton want to start a war they need to pick up an M16 and make their way to the front lines. And by the way, they need to send their own sons and daughters to the front line as well. If they really mean it they should be willing to lead it.
76
Dear Madam: Let us consider, however briefly, the concept of pliability, whether in or out of office. W's father would probably liked to have considered that those people whom he characterized were responsible for hijacking his son's presidency. The power of the office prohibits such a thing, except in the case of a pliable mind, susceptible to "the prediction and control of human behavior"..."beyond freedom and dignity". The notion of executive power is predicated upon success...something like a commodity which is rare in modern times; so when it is observed to be operating, one must confront the reality that its exercise is likely at the behest of other powers, intent upon justifying their existence and promulgating their agendas by creating an image. Bolton was glad not to have to go to Vietnam, but likely fully supported the use of napalm to maim and kill Vietnamese. (or Goldwater's defoliation gambit, or worse.) W. broadcasted revenge motivation and and reaped the most censorious image for the ills inflicted upon Iraq. Were these actions reflective of their own real intentions or those of militaristic "deep staters", the former having been subjected to the spirit of '84? Politics has become a sordid con game where "collateral damage" is a much desired end. It may take brute force to change things, but not the kind which these people envision. Trump is something less than Mr. Pliable; so someone needs to "box his ears and give him the lie".
5
The argument that anyone other than Hillary Clinton is responsible for her loss is fatuous at best. It is just too easy an answer to blame external forces for her campaigns failure to confront Trump aggressively. This is especially true in light of the support Sanders had generated by running a campaign challenging the status quo. Yes those forces I mentioned may have swung the race in Trumps favor, but it should never have been that close to begin with. I say this as someone who voted for her and respects her accomplishments. She ran a bland play it safe campaign at a time when energy and a willingness to be confrontational was needed. There is a multitude of reasons she lost to Obama and that didn’t change just because she was running against Trump. Look to who didn’t vote and why instead.
14
From this Vietnam vet, I hope all you Trump supporters in Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania learn the hard lessons from Cadet Bone Spurs, and the likes of Bolton, W. bush and Cheney, who used every opportunity to dodge military service in wartime, but instead are eager to send your kids off to die in some fraudulent conflict. Cadet Bone Spurs’ military budget has plenty of money in it for lots of body bags for your kids on those return trips to Dover Air Force Base, where Mike Pence will be waiting to “salute” them as they are escorted off those troop carriers. Be careful what you wish for, folks, Cadet Bone Spurs and Bolton are about to come for your sons.
117
And who would be surprised if Trump Org. starts manufacturing a line of "military housing" for one more avenue of illegal profiteering while in office?
6
Do tell us when Obama served - or Clinton.
Maybe those hawkish Trumpists should take a tour of the little known military facilities where hundreds of unconscious, brain-damaged G.I.s from all those needless and endless wars, are on life-support until death frees them. Hear the whirring of the pumps and the chatter of the respirators, watch an occasional involuntary spasm as they sway on their way to eternity in their mesh hammocks. Efficient American Factories of the living dead ...
33
Elections are about choices. Not perfection. Choices. Remember that, Maureen, next time you spend months and months trashing a capable, prepared candidate like HRC.
111
Of course Trump wants to start a war. It is the only hope he has of being re-elected. It will also be a delicious give-away to his rich friends in the arms and defense industries.
61
My most fervent hope is that the worst that comes out of the Trump Administration is a huge boost to his portfolio
7
Does any sane person think there is any good reason to start a war with Iran? Yes, I know some not-very-sane people in Washington think it's a great idea.
26
In view of the nearly universal justified concern about this appointment, there is no point to beating that horse any further. Since it does not even need Senate approval, there seems to be nothing anyone can do about it unless Trump is somehow convinced to change his mind.
But for the umpteeth time, one has to wonder where Maureen Dowd was when Trump was spewing out his lies during the campaign. Although she did finally criticize him a few times, she never could bring herself to wholeheartedly support Hillary. Even her anti-Trump columns had to get here digs in at Hillary. Well maybe, just maybe, she now gets it, but it is many days late and a lot more than a dollar short.
62
'' Bolton rejected the neocon label, preferring to see himself as a Goldwater conservative, '' - there is your answer right there.
That era of the 1960's no longer applies as well as the thinking attached.
There cannot be nuclear standoffs anymore where the entire threat of the world ( at the very least millions upon millions ) is held in the balance by a child of a President and extreme and radical right ''hawks'' yelling drumbeats towards nuclear Armageddon.
Furthermore, being the antithesis to negotiation and diplomacy is dangerous.
18
If Bolton enlisted in the National Guard in 1970 to avoid Vietnam, he must have had some help getting in: National Guard, as well as Army and Air Force Reserve units, had huge waiting lists of those (majority white) men who had the same idea: after six months active duty training, better five-and-a-half years of meetings and summer camps than risking Vietnam. Who did Bolton know to help him get into the Guard?
35
I don't really think that Trump says anything he really means other than for the 2 minutes following his statements. He only wants to dominate and be taken seriously so he says what he believes others want to hear.
So Bolton is a choice because he generates talk and attention. Trump, as always, is the center of attention. He is also a lot like Bush in that his ego can be adjusted to overdrive by the charlatan sycophants around him.
Useful tools can easily be manipulated. As long as Trump is capturing news cycles it doesn't matter what he says. He doesn't mean it when the next issue or group is taking attention.
Bolton is going to push Trump into a direction that suits Bolton. I'm not sure what it is with these warmongers who never served but maybe it's tied to their manhood. Could there be a speck of guilt about weaseling out of doing their duty? I don't know the answer or the psychology but they should never be given decisions that cost other men and women and their families the loss of them.
The decision for war should be a well considered why by those who know it best. Sadly, Trump is ridding himself of the adults who can temper any decision with rational thinking.
15
Why would Bolton take the job? Bolton wants to be Vice President either under Pence 46 or the second term of Trump 45.
9
When you talked about the boy king being "underinformed", did you mean uninformed? Isn't the latter a better word unless you mean being "informed" by Fox and Friends is considered "informed".
13
Bolton will be toast as POTUS will definitely be freaked out by the ample moustache which could be harboring untold germs. Not good.
10
Bolton should be bolted within the Kremlin Senate Office of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Bolton's Comrade Stalin style moustache should be no problem with Vladimir whose hometown hero Czar Peter the Great had a more refined stylish memorable moustache. Bolton can get orders from Moscow without the chaos and confusion of Trump and his White House staff.
2
In the picture accompanying this article, Bolton reminds me of " Brig Gen.Jack D. RIpper"...the insane commander in "Dr. Stangelove"... played by Sterling Hayden.
God help us.
5
Any new war with Iran or North Korea will require the reinstitution of the Military Draft. Iran in particular because of the much larger population and it's control over many other Middle Eastern nations. North Korea likewise has (with China) a formidable and large traditional military force. But even if the war(s) envisioned are discounted, a new deployment of draftee American troops would fit the mad man's dream of an ultra superiority over any other nations'. Of course he could always find another Grenada like Reagan did.
10
Huge victory Grenada, eh?
6
My proposal for the chicken hawk draft is:
1) ALL sets
2) NO exclusions for ANY reason
3) Start with eldest, never served first. followed by served but didn't see combat.
That will at least start with the Limbaugh, Hannity, Bolton, Ingram, Pirro crowd.
Looking forward to all the Trump kids willing to give their lives for the warmongers.
23
Bolton as National Security Advisor ? A Goldwater conservative? Nationalist without peer? Iraq War aficionado? This appointment was so predictable. I wonder why it took so long to get to the bottom of the barrel.
31
Trump's claims that he invented Cambridge Analytica's best tested words for success were at best forced and evidence of his consciousness of guilt. CA was testing them for him a year before he announced.
Hiring Bolton suggests Cambridge Analytica were the last people he brokered with before he fired McMaster. Can't have an honest man that close to their disaster! Better to have the man who was in on this from their beginning!
9
A preemptive attack against any country is in fact a declaration of war, which is a power reserved for Congress. The president does not have the constitutional power to launch such a strike. It is time for Congress to live up to their oath of office.
40
Could it be that what underlies this appointment is the global arms trade and 45's interest in those "deals" with Saudi Arabia?
13
If you read the news reports closely, carefully, Trump and Kushner are probably already collecting protection money from power usurpers weak, unpopular princes and president all over the world in exchange for US support. I guess it's fine and dandy with the corrupt Republican Congressional cabal as long they can partake in the loot. That's what the uber-patriots of the good old family value clique lives for - and hopefully would die for.
8
It seems like young people in America will have a choice of dying from guns massacre at home or in wars that will be started on a whim, in a fuming tantrum or as a distraction from sex scandals. Not for us outsiders to judge or provide solutions, but this does seem to need urgent consideration.
25
Wrong, Colette...we need all the international outrage and judgment the world can muster against America's Enfant Terrible.
Trump is out of control and a risk to humanity.
Shout it from the world's rooftops !
44
Scary stuff. What remains to be seen is how these two men will get along. Bolton sounds like he will take too much limelight from Trump which we know never bodes well. Please America don't get yourselves into another war. We all suffer when you do.
17
“War hath no fury like a non-combatant.”
Charles Edward Montague, 1867-1928
British journalist and WWI veteran
42
There are no brakes on this presidency, with mad men at the wheel.
20
I wish I could say that we deserve better than Trump or Bolton or Pompeo or Carson, etc., ad nauseam, but not so. For too long we Americans have loved our guns and our vengeful god and our self-interest and resulting greed. Remember, folks, after all that has transpired in just the last 14 months 40% of the nation's adults still support the boy-king and his cavalcade of miscreants, grifters, and belligerent ne-er-do-wells.
30
Could this administration get any darker? Last week I'd have said I doubt it - this week my doubts have been erased. It seems to me the next question to be asked is: 'Will Donald J. Trump send America to war in order to preserve himself' - the 'boy-king's cynical rationale being - 'how likely is any Congress to impeach or shackle or reprimand The Commander in Chief when the nation is at war?' And as implausible as that may sound, it's a match for the 'King George madness' in bringing an aging-rutting walrus like John Bolton on-board.
10
Right on...And the ironic twist is that the young men who get drafted for these nonsensical, endless, wars, are usually poor jobless whites, in short Trump's ardent supporters, his so called, “forgotten ones.” They can't afford expensive Park Avenue doctors to certify their bonespurs. Trump's version of “homemade ethnic cleansing.” America's waiting for the black plastic bags with toe-tags...
7
Well said Ms. Dowd. Bush is a war criminal for his insipid, foolish Irag escapade that killed and maimed thousands of our troops and millions of Iragis's to no end other than to give rise to Al Qaeda and Isis. Bush and Cheney et al should be arrested and charged with treason for there fabrication of the reality on the ground leading to an unnecessary and tragic invasion.
13
For Ron F.
Take note:
www.costofwar.com
www.costsofwar.org.
3
Bolton is Dick Cheney redux.
12
Yet another example of how the most warlike among us are chicken hawks. Dick Cheney with a mustache.
20
Know the difference. 1SG, SGM, XO, CDR: these are position titles of leaders that accomplish missions. John Bolton is no leader. He’s a PUSHER of ill-conceived ideas, vacuous strategies, and plans to end-up nowhere.
Why? Because John Bolton has been and is a mouthpiece of politicized PR organizations and the conservative media behemoth. Their cowboy's job is to continue to sing to the herd and keep them quiet, while changes occur to make fistfuls of dollars for industries and interests.
John Bolton will be a cheerleader to ramp-up WHATEVER the major benefactors are preaching 'for the good of America'. Trump chose their conservative media mouthpiece, so benefactors will sign-on, IN DOLLARS, for the Trump 2020 Roundup.
9
I thought this was an informative column, but I'd suggest that the hardest thing to realize about Donald Trump is that there is no program, there is no agenda, there is no vision, there is no plan.
Trump brought Bolton in because he got mad at being opposed in any way, and even more because any kind of reason, knowledge, restraint or expertise infuriates him. He brought him in to appeal to the craziest members of his political base. He brought him in to get one more yes-man on the team, and a vicious one at that.
It's the same thing he did with his legal team. The question is whether he'll yap himself out of the White House or at least into even more impotence before he yaps us into a major war.
But none of that reflects smarts, thought, an agenda or even the worst principles. We might's well have a drunk reeling around the premises and breaking the lamps.
18
If there is a plan beyond political survival by means most expedient, it is the consolidation of wealth and power in the hands of the few. That goal requires the destruction of capital. The quickest way is to that goal is to create resource scarcity. That implies both a reduction in international trade, and war.
8
Trump also noticed that the Iraq invasion helped Cheney and Bush secure a second term. I still remember the orange alert that was advertised on the front page of the nation's major newspapers just a week before the 2004 election. Cheney said that if Kerry was elected that there would be a major terrorist attack on the U. S. apparently forgetting that he was vice president on 9/11. After the election the color coded terrorist threats magically disappeared from the news.
11
Maybe, as you say, Cheney forgot he was VP during 9/11. More importantly, however, so did the American electorate.
5
Trump is looking for an excuse for execute martial law and eliminate the next presidential election not to mention relieving him of the Russian conspiracy collusion investigation. A war would be the excuse for doing so and will hasten the 6th extinction of life on planet Earth. And we're all helpless to stop this juggernaut.
11
We’re not helpless to stop this! Read On Tyranny for starters. The struggle is never over. Change progress and democracy is a difficult road.
7
Always remember Ms. Dowd that you were a Trump enabler. You have no right to complain now.
9
There is, of course, an obvious way to stop this.
Re-institute the draft.
As soon as the deplorables start seeing their loved ones returning to Dover AFB in body bags, you'll watch Trump's approval ratings plunge.
But, of course, I'm only dreaming.
NOT my president
19
nimbus, I second the motion. After Nam the government saw the light, no more draft.We can't have riots in the street with protests every day denouncing whatever war is going on.I've said for years you want to stop these insane wars just put the draft back. And I served during the Viet Nam horror. If I had a son no way would he put his life on the line for these draft dodgers.
5
I hope that, if there is a reinstitution of the draft, this new generation of bright, bold, intelligent, and unafraid young people we have had the honor to get to know in the past few weeks and who are now standing up to a congress which has obviously forgotten it's mission, will simply refuse to comply. This presidency is so clearly not worth losing a drop of blood for I think there would be an abundance of conscientious objectors and they would have the support of the majority of the American electorate.
7
I agree that W and stump share a vacuum when you compare their ineptness but there is one glaring fault that W does not share with stump, and that is patriotism. W and his father before him are devoted Americans. Don't get me wrong; I disliked everything about both of their presidencies. But they put love our country and I totally believed that they were staunch supporters of our constitution. stump has shown no allegiance to anyone but himself and his bromance with Putin is obvious. I am sorely afraid of Boltons hawkish stance on just about everything! Let's hope that he isn't the last person whispering in stumps ear for the rest of this reign of terror. End this madness; IMPEACH.
12
I keep thinking it cannot get much worse, but President Trump continues to prove me wrong.
12
I think the more the press focuses on Bolton being the brains behind Trump's foreign policy, highlighting the vacancy that is Trump's brain, the sooner Trump will become enraged and ditch this crazy holdover from the Cheney administration. May he go the way of Bannon, only sooner.
And on Easter Sunday, I will pray that Congress finds the fortitude to impeach and force Trump out and more importantly, that Americans will vote in force in November and elect honorable women and men (i.e., Democrats) who put country and all citizens before party.
7
I predict Bolton won't last more than a year, maybe six months. Trump can't stand proximate alpha males, especially one he'd see every day, and will probably be on television a lot.
11
The question is whether We the People will last six months or a year.
3
When Bolton was at the UN what did his administrative staff and protective detail think of him? How did he interact with them? They might have some interesting observations and anecdotes to share.
3
As always, given the one must ask: What would Putin require Trump to do that would most surely destroy America?
I'd say Bolton qualifies.
14
Yosemite Sam. Without the charm.
6
We can only hope Bolton's tenure is about as long as Flynn's and he isn't able to do much damage in that time.
6
To fight a war in Vietnam was a horrible foreign policy decision, and to invade Iraq was a worse one. No sane person could look at the aftermaths of those wars and think that anything good came out of either of them, unless you count the enrichment of the Military-Industrial Complex as a good thing.
Anyone who thinks Vietnam and Iraq were good ideas should be barred from government service, especially if they did not serve in the active-duty military.
When will we learn?
8
I can't predict how Bolton will ultimately affect foreign policy, but I do find the hyperbole surrounding him over the top. Judging as positive the 8 years of Obama on bent knee (with little to show for it) to Bolton's alleged negative baggage of advocating aggressive activity is little more than partisan rancor. I for one am happy we have moved beyond plastic reset buttons, denying arms to those facing Russian aggression and selling out to the Iranians who want us and our allies dead. We need to be more honest about the world we face.
"Partisan rancor" in your eyes? Let's count body bags for 8 years and forget the 'partisan rancor'. Can't you see the quantitative difference in life and death under two different Presidencies? Obama's reign had 'little to show for it'? One of the body bags when the Democrat was in control contained Osama Bin Laden, as I recall.
5
Not sure what 'bent knee' means to you, but if it means diplomacy always, military aggression as a last resort... then I'll take 'bent knee' anytime. If you think anything Trump is doing is making us more secure, you aren't paying attention. He's selling us out directly- to the Russians; Saudia Arabia; the far-right leadership in Israel and anyone else who simply tells him what a brilliant leader he is. He is WEAK in all of the most dangerous ways.
6
This is what we get when the list is as short as it is. One shudders to think how many has- been backbenchers Trump will draft into his administration as it lurches through its remaining days.
3
One of the ironies of a President as personally awful and substantively unqualified as Trump is that we ignore him even though he can be right. The premise of his 2006 quote about Hussein, that Iraq was not ready for democracy, was spot on. Trump understands what makes bad people tick. His father was one, he is one, and so are Kim, Xi, and Putin. Trump would be a useful sounding board for a President who knew how to do the job.
Maybe the bloody nose strategy is a good one. How does starting a war Kim cannot win keep Kim in power? Violence will end badly for him, and quickly, however they may end for others. He is not an avenging angel with a point to make. He's a mob boss with a family business to run. What better man than Trump to take the measure of such a thug? Bolton is an articulate man. Let's see if he appears publicly to make the case.
I'd like to see a sober assessment of the bloody nose strategy. Public discussion of it alone might scare Kim into finding something less dangerous than (exportable) WMD to distract his people from how horrible he is. Instead, WE are distracted from how horrible he is by the parade of hotheads and sTrumpets who remind us how horrible our guy is.
Wouldn't 60 Minutes do more of a service by interviewing John Bolton than Stormy Daniels?
2
So, do you really think that Russia and China will stand by idly while the Trump/Bolton twindle rain nukes on North Korea? This time your friends and relatives won't be coming home in bodybags...they'll have been vaporized...And the Lords of War will be sipping imported whiskey at their posh clubs, while checking their stock-market gains...That is, if a stray enemy nuke or two didn't breach U.S. defenses...
1
The current political leadership will do anything for the military except take it seriously. The appointment of Bolton as NSA will result in a chicken-hawk nation in which careless spending and strategic folly will combine to lure America into endless wars it cannot win and the Undertakers get rich.
5
Why is reality's retirement age around 66 now, but we have all these old men making decisions for future generations?
6
Part of the reason we went into Iraq was to distract from abject policy failures (if you can’t attack Osama bin Laden, find some one who is easier to attack). The reason for Trump’s pivot on foreign policy (if you can ascribe a motivation to an unprincipled and uninformed man-child) is that he now sees the wisdom of foreign adventures as diversion. This is not about policy, or his feeling he has grown into the job (as if), it is his pure, reptilian drive to survive. And that is something that Trump has always shown a genius for.
3
One by one Trump fires the people who displease him and replaces them with ever more dangerous ones. I remember how Tump's early apologists predicted he would become more presidential once he became the president. Well he has, but it's not what they had in mind.
Trump has discovered the fatal flaw, enshrined in the constitution, that gives him nearly unfettered power to do, to say, to act in any way he pleases without so much as a squeak of protest from anyone who might have the agency to stop him and he's using it to full advantage. Watch what happens next and watch who won't lift a finger to stop him.
The only ones who have the agency to stop him are the people of the United States and we the people of the world thank you in advance for your service to mankind. In the meantime, we thank the young people of your country who seem to understand whose future is at stake here and more importantly understand what to do about it.
2
Good cop (Trump), bad cop (Bolton). Start the negotiations, but don't expect much. Tough an reasonable is an impossibility for him, but like most actions the Trump base will eat it up.
You've got to wonder. Could it be that John Bolton is merely here for a single year, or less? Certainly! And it would be great if this bad cop is making a cameo appearance.
Who was there in between Bush and Trump who kept the wars going and even sent US support to new places?
Hint - Bolton had nothing to do with it
1
Yes, W and his cronies got us into the Middle East, stirred a hornets nest that we are still being stung by and now Trump will do the same thing somewhere else. Will it be China, Iran, N.Korea and will this be the war to end the world as we know it. It is about time the Republicans get this evil empty suit out of power and make us all safer.
4
I don't think Donald Trump is being manipulated by advisers. Quite the reverse. Donald Trump is in charge, and those who don't toe the line soon find themselves without influence or out the door.
I don't like John Bolton either (that moustache!). But at least he's loyal. That someone tells the president to "DO NOT CONGRATULATE" and someone leaks that to the press shows that loyalty is limited. That cannot stand.
2
Loyalty is engendered by respect... and the fact that most of his own staff and cabinet have little respect for Trump should tell you everything you need to know. Respect must be earned, regardless of one's title or place in a government/corporate/military hierarchy. Trump doesn't know the meaning of the word leadership. 'Leaders' know that you can't command respect or loyalty; he'll never learn that lesson.
2
I would argue that Trump is a person to be pitied. Here is a person who has been given so much, a person who was elected in a time in which he had a mandate for big changes, in fact campaigned on making those changes, and is completely wasting the opportunity. He is so lost in his personal glorification, in his personal needs and personal insecurities that no one else is real to him, just ask Melinda.
As a result, at a time when the world is crying out for progress in so many areas - the Middle East, Korea, Gun Control (which is really violence control), Trump is concerned about small things. The wall, his manhood - he wants to beat up the old Vice President, defending himself from past attempts to prove his manhood - the Stormy affair, and the rest of his small, petty concerns.
He had an opportunity for greatness, instead he will go down as one of the worst presidents since Grant. We will have learned a valuable lesson about the qualifications needed for someone to be elected President. We will also have much to fix when he is done. In the doing of that perhaps we will also remember what is important to us.
4
If Trump thinks that Bolton is going to be subservient, supportive of Trump's incompetence, and out of the spotlight --he does not know a thing about Bolton.
My prediction? Bolton will be bolting in less than 6 months.
2
The vast participation in the great number of worldwide demonstrations for "March For Our Lives" should give Trump and Bolton some second thoughts when it comes to the possible promotion of war-making of any kind.
They haven't seen anything yet ..... as the world at large will erupt and demonstrate their fierce and negative reaction to any war thinking and promotion that might occur in the Oval Office.
The protest march genie is out of the bottle and all promoters of war will be quickly put on notice to stand down.
I doubt very much that our military forces will support Trump and Bolton in any military escapades, if these two firebrands get out of hand.
Trump has fired more than one military general and he has barked up the wrong tree in this regard.
Will the American people support a defiant military reaction against Trump and Bolton. You betcha!!
Lock 'em up in the nearest Brig and throw away the key.
4
Bolton's strategic hire to displace Trump as the biggest jerk in the Trump administration will not succeed as Trump's ego will have Trump always win at any cost.
2
Regardless of what Trump's GOP says, they are pushing this country toward the two most predictable results of a GOP-controlled regime.
First, they explode the deficit with their tax "reform" that makes rich donors even richer and their outrageous funding bill that adds more debt for our children to deal with. When election time comes, they will blame the increased debt on social programs and endorse cutting or eliminating them.
Second, they will find a way to get us into a war or two that will leave thousands of Americans dead and wounded and cannot be ended for years to come. Then they will blame it all on the last Democrat administration's diplomatic mistakes.
We have to find some way of breaking this cycle, or we face long-term decline as a nation.
19
The only thing that makes this news bearable is realizing Trump doesn't take anyone's advice, at least since Roy Cohn died.
5
Employing Bolton might be DTs best move yet. Consider; When he comes to talk to NK and Iran, DT will no longer be the maddest man in the room. As FDR says, when you come to negotiate walk with a big stick. That may be the ploy, but it will be for others to decide... Bolton therefore will be the foil while DT tries to present himself as a voice of reason... Imagine that!
I am not convinced :(
Kind of a bad cop / really bad cop scenario.
2
It was Teddy Roosevelt, not FDR, who said "Walk softly, but carry a big stick." Which is the opposite of this bumbling bluster.
1
Dick Cheney ran the show when George W. was recovering from yet another hangover. Recall that George W. was in Crawford on September 11, 2001.
W. was in a classroom in Sarasota Fla on 9/11, not Crawford Tx.
5
Since Trump has already shown himself to be of below average intelligence and totally ignorant of the world in which we live It will be Bolton who persuades Trump to start the next war. Bolton has Trump's ear for the present and Kelly and McMaster are on the way out. When will the next PRE-EMPTIVE WAR begin? It will be Bolton whispering into Trump's right ear and Putin into the left ear. Who will dominate? Loss of life and treasure in Iraq was nothing compared to a new war in North Korea or Iran. FOr what? Trump's and Bolton's egos. Many Americans will die because Trump was seleced by the Electoral college.
7
Can't you just see trump and bolton greedily drooling over the 'nuclear' football after punching in the codes, ask each other, "which button should we push first?"
4
Maybe Republican and Democrat, will think before they nominate 2 of the most hated people in history to face off against each other. I hope that we actually have someone to vote for and not against.
1
A man who so badly wants others to die in war but wouldn’t serve himself, isn’t a man at all. He’s a child who plays games with other people’s lives.
15
Let us watch the conservatives now to see how far they are ready (again) to make a republican president even worse that W or Nixon ever were. Trouble is there may be no one left after the nuclear fallout to analyse the consequences of their cowardice.
1
That first paragraph could be describing King Joffrey from Game of Thrones. Just think about that for a minute.
1
Ms. Dowd, regarding your criticisms of Dubya Bush and Trump, don't blame us voters for these two incompetent presidents.
Remember, we actually voted for Al Gore and Hillary Clinton. It was the Electoral College, that 18th-century relic of the three-fifths-of-a-vote slave system, that gave us these two shining stars.
As the old sports saying goes, finishing in second-place only counts in presidential elections.
12
Just walked across Costa Rica where the people are warm and welcoming and we were awakened every morning by howler monkeys and a symphony of birds--the number of species in the tiny country equaling the US. Seldom having access to internet we were mercifully spared news of the departure and defenestration of civic minded public servants to be replaced by human howlers and early morning tweets disdaining the best of human nature, polarizing, demeaning and dangerous. Please don't tell Trump that Washington's ruby throated humming bird migrates from Costa Rica, I'd hate to have to register my bird feeder or see a costly huge net held by blimps across vast stretches of our Gulf Coast boarder should Bolton and Trump up their game.
America, do we really understand how toxic the news cycle has become? How noxious Trump and his Bolton like minions threaten America? Like the huge swirling plastic garbage wasteland in the Pacific Ocean are we waiting for Trump to gather the worst of the human right wing garbage to his administration, then scoop it all up and deposit it in a waste dump out of sight and out of mind? It's a dangerous strategy but what's left to us? Unfortunately taking refuge in a friendly Central American rain forest despite its marvels has a relatively short shelf life and I want to live in an America uncorrupted by former Fox News mouthpieces threatening our sanity and worse.
1
Was it that long ago that there was an article or two in the NYT pretty much every day about North Korea's nuclear capability and its ability to deliver a nuclear payload with a ballistic missile to almost anywhere in the continental US. (Ironically, maybe not Florida, where they're all so heavily armed and committed to standing their ground that they'd probably shoot it out of the sky before it could do any real damage.) Preemptively attacking North Korea isn't just about getting us into yet another unwinnable land war in east Asia (which we've had two of in my lifetime, including one with North Korea already, and we saw how both turned out). It's about exposing cities of several million people to nuclear attack. I don't care how bushy and bellicose his mustache is, John Bolton is insane if he recommends attacking North Korea, especially with a president so needy he'd let North Korea blow up Los Angeles just to prove to himself that his base will love him anyway.
3
@ Max du Pont
You wrote: "Now that US foreign policy has been paid for and given over to Israel and Saudi Arabia, Bolton is the cherry atop the toxic cake."
Neither the Israelis not the Saudi Arabians have any known opinions about the U.S. -China balance of trade, the Korean crisis, or the question of who will dominate the East Asian seas. Bolton is an appointee who favors confrontation in multiple arenas and I doubt that the Middle East will be site of the worst of it.
It has been said that bullies are the weakest of human beings. It appears the two cowards who did everything to avoid fighting for the country they 'love' so much are now tied by the hip in their effort to bully the world into doing their bidding.
Their weakness is just a misstep away from being exposed and being consigned to the trashcan of history.
3
Palm Sunday.
Hosanna. It means "Save."
Save us.
Hosanna.
5
Donald Trump exactly knows what he is saying and what he says he knows that it is only for the public consumption and not for action.John Bolton hawkish,war mongering,preempty striking streak is very well accredited by most of the Americans and even by the Republican in the Congress.
Most pathetic scenario in American political horizon is that if Trump is a more dumb President than George W Bush then the Republicans in the House and in The Senate have outsmarted Trump in their dumb credential.
Bolton has spoken against Obama and European nuclear peace deal with Iran.Trump said exactly the same to scrap Iran nuclear deal.Thus both Trump and Bolton have a common agenda on the Iran nuclear deal.Bolton ,in his public pronouncement,is one step beyond scrapping the Iran deal.Bolton wants to unilaterally wage military invasion against Iran.That may be the single reason that Trump appointed Bolton as the NSA,replacing a sober matured General McMaster.
Equally significant is the firing of the Seceretary of the Sate, Rex Tillerson because Tellerson did not endorse nonsense coming out from Trump.Tellerson parting statement to the State Department,"The Washington is a mean-spirited city",sums up succinctly what is the political climate Under Trump.And Bolton job as the NSA further attests Tellerson concluding remark.
One should not forget that the USA foreign Policy is not decided in the State Department or the White House. It is dictated by the Congress- Military Industrial Complex.
time is supposed to go by fast as one ages. yet since the 2016 election, the days are so much longer. will Trumpism never end? now watch this scenario unfold: Bolton convinces Trump to renege on the Iran Treaty; Israel, as agent for America and in debt to Trump, bombs the Iranian nuclear sites; Saudi Arabia, as Trump's lackey, declares war on Iran; Israel declares war on Iran; and down the toilet we go again. Regime change sounds so benevolent.
Despite being a naturally arrogant person, I have always hoped to have in place government leaders brighter than I am. During numerous military assignments throughout the '80s and '90s, I was gratified to find many such (Cheney and Rumsfeld notwithstanding). Today, however, I watch in amazement at Trump's increasingly desperate search for minions willing to accommodate his astoundingly ignorant views and policies governing America's place in world affairs. This once-impossible to imagine dumbing-down has me regretting that I never tried for national office.
I am reluctantly willing to admit that I'm now too old and angry to campaign for myself. It is most unfortunate that Trump refuses to recognize how far over his head the Office of President now is; I have enthusiastically joined the chorus of intelligent voters who must, for the survival of our country, convince a strong majority of the daily threats created by his ignorance.
3
The unrelenting strain of actually being President, instead of just playing the part, is unravelling Trump. Trump is a malignant narcissist, and Fox News is his mirror. As his troubles mount, Trump turns more and more to the mirror for the adulation that reality denies him.
Trump reaches into to the mirror and pulls sycophants into his orbit, but they, like Trump himself, find actually doing the job much harder than playing a part. Trump discards them when they fail to satisfy and reaches into the mirror for more.
So Trump has reached into his Fox mirror and brought forth Bolton. Trump knows he needs a war to rally the nation around him, and Bolton is just the man to start a war. We already have about a quarter million military personnel deployed around the globe fighting sputtering bush fire wars and projecting our global dominance, but the nation is nonplussed.
Trump needs something bigger, an existential threat, a real Gotterdammerung. I think Trump's meeting Kim Jong Un, with Bolton at Trump's side, will be the start of it.
1
So refreshing this weekend to see young people speaking out for reasonable, coherent public policy. Out with these dusty, stale, grumpy, old white grandpas ranting and raging and fantasizing they’re the lead role in an Oliver Stone movie.
4
Neither Trump nor Bolton aspired to the lead role in an Oliver Stone movie: After all, they both dodged the draft during the Vietnam war!
3
Trump would love to start a war to satisfy his ego by being a "war-time" so-called president. The nutcase warhawk Bolton will work overtime to give Trump reasons to launch yet another illegal war costing untold thousands or even millions of innocent lives. That is his specialty. Trump will be thrilled to put on a flak jacket and helmet for photos while putting Russia Gate on the back pages.
And the Republican so-called leadership? A war might help them in the next election cycle. Whats not to like?
2
This country is addicted to war. The election of Trump proves this point.
4
Can Bolton get a security clearance adequate to the position of National Security Advisor? It would seem that his activities over the past decade might barr him from the post.
4
Good idea. Especially his activities with the MEK while it was still on the terrorist watch list.
1
As someone has already mentioned, starting an aggressive war was cause enough to hang men at Nuremberg. Those men, like Bolton and Trump, absolved themselves from having to fight in the war they created. Nor did they lose any family blood -- until they lost the war, that is.
If a man is eager for war, his place should be in the first wave to prove his cause. Otherwise, he is just another blowhard coward.
6
I have an uncomfortable feeling that everyone is blackmailing Trump, not just the Russians. The Saudis, the Neocons, The House and Senate Republicans, Netanyahu, Mercers, Bannon, now Bolton. There's so much corruption to go around, who doesn't have a piece.
2
Thank God for Bolton! All out peace with North Korea was getting frighteningly close!
4
Bolton's just another distraction, there's another Storm brewing, haven't you noticed.
It is terrifying to have know-nothing maniacs and proto-fascists heading the most militarized nation on the planet. Must we sit by helpless as our country plunges into more monstrous disasters of mass-murder and continuing war is unleashed on the not-yet dead (who may well be you and I)? Are there no dissenters ready to stand against this, no patriots willing to defend our national security?
Maybe we can learn from the children -- remember how to take our citizenship seriously and rally en-masse against Bolton, Trump and for sane, responsible and representative leadership.
What better time for Trump to pick Bolton to lead us into war with Iran than when he knows Mueller's got the goods on him! Hope we're stronger than before the Iraq war to prevent such a catastrophic outcome.
2
As belligerent and malevolent as Trump certainly is, I don't believe that Bolton's appointment will ultimately result in an another round of catastrophic wars ala GWB.
If Trump is as captive of Putin as most believe him to be, it certainly would not be in Trump's interest for him to start a war with Iran. And I don't believe there is anybody nutty enough, even Dr. Strangelove Bolton, to launch a preemptive strike against North Korea.
Trump is a schoolyard bully who delights in taunting people and making money by any means possible. Getting involved in certifiably catastrophic geopolitical conflicts in Iran and/or North Korea is not something that is going to benefit Trump now or in the future. Destabilizing the world is not good for the stock market or Trump's bank account.
I believe he's going to use Bolton and Pompeo strictly to keep our adversaries off balance, but the worst case scenario cataclysm that most pundits are expecting from this new "war cabinet" will not materialize.
Trump's "macho" is all for show, he delights in play acting the tough guy but when push comes to shove he much prefers a round of golf, a porn star and a slab or two of chocolate cake.
2
W's 2003 invasion of Iraq was timed to continue into an election year where W would campaign as a "War President" and to continue to finish the job. Would he have been re-elected otherwise? Let's hope Trump does not take that as a lesson for reelection
4
You need to read citigroup's Plutonomy Reports. They insist if the rich don't divide the poor, they will all pay more. This is a global plan by a very few humans lining up against humanity to make us think unity is a crime.
2
When will the appalling so called “Green Party” finally have a stake driven through its repulsive heart? After their second “president”? (Both Trump and G. W. Bush are THEIR creatures after their foolish election meddling, after all.)
Their silly, pointless and panicked recount in 2016 does not wash the red blood from their naive green hands.
Who funds them? Why was Jill Stein invited to Moscow by Vladimir Putin in 2015? What are they REALLY up to?
Which journalist is going to investigate this disgusting Russian supported sham masquerading as an American third party?
Shame.
14
When you find out, let us all know. Yes, what was Dr. Stein doing in Moscow and at dinner with Mr. Putin?
3
Trump and his picks for cabinet positions, CIA and now NSA should be termed the Dumb and Dumber gang.
Except this isn't funny, it's serious and scary how every choice narcissistic Trump makes is incompetent as he walks the US into the danger zone.
Choosing Bolton means we're now going into a dangerous situation with not 1 rabid dog in office but 2 foaming at the mouth rabid dogs in the Oval Office and Pompano who'll cheer them on and will whip them into lunacy.
We can count on these 3 men being up to no good for the US. It's all about THEM now and a deranged scheme from the dark paranoid recesses of their minds about blowing countries up because they're not smart enough to THINK they're way to better solutions.
12
You say “It’s unnerving covering a president who is treated like a boy king” but you are at least partially responsible for his being that position! All of your Hilary bashing certainly contributed to her loss. Arghhh!
24
No one was immune to the zooming in by Cambridge Analytica and their ilk to pervert our perceptions of reality. I am now convinced Bernie's appearances were enhanced as well by Putin to weaken Hillary's chances. Was that Alfa Bank server just making wire fraud transactions to fund opponents of Hillary?
3
The best solution to end this madness is to form a two man army consisting of Captain Kangaroo and General Bone Spurs, have the NRA arm them to the teeth and let them attack North Korea in a golf cart. Problem solved.
17
"It’s unnerving covering a president who is treated like a boy king..."
Said the columnist who gave this Faux POTUS a free ride during the campaign season unnerving your readers.
29
This is rich coming from someone who bashed Hillary even though she was the most qualified person to ever run for President. You helped usher in Bolton, so own up to your mistake.
37
There's absolutely no need for a preemptive US military action against any other country, but Trump is stupid and Bolton is wily. So they just might get us all killed over nothing.
Both men are from a bygone era, war-wise. As Vladimir Putin has taught us, wars are no longer fought with bullets and bombs but with data. Neither Bolton nor Trump belong anywhere near the White House.
16
As Fran Leibowitz says, trump may or may not be crazy, but the bigger problem is that he's really stupid. Trump is clearly the village idiot in this foreign policy triumvirate. He is also clearly the dominant personality -with presidential authority, no less- as superior to Pompeo and Bolton in that regard as those two are to trump in intellect and experience. Will Pompeo and Bolton submit? Fireworks are guaranteed, hopefully confined to the physical constraints of the White House.
10
Why is it that Republicans are always the ones to get us into war, and the Democrats have to get us out? Chest thumping? Macho posturing? Stupidity? Draft dodgers trying to atone for their sins?
Trump cannot remember what he had for breakfast so to him, John Bolton is all new.
Please will the few grownups that are left around this manchild DO something?
16
You helped make this happen, Ms. Dowd.
Her emails...Benghazi....
Seems rather quaint these days.
26
At least Trump will save W. going "down as the worst and by far the dumbest president in history” as per Trump's 2006 prediction.
14
Iraq and Afghanistan wars left a wake of destruction and misery that only the wisest of man can contemplate, we sit here probably in the comfort of our American homes taking for granted that we will rest and enjoy a beautiful weekend while in the other side of the ocean many people are fighting a battle of life and death thanks to imbeciles like this one. Bolton should be in jail not on a pedestal thinking to himself that he is one of the greatest mind of our times, while he certainly does not qualify as a Hitler, Genghis Khan or Mao Tse Tung he surely belongs to that column.
8
Trump does not listen to advisors. He considers them PR flak. He wants them to make noise, not give advice. Bolton has a hilarious mustache. He is not Ty Cobb, but his mustache has a Yosemite Sam aspect. That’s why he hired him, tarnation, to yell at the dang-blastumd rabbit.
,
6
What we must never forget is Dowd's unrelenting attacks on Obama and Hillary- How do you like the seeds you helped sow?
28
Somewhere, I saw a quote attributed to Mr. Bolton. He was (he said). . . .
. . . unwilling to die in a rice paddy for South Vietnam. . . .
". . .just so Ted Kennedy could give it BACK."
I am reminded of Mr. Dick Cheney, explaining how it came about that (though slinging mud balls at a real VET years back) he himself never served. Good question! Mr. Cheney did his best:
"It didn't fit in with my PLANS."
Fifty eight thousand American soldiers DIED in Vietnam. I don't suppose DYING "fit in with their plans." But enough of Dick Cheney.
I suppose Mr. Bolton had PLANS too. These did not include dying. Of course. But (unlike Dick Cheney) the opportunity was too good to let slip. Why not (apart from exculpating HIMSELF) work in a deft little swipe at Senator Ted Kennedy? Bravo, Mr. Bolton! The hand of the master!
Mr. Kennedy was the Hillary Clinton of his day. The quintessential LIBERAL! The original BOGEYMAN. Lusting to hand over America to America's enemies. Itching to eradicate personal liberty wherever he could find it.
OF COURSE. . . .
. . .the unspeakable Ted Kennedy (in the unlikely event of an American victory in that war-torn land) would LOSE NO TIME. . . .
. . .in offering it right back to our adversaries. 'Cause he hates America. ALL liberals. . . .
. . .hate America. (Along with God and I don't know what else).
And THAT, Mr. Bolton. . .
. . is vile beyond vile. . .
. .despicable beyond despicable.
Shame on you!
9
“Bush will go down as the worst and by far the dumbest president in history.”
Donald was never one to settle for second place.
22
Guess who "will go down as the worst and by far the dumbest president in history” now. Same unclothed emperor on the cover of this week's New Yorker.
7
Ugh. Terrifying.
5
Sad to say, Trump is even dumber than Bush.
5
I made it about third of the way through and suddenly realized that you helped put the “boy king” in office purely for his entertainment value. It is not all your fault, of course. But your words are empty now.
18
Wag the dog...
2
Trump and Bolton: Two elderly chicken hawk, tissue- paper tigers, puffing each other up and egging each other on to go to war and bully others in order to belie their deeply insecure, fragile manhood.
Both sociopathic, psychopathic, or all of the above; bereft of decent values or even a pang of conscience; whose only response is to aggress against others to protect their insatiable egos.
"Fortune truly helps those who are of good judgment." (Euripides)
We in this country are in big trouble now!
3
Sure Trump is stupid, but stupid or not it can’t be lost on him that:
Bush senior became hugely popular after the first Iraq invasion
Bush junior was already starting to be recognized as the feckless zero he was prior to the gift of 9/11. And he recognized his father’s “mistake” and made sure that *his* Iraq war lasted through his reëlection campaign.
Does anyone think Trump is ethically above starting a new war for political purposes? Or that his previous criticism of military adventurism would give him pause?
7
Trump is way smarter than you think!
2
“Bush will go down as the worst and by far the dumbest president in history.”
That explains everything.
Our so-called-President just *hates* to be second place at anything, but he only competes when he knows he can win. So he's trying to knock GWB into the #2 spot.
3
"Bush will go down as the worst and by far the dumbest president in history". A quote by Trump.
Except now there will be one that will go down in history as even worse and dumber than Bush. How ironic.
This one might even end up in jail and/or impeached.
2
Isn't it time for Ms. Dowd to admit her support for Trump and bashing of HRC was wrong?
7
Trump already compared well to W., with the lack of insight into world events and idiocy of his speeches, not to mention that he stole a presidential election, and now he has finished the process by hiring the king of warmongers and Fox talking heads. Bolton is one of the biggest idiots ever allowed power in a presidential administration and now he gets a second act. Wow!!
2
Protect us from ALL the apple shiners who want to exploit the biggest disaster to ever enter the WH. Joe and Victoria got a look at the Russia Thing, and they have decided they can only entertain Trump's TV audience with their conspiracy antics. Neither is going to argue Russia before Mueller. But buy their books!
Bolton should use his attachments to Cambridge Analytica to excuse himself so we can avoid having to pry him out with a special counsel, too. Let a man who has proven his willingness to direct us into a Russian psych ops ruse to abuse our data, allow HIM take over the Key Codes to PRISM? That is unacceptable, so watch Trump cram it up our noses.
Gosh, Mo, don't you feel better already knowing they WERE trying to drive us nuts? Talk about Gaslighiting Abby. Tonight, I'm gaslighting every newspaper with millions of subscribers, because Cambridge Analytica has millions of one of those paper's subscribers' data.
https://ca-commercial.com/casestudies/casestudynewspaper
I've already suspended my subscription here until NYTs can certify a denial. I know I gave them my data to use, but if CA has abused it, shouldn't I know? CA has lied to regulators and the press so many times I consider them a criminal organization worthy of a lock out. LOCK THEM OUT!
3
Paul Krugman wrote a column recently that suggested Trump may purposely start a war near the end of this term to divert our attention away from his horrible presidency and boost his ratings just enough to win a 2nd term. Hiring Bolton is a major step in that direction and I think Iran will be the target.
6
In 1961, President Kennedy, speaking on civil defense, advised American families to build bomb shelters to protect them from atomic fallout. The American Civil Defense Association, a civil defense-focused organization was founded in 1962. With the end of the cold war in the 90's Civil Defense fell out of fashion. After 9/11, "Emergency Management" and "Homeland Security" came into being. Hawaii showed us how well an Emergency Management System can work and Homeland Security, under the Drumpf administration is keeping busy by deporting non-criminals and DREAMers. With Bolton, it's time to go back to our Cold War mentality, except this time, there's nothing "cold" about it. I was a child in the '60's and I never thought I'd hear my own children speak of "bomb" or "fallout" shelters. I am afraid for my country and my children.
While I agree with Dowd's assessment of Bush, Trump, and Bolton I disagree with her comment on serving in the National Guard as avoiding service. This is unfair and disrespectful to the many Guardsmen who have served in wars past and present.
2
The distinction is as plain as Bolton's own words from the link provided: "Though Bolton supported the Vietnam War, he declined to enter combat duty, instead enlisting in the National Guard and attending law school after his 1970 graduation. "I confess I had no desire to die in a Southeast Asian rice paddy," Bolton wrote of his decision in the 25th reunion book. "I considered the war in Vietnam already lost." There is nothing wrong with serving in the National Guard. And it's a great gig when soldiers are going off to war to die, as Bolton, and Bush know.
Bolton's role is to divert attention from the Mueller probe by stirring up trouble with North Korea and Iran.
2
What Trump admires in Bolton, that he admires in himself, is that experience doesn’t interfere with his instincts, and so six bankruptcies for instance only signify that he knows how to embrace failure as if it were victory since he hasn’t had to pay about ten billion dollars in debt. Bolton still brags about the catastrophe of Iraq as if it wasn’t the consequence of those like him who knew nothing whatever of Islam, Arabic time consciousness or the history of internecine Muslim warfare. Like all chickenhawks he’s a loud mouth mama’s boy with pretenses to intellectual depth. His depth arrived at its throne only on the Fox fix that would have cheerfully announced the burning of the Reichstag as the business of anarchists in yarmulkas. It will always be the Other he abhors as Trump abhors the Otherness of women. Bolton may be the new Bannon but Trump will rue the day he thought so unless the Congressional quislings who once abhorred him embrace him and his need to monger war as did Cheney and Kissinger before him, also men who believed they would have delighted in the smell of napalm in the morning if only they had smelled it.
4
A panel discussion on current events with Maureen Dowd and Peggy Noonan.
1
When will we realize that all these appointments and statements are positioning in ongoing negotiations. Amateurs and snow flakes with great writing skill rule the Media it seems. Most of us don’t agree with Trump on anything/everything but let’s not also be surprised when he succeeds in balancing trade with China, advancing the NK discussions, bringing Americas great brands back to the US for manufacturing. Now if he could only be human and adult in his approach.
I don’t understand how evil continue advancing in a so called Christian country. How’s possibly this evil warmongering individual was able to return to the White House?
1
Trump was lying when he claimed he is opposed to such debacles as the Iraq war. But now he gets what they are meant for. Obstructing justice.
2
Yeah, but, remember when Ms Dowd harangued Al Gore for wearing brown suits.
7
Why do the "chicken-hawks" Trump/Bush/Bolton feel like they must prove their "courage" with the blood of others? Oh right, they are chickens first and foremost.
3
If the rich had to pay the way to war rather than profit off it, we would see a lot less of it. I suggest we redeem the death tax to balance the books. Let them cover the costs while we pay with blood, sweat and tears. We sacrifice to protect their wealth, and they should finally begin to pay for it. Only then they will the rich lose the desire for war.
We paid off WWII before we went to Korea, but these clowns have us down for their war profits and the gory details. I suggest this is unacceptable.
3
Let’s see President Bone Spurs and his war mongering heroic appointment jump to serve in the front lines..
Should be interesting what excuses they conjure up to send their base’s kids to their assured deaths.
5
His rejection of being an 'honest broker' is simply an attempt to have it both ways.... 'ha ha, I was only kidding.... ha ha, that's not what I really meant... ha ha, I'm just a big, clever, trickster making big clever deals that no one else can'
.... and it's how he hides his inexperience, confusion, and ignorance....
And his demands for LOYALTY are consistent with his desire that we TRUST him.... give him the benefit of the doubt.
But it's just more lying. And Democracies can't function in such a climate.
Of course he can't tell the 'truth' because he doesn't know what it is... and worse, doesn't care. The CON has always worked for him in the world of greedy bakers and real estate and casinos... and he expects it to work again...
... And for his next act I expect he'll pose as a brain surgeon...
... so line up, deplorables.... you have nothing to lose.
4
"But somehow, in his King George madness, Trump has circled back to elevate one of the chief Iraq war hawks to be his national security adviser. That move sent a shiver through the capital...."
Oh, yes? Are you sure you're not projecting, Ms. Dowd? Did it not send a shiver, not to mention a pang of conscience, through you? As someone who wrote a column in 2016 entitled "Donald the Dove, Hillary the Hawk", I suppose you had no choice but to spend the first two-thirds of this week's column making rationalizations while somehow never addressing your previous pre-election comparisons.
You say "But somehow...." Oh, Maureen, don't be so modest. You know how. You've probably been told over and over again. Drop the pride and acknowledge you were way off base on this one.
7
Oh Mo!
Just like in I Tonya, when Tonya's mother responded to the news of an attack on Tonya's enemy with "the Mustache" it will be Trump's Mustache responsible for the pre emptive attacks on perceived enemies.
2
Two thoughts. 1. There are always exigencies of circumstance, but a man who holds no real convictions can always be brought around to the exact opposite position he previously claimed to hold. 2. Your opening description could apply equally to the right's secular god, Ronald Reagan. He was also a man with a child's understanding of the world. Had he not won the cold war, he would be remembered the same way W. Bush and Trump will be. Alas, as much as I detest him--much of the ongoing destruction of America began on his watch--I have to give Reagan credit for winning the cold war. And I give the buffoon W. credit for wising up and shutting out Dangerous Dick in his second term. Maybe Trump will also find a way to snatch a draw from the jaws of defeat. Just please, not in his second term.
3
Leave it to a bully to hire a bully. The Trump White House is quickly becoming a Goon Squad, led by a Don who thinks (like mafioso John Gotti did) that he's coated in Teflon. Of course, many remember what happened to Gotti, and foresee a similar downfall for our Bully-in-Chief...
5
Look what the Trump dragged in.
9
Can it really be our president resents the fact we all have not fallen under the thrall of FOX? He thinks if he forces us to see them as his advisers we will buy their Russian play? Murdoch has got be as beholding to Putin as Trump. Are these three in a death match of plutodic iceflows grinding their way into history? The world will eat their oysters? Mountains of them!
John Bolton is a coward's coward. All bluster and no guts. He is a perfect fit for the incompetent and insecure occupant of the Oval Office (or just as often, the Mar-A-Lago Resort). Congress must do all it can to restrain the administration's lust for conflict. If we can survive until November, it is essential that the supine Republicans be removed from office such that real oversight of the Executive can begin. This is not a drill. This is an existential emergency.
5
In a few respects, it feels like Europe in the 1930s: The rise in totalitarianism; the buffoon leader demonizing others; the rapid militarization; the onset of trade wars; the shift from America First to America Uber Alles; the deceit, the propaganda, the Orwellian newspeak, and the power of the big lie.
One difference is that there won't be years before this plays out. Trump will take us to war tomorrow if he can't stop the Mueller investigation today. Another difference is that now all of humanity, not just the Jews, faces the prospect of annihilation.
3
well will wonders never cease; trump was right right about something....
“Bush will go down as the worst and by far the dumbest president in history.”
but to paraphrase a guy smarter than all of them, homer simpson, the quote should be amended to he was " the dumbest president...so far". like they say, records are made to be broken. and he sure broke it and not in a good way.
1
Hey, guys with staches: please consider shaving.
I did that when Bolton became Ambassador to the U.N.!
I consider it like tattoos everywhere and nose rings, or (more appropriately) bright colors on a reptile, it's a signal to avoid because of danger.
Not a boy king...the Dread Tyrant Trump is the incarnation of Governor Lepetomane in the movie, "Blazing Saddles."
How about some investigative journalism about why the GOP Congress is enabling these threats to stability through its passivity? Write about the neo-Con roots of Cambridge Analytica (Mercer, Bannon) and their goals of undermining democracy with chaos. Enough cute columns about what we already know: it’s time to investigate and document.
5
Maureen, I agree with everything in your column. It is the season of Lent. Continue to do your penance because you are partially responsible for this mess through your support of Trump and excoriation of Hillary and Obama before the election. I'd have to go back to the NYT archives, but my guess is that you probably supported "W" too until you didn't.
9
We all need to pray General Mattis isn't going anywhere.
No lives mattered for Bush when he lied us into Iraq, and no lives matter now for Trump.
He needs a war (with lots of yellow ribbons) to try to avert the GOP Waterloo in Nov.
Keep dreaming, buster!
2
I'd prefer to bolt the Oval Office door against Trump, Pence, Kushner, and everyone else in this current administration. This administration has been nothing but one set of troubles after another. A group of preschoolers could do a better job than this crew.
14
I wouldn't trust any of the US or British companies but I would trust Satol the Norwegians. I believe they have never had a spill or fire. I'm half Norge and all American. I've kept track as I wish I had a stake in that company.
Maureen, the President has gone from being disruptive, to being destructive.
He frightens me!
12
Then you are perfectly tuned to vibrate to Bolton's joltin' messaging system! I was wondering where this sudden admiration of Brutus came from. He was just trying to save a republic, that's all, ya'll.
You know, it's worth reflecting upon the unending hypocrisy of the Dotard ... Trump was a Hillary fan as recently as 10 or so years ago, but as soon as it was expedient for his own 'career' he was all about 'LOCK HER UP!' Thist 'fact' should be highlighted—or would it make no difference to the all-forgiving, shoot-me-on 5th-Avenue evangelical base, who feel strangely secure with Trump in charge?
Forget it—the vision of a constructive, peaceful society personified by the eloquent students in DC and all over the country today is what matters.
9
Are we to name the White House "Fox and Friends"? 2020 cannot come fast enough.
14
Hey Maureen, you thought Trump’s candidacy was better than Hillary’s knowledge and experience? How about some Bolton wars to really “Make America Great Again”?
14
On the week when the insane nature of Trump's horror child ego desires and caustic armor may finally be punctured and laid open by a Playboy Bunny and a Pornstar, Maureen Dowd declines a tawdry sex story? The CNN playboy bunny interview, that was so compelling (i have to admit on a quite base level, pun-intended) has the best chance to puncture the Trump "Tribal" base, to date. Stormy on Sunday eve. has the potential to finally fully pierce the Trump ego-armor irreparably for his want-to-know-nothing base. These are probably the most important events that have any hope of corralling Yosemite Sam Bolton and Trump's sling it high, sling it low and sling it everywhere to cover his tracks attacks on the world. Hope actually left the White House on Jan 20 2017. This ray would've made a good column.
7
Most Americans love war. Those who don't are called ugly un-patriotic names. So let 'er rip, Mr. Bolton and President Trump. U-S-A! U-S-A!
6
It might be true; most Americans love war. They just don't die fighting them because they don't fight them.
1
With his legendary mistreatment of subordinates well known, it makes me wonder if there's a 'metoo' moment lurking somewhere and could be revealed
10
Here we go again. Graham can't seem to make up his mind who he is . The solution to this insanity is a clean sweep of Congress come November. VOTE DEMOCRAT
12
With a few exceptions, the HR Department at this WH has managed to find the most perverse candidate for every position to go along with the most vile, contrary man to hold the position of president in modern, if not the country's history.
Now that this ignoramus has apparently for absolutely no reason other than delusional mania gained confidence in the role he has refused to play with any semblance of seriousness or authority (yet authoritarian), we can expect another at best completely inappropriate and at worst diabolical choice every time he tires of the last person who forgot to curtsy when he entered the room.
7
Bolton’s hate of President Obama’s is a major attraction for Trump. Like GWB he is an empty vessel waiting to be exploited. Unlike Bush he does not have a decent family life or an sense of morality. Just when we thought it could not get any worse.
8
You had me with "boy king." Ever since the election I feel like we've been living in a reality version of Calderón de la Barca's "Life is a Dream" (La Vida es Sueño) starring the disastrous Prince Sigismundo as our president. I have slim hope for the spiritual redemption of our prince. But I won't give up on anybody. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/arts/music/26dream.html
3
Mr.Trump is all about "America First".He is systematically removing all diplomats from the administration and not nominating new ones.He constantly embarrassed Mr.Tillerson and Mr.McMasters by contradicting them when they spoke wisely about foreign policy.By nominating Mr.Bolton he is signaling that there will be no diplomacy, only saber rattling and threats.Prepare to be ashamed and outraged!
7
The Republicans Maureen Dowd knows may be whispering with the Democrats: "Anyone but Bolton," but Bolton would have had a appointment in any Republican administration. There are reasons he has a job at Fox News: he is an exemplar of a certain type of conservative Republican (chickenhawk warmonger) who is alive and well. Anyone who did not support Hillary Clinton, for all of her many faults, owns this. The Iraq Arm-Chair-Warriors are back in the saddle.
9
Again Trump was wrong. Bush will not go down in history as our worst president, Trump will. I just hope our country can hang on for the next 1-3 years until he is gone. Bolton is a war monger, a true republican, so what did we expect? Now there is even more competition to pick who is the worst member of Trump's organization (if you can call it organized). So many losers to chose from.
15
Now throw into the mix Trump's obvious subservience to Russia, and we have people at the top who actually want to do harm to America, do weaken and perhaps even divide us as the EU was divided, all so Putin can gloat and invade another country.
But Trump has no morals, and had no qualifications for the job. It is those who voted for him who bear the most responsibility for this debacle. Well, them and Fox News, who clearly are thrilled to be guiding this ignorant jerk in the White House. They get power, we get terrified. There is a dividing line between youth and adulthood, it is when we finally figure out how to be independent of thought and deed. I was a youth, really, when sent to Vietnam, but I was an adult when I woke to that war's evil and demonstrated against it. Trump cannot rise to adulthood, and W rose much too late.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
8
America..we have a president bent on destroying the country. He is surrounding himself with yes people who will enable him to act out his nightmarish fantasies. Beyond time to impeach.
8
The most dangerous man in Washington is no longer Trump. It is John Bolton. He now has the power to tell Trump to act on his impulses. And this provocateur of power will do it as it has been his life work to wag his pinkie at those he hates, the non-white, non-male and non-Christians he believes to be destroying America. But the truth is just the opposite. Trump, Bolton and Bannon’s delusions, their divide and conquer take no prisoners methods are destroying us...and Russia is coming to fill in the void.
7
Important topic. Thanks for the editorial!
My joke: Trump has Alzheimer's.
My serious thought: Trump needs to deflect the nation away from his Stormy issues and Putin's checkmate! But as usual, his innate propensity to make things worse continues to degrade global opinion about him and our nation, too!
I'm sure he's harming us in ways we still don't completely understand. Bolton is just another bolt on accessary that doesn't work and makes things look worse. As ugly as Saddam was, he kept the Islamic extremists at bay, but posed no real threat to our nation. That costly second Gulf war was about perception not fact. We won the battles, but lost the war.
4
Bolton is allowed to live in the moment and while in it feel vindicated and clever, however he will, in a matter of time be placed in its rightful place just like W, Cheney Rumsfeld and Condi, good luck Mr Bolton enjoy it while you can.
4
Dear Maureen, Thank you for keeping a record of history. Apparently there are people in power that want to repeat it, over and over and over and over again. They will always find ways to shed somebody's blood, as long as it is not their own. Keeping track of all of this must make you feel like you are diving into a bag of cats. Nothing against cats, had a three legged one once, best cat that ever allowed me the privilege of living with her and a great mouser too. Clueless in Oregon. RAW
2
We need more taxpayer skin in the war machine. Bring back the draft so we all experience the true cost.
5
Bolton will quit or Trump will fire him into the graveyard of past staff members. I certainly hope it happens very soon.
5
If this continues it will end up at the only logical place. War. And the children of the Rust Belt and Sun Belt counties/Red State Trump supporters will pay the butchers bill.
5
It is beyond dangerous to have an ignorant and vacuous
President like Trump to be advised by an ideological extremist like Bolton. How will America avoid creating the conditions for war against Iran and North Korea?
The consequences could be nuclear but would disastrous for order and stability in the world. The casualties from the conflicts could never justify the very uncertain results. Bolton is a neocon fanatic and Trump
is an incompetent demagogue. Not a good pairing at all; so much for Trump's campaign rhetoric!
3
Didn’t Trump campaign against the sort of foreign policy views one associates with John Bolton? Or is it not that simple?
In any event, American experience at least since 1960 strongly suggests that the Congress and the nation need to be on board whenever the country uses military force. Bad things have happened when that has not been the case.
And since we’re Americans we need to be able to justify our foreign policy positions to reasonable people around the world - the Declaration of Independence itself is premised on the idea that a decent respect for the opinions of humankind requires us to justify ourselves when we act on the world stage.
Yes, Ms. Dowd, thanks for your help in bringing this reign of corruption down on OUR United States of America, "It’s unnerving covering a president who is treated like a boy king, requiring minders; who is easily swayed because he is underinformed; who can sit still only long enough for short oral briefings; who swaggers and mocks to mask his insecurities; who tries to replace real news with faux; and who can’t seem to fathom that distorting reality to suit political ends is dangerous."
Unnerving? I'd call it a hell of a lot more than that. One simply cannot forget your "palace intrigue" comments and the happiness you showed at it before he was elected.
OUR United States does not have a "king" or "palace" and WE THE PEOPLE do not want them.
Democracy is not a spectator sport or entertainment. Government is a social construct meant to protect 99% of us from those who would try to steal it all.
Yesterday's "March for Our Lives" was excellent. So were all the other marches and demonstrations to protect and preserve OUR democratic way of life since Teddy/FDR/Elanor Roosevelt. So is the Mueller investigation.
However, it is nearing time for WE THE PEOPLE to storm the Bastille - OUR white house - and put The Con Don and his democracy-destroying, war-mongering, hate-anger-fear brethren under citizen arrest for treason, lock them up - along with their brethren in business and their operatives in OUR governments at every level - and throw away the key.
9
America just put its trigger finger on the nuclear button. And Trump is on the back nine, triple putting and then picking up his gimme.
6
Bolton isn't dangerous. He's just another Fox News buffoon who made outrageous statements to get attention. Fortunately, we still have sane generals who, should Wilfred Brimley with AIDS counsel pre emotive war, would simply put him in a headlock and give him noogies while laughing uproariously.
1
Maureen: you and your family voted for trump.
What are you doing to save what remains of our democracy?
10
I haven't forgotten that Thomas Friedman lobbied for the Iraq war, even appearing on the Oprah show to argue it's merits. I have never forgiven him.
10
We will be killing millions of our friends and foes in the Middle East and Asia , alienating most of the civilized as well as the uncivilized world , whilst making America Great Again , running up trillions of dollars of debt, taking away healthcare and social services from a third of our population while our leader entertains delusions of grandeur going down in history as the greatest military commander since Attila The Hun.
10
Mr Trump is an opportunist who knows that in order to keep his most rabid followers he must throw a bone their way and he thinks Mr Bolton still has some meat for them to chew.
The problem is he like Mr Trump does not represent the majority of our citizenry and in any Democracy when that is the case it is no longer the will of the people which rules rather the tyrannical minds of a rabid mob
Our Congress could temper all the tempestuous men in this Cabinet if they had any wit or backbone, but neither appear in their political DNA.
These guys are intent on breaking our system of governance and if we last long enough many of them will retire in disgrace or be forced to defend themselves in Criminal Court.
Hard to believe any of this is happenng in our nation which is now heading downhill like the tail of a cow.
We are in a lose, lose situation which will only get worse.
The kids get it. What is wrong with the so called adults in the room?
9
Dowd nailed it this time. Trump is an empty vessel, easily filled by someone who lavishes praise on him. His narcissism is his tragic weakness.
9
I don't think Bolton can get security clearance and should not be allowed in the oval office unless he does. He is up to his neck in Cambridge Analytica. Another bad player who is also nuts.
9
Same old bellicose USA. Always a new enemy to sell to the bleacher seats. I hope our new president, V. Putin, keeps mad dog Trump and revoltin' Bolton on a short leash. The US is now the laughing stock of the world. Bigly sad.
11
With Trump as Prez, the United States has slipped into a surreal Alice In Wonderful aura. We now see the Prez has hired the Walrus to set US down another rabbit hole. What could possibly go wrong?
DD
Manhattan
8
Bolton, another mad dog for the mad boy-king. Like Trump, Bolton is another chicken hawk, not willing to serve his country when at war, then in Southeast Asia, but like chickens hawks Quayle and Cheney, war mongers nonetheless. LBJ said he would never send American boys to fight a war Asian boys should be fighting, but he did. In the end, LBJ, like the country, was mired in pain, doubt, and regret. It ended his presidency, as it rightly should have.
Not so with arrogant blunderbusses Trump and Bolton. The horror they bring to the office completely frees them of any doubt, remorse, and guilt about sending Americans off to die in some far-off war. That makes them a clear and present danger to the nation and the World. And Congress, along with a compliant American Electorate, allowed this to happen. Shame.
DD
Manhattan
7
I think I'm having an epiphany.Trump will fire him because .....he hates the mustache! Unwittingly, he might do the right thing, for once.
3
How could you ever believe what Trump says?!
He changes his mind from minute to minute.
Trump has no core principles.
He was against the Iraq war, he favors saving the "Dreamers", Mexico will pay for the wall, raise the age to 21 for buying an AR 15, comprehensive immigration reform, universal background checks and on and on it goes!
He says so much but most of what he says are lies. Check your own newspaper to see all the lies he has said.
Ms Dowd, most of us knew he was lying but you thought he was telling the truth.
That speaks volumes about your judgement!
Hillary doesn't look as bad now.
You might want to admit that now!
10
Bolton will be crazy to premptively strike N Korea. It will trigger a nuclear retaliation that will sink Guam and a million causualties within a few days. I just hope Trump is using him in a good cop bad cop routine, so he can look like a hero if he gets Kim to give up his rockets.
2
North Korea already has the capacity to send a nuclear bomb to any city in the US. Congress needs to step up and ensure these madmen don’t start a war that gets us all killed.
4
A sobering thought for a Sunday morning: The fate of the world may now rest in the hands of Kim Jong Un, Donald Trump and John Bolton. Three personalities better suited to an Abnormal Psychology class than a peace summit.
HURRY, Mr. Mueller, and file/unseal the rest of those indictments!
8
Does any of this from Trump, Bolton and Bush 43 really surprise you during a time when you were more prone to write about Bush as a clownish guy and Trump as a harmless rogue?
In the meantime, stretching over a few decades, you often bashed Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
As a columnist for the NYT with a national and international outreach, why not, just one time, admit that you were wrong about both Clinton’s and President Obama?
9
Americans may think the rise of the stock market the past twelve months means that our country has recovered from the Great Recession. Unfortunately, events are slowly being put into place that will make what happened pale in comparison to what awaits us.
We've had to endure the so-called President calling the press the enemy of the American people, comparing our intelligence agencies to Nazi Germany, dismantling our State Department, EPA, and Interior Department with hundreds of superb career professionals leaving in droves, and the belittling, demeaning, and debasing of Blacks, Muslims, Hispanics and immigrants. We've had to endure the vulgarity, the insults, the cruelty, and the incompetence.
As bad as things are they are about to get much worse. A devastating trade war with China and a war with Iran is now likely. Netanyahu is jubilant with the appointment of Bolton because he knows the agreement with Iran will be voided. A disastrous war will engulf the entire Middle East causing the deaths of untold thousands and the cratering of economies here and in Europe.
With the Republican Party refusing to take a stand the insanity will continue and millions of people will pay the price. He will fire Mueller and start a war with Iran or North Korea before the end of the year.
The only thing that can possibly save us is to turn out to vote in November in record numbers and end this madness before Trump pushes our nation into the abyss.
Until then all we can do is pray.
7
So what's next, Sean Hannity as Communications Director?
6
The Mooch holds the record in terms of shortest tenure of service.
Can we dare to hope that Bolton can beat the Mooch's record and become the shortest serving member of the Trump administration.
4
We are now at the "a lunatic leading a lunatic" phase of the Trump presidency.
3
There is an old fashion word that describes the neocon agenda, Imperialism.
2
Bolton and Trump are peas in a pod. Until something is done by others in power, we are all at risk for what these two angry, incompetent, thoughtless politicians can bring down on us. That something needs to be done sooner and not later or our country will suffer in the extreme.
4
One comic suggested that Bolton got his VietNam deferral for his mustache. He's a wacko war monger, who wouldn't risk his own life for this country. He will risk YOURS, however, and the many millions of people who will die from the explosion, and fallout, of a nuclear weapon.
7
Cut the hysterics. Some believe we are safer with Iran and North Korea having nuclear weapons; others do not. The stakes are high, the debate legitimate, and the outcome unpredictable.
2
As an increasingly agitated Donald Trump moved from the usual top ten Twitter tauntees (Barack Obama, Crooked Hillary, James Comey, Andrew McCabe, the FBI, Jeff Sessions, Robert Mueller, Rex Tillerson [RIP], the fake news media like "the failing New York Times, and everyone else he encounters) to destructive Typhoon Trump with actions like inciting a trade war with China by slapping them with tariffs, banning some transgender people from the military, congratulating Vladimir Putin, and now replacing National Security Adviser, Gen. H. R. McMaster, one the three adult generals in the room who were restraints (aka "guardrails") on his impulsive aggressiveness, with John Bolton, who is the human equivalent of a "weapon of mass destruction," we have reached a dangerous fork in the road with respect to both Iran and North Korea. Mr. Bolton, a fierce neocon who helped mire us in the unnecessary Iraq war, now poses the real risk of an encore in the Middle East and/or the Korean peninsula.
4
I am at a loss about why anyone should pay the least bit of attention to what Maureen Dowd says about John Bolton or am6 topic of a serious nature.
Because, while people were dying and being maimed for life in the hundreds of thousands in Iraq, a despicable war that should never have happened, Ms. Dowd thought the most “important” thing was to joke about was the “Alpha Girls” like John Bolton in the Bush Administration.
4
If this loose bolt has anything to do with it, we will be at war with Iran by the end of 2018 unless the Democrats win enough seats in the house to put a stop to it before it's too late. Contemptible, cowardly little wart that he is, he wants to be a big man punishing those that he perceives as an enemy, even when there is no enemy there.
It's not enough to bolt the Oval Office door to this creep. He ought to be locked up in an institution for the criminally insane.
9
But, Maureen, you told us that Hillary was the hawk and Donald was the dove. Was that not correct?
13
Has Trump opened a phone line to Dick Cheney yet? From right wing hawks in foreign policy to white nationalists on the domestic side, our emperor is definitely staffing his White House with minstrels who play white only militaristic tunes.
2
The possibility of learning that the N. Koreans do indeed possess a missile capable of striking the US has just taken-off....
“Bush will go down as the worst and by far the dumbest president in history.” So sayeth the current POTUS. Well I guess that's a matter of quick/no debate as the resident POTUS is already, only after a short tenure, and by a considerable margin leading the pack for this dubious distinction . Bush is not even close in this contest - you're on top and by a bigly margin!
4
Maureen, you’re back! I grew so tired of your columns blasting Hillary that seemed to go on and on for the better part of two years. Now, you have let that disdain go, and have written a laser-focused piece on a frightening man who is about to take one of the most powerful positions in the world. You really nail John Bolton truthfully in this column. He’s downright scary. God help us if Trump is influenced to attack Iran or North Korea out of the blue.
2
Now that US foreign policy has been paid for and given over to Israel and Saudi Arabia, Bolton is the cherry atop the toxic cake.
7
Where are the opposition voices? Democrats...hello, hello?
Nancy and Chuck, anything to say about ANYTHING??
6
FYI
“Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) echoed that sentiment in his own statement. “Mr. Bolton’s tendency to try to solve every geopolitical problem with the American military first is a troubling one. I hope he will temper his instinct to commit the men and women of our armed forces to conflicts around the globe, when we need to be focused on building the middle class here at home.” ”
A statement released just to get on the record. Weak.
How strange it is to see the United States of America at this alarming juncture in its long, bloody history. A country that has attacked so many other countries under the auspices of imposing "democracy," now so unashamedly showing the world there is no such thing. How is it that three or four angry, old white men run America. Who died and made them kings?
9
As Bill Maher remarked on his show this week, Michael Bolton would have been a better choice.
9
This frightening Yosemite Sam of a man, who throws staplers at cowering underlings, may not last long, because his boss, Tempetuous Trump, is The Boss.
Fingers crossed that Bolton will be gone, and soon!
6
Ms Dowd: But what about your own paper "shoveling distortions" at the public to drum up the same disastrous war? Makes Bolton's hardline bluster anemic by comparison. Remove the mote in your own eye before you judge others.
4
The GOP has horrid history giving us undistinguished citizens for POUS.
First, it was Tricky Dicky, I am not a crook.
Then, it was the third-rated actor called The Gipper with his voodoo economics.
Then The Decider with his war debacles and economic meltdown.
Now, the worst ever. A Rupert Murdoch TV clown imposter.
6
What must our allies be thinking as they watch our Congress stand by as Trump makes a game out of possibly ending the world as we know it. What contingency plans must China and Russia be developing? In reality Trump may believe he's employing the art of brinksmanship, the very strategy North Korea has used for decades to keep the West off balance. Feign insanity and convince your enemy the slightest provocation will ignite the ultimate war. A game of "who flinches first." Donald Trump, the man who bluffed and negotiated his way into a nuclear holocaust.
3
This is frightening. John Bolton out of his misguided war making past here again? Bolton's a tough talker but not so tough that he would, himself, go and fight in the wars he loves so much. Bolton is the epitome of a coward. Big talk as long as young men and women end up the canon fodder. Trump is such a liar and I don't believe the man-child is all together in his mind. He can't remember what he said 5 minutes ago let alone what he blurted out in the campaign. He doesn't read history or anything for that matter. Folks, the war rums are beating.
3
Of all of Trump's insidious lies, one of the biggest is his saying, "Bush will go down as the worst and by far the dumbest president in American history," as you quote. Trump has surpassed him by a mile already. So we can regard that earlier statement as "fake news."
6
Well it’s easy to agree with everything in this article
Of course I suppose the only thing Maureen left out is how happy she is that at least Hillary didn’t win. Just imagine how much worse it would be.
6
It beggars and buggers the imagination to think that John Bolton, who encouraged the never ending Iraq debacle, is whispering in Trump’s fact-challenged ear.
3
It's the guys who never served like W, Bolton and Trump who are keen to start wars.
6
'Bush will go down as the worst and by far the dumbest president in history' - Donald Trump. Well, Bush has stiff competition from 45. Though Bush was an unqualified DISASTER, he meant well. Trump is just as much a disaster after only some 14 months, but he doesn't even have the good intentions that I'm guessing hapless Bush had. Trump is mean-spirited and stupid, not a good combination. We lived through the Bush presidency, hardly. Let's just hope we survive the current presidency. It is not looking good. And unlike our Dear Leader, I am not being hyperbolic.
5
Homer Simpson was the other Fox finalist with Bolton for the job. Wait until Bolton runs into conflict with our big-brained president, the unstoppable force meets the unmovable ego. Two babies crying simultaneously is unpleasant.
5
If these jokers start a war the only way a lesson will be taught to Americans is if there are significant American casualties, not just in the low thousands. America cares little how many casualties the other side suffers, only about itself. We are a narcissistic nation with a narcissist at the head.
5
The American voter first decided on George Bush and then on Donald Trump. Indeed, America as a whole is one sick puppy.
5
Both these guys lost the popular vote by considerable margins.
1
Ahh....guess what? Too late! The empty vessel was hijacked years ago and we were complicit. Vote.
1
Ms. Dowd, a master ironist, chooses here to just present the facts: life is more ironic than art. Truth is stranger than fiction.
2
Time for the Senate to rise up and assert their prerogative--Section 8, paragraph 11 of the Constitution--to declare war!...oh wait, I forgot, the Republicans are too scared of the president's fanatics to assert much of anything.
4
My my, what is the world coming to?Even Ms Dowd is unnerved and unsettled! I do hope she gets back to form quickly, with those sharp steely jabs going for the jugular. Now is not time to go whinny and wobbly.
1
Yes, indeed. Thank goodness Hillary Clinton didn’t get elected! I mean, those e-mails!
Thanks for helping Don the Con destroy America.
4
Bolton will help Trump get the war that he needs to divert attention from the Mueller investigation and what are almost to be his continuing Bimbo eruptions. And once again, this Congress seemed poised to protest and then get along by going along.
Are there no Repuibicans in Congress with a spine, who will do their duty and stop this increasingly unstable President from taking us into another disastrous war before the mid-term elections?
21
There are no Republicans with a spine willing to do anything to stop the upcoming disastrous war or any of this "Presidential Madness"
There we were in the sixth grade at John J. Audubon Elementary in New Orleans, cowering under our desks, hands clasped on our necks to protect them from the blast; waiting for the all clear siren to whine we hadn't been vaporized. Our teacher, had warned us not to look out of the windows "...because the yellow flash will melt your eyes..."Just another
random"preparedness drill." Much later, as a journalist, DOD P.R. would come across my desk with studio pix of local kids killed in Vietnam...Some of them were my childhood playmates. Some people just don't get it...And never will...Like Bolton signing up for the Guard to avoid Vietnam, or Trump and his bonespurs!
7
Hey Maureen, remember "Donald the Dove, Hillary the Hawk?" Cause we do.
14
It's pretty striking that a decorated General like McMaster is more diplomatic-minded than the chickenhawk Bolton.
9
Well written, insightful and a bit frightening to read. It looks like the NYT is really scared of Bolton as I've seen 3 or 4 opinion pieces on him today. Hopefully, Trump will go back to his 2006-2013 thinking and leave the World alone.
1
The New York Times was the news gold standard 5o years ago when I started my corporate job out of B school. Now it reads like a Democratic Party rally. The tone of this article isn't even professional. It is ideologically bias spin you expect from blue blogs. It is news, its a party campaign speech.
The New York papers I used to read had 'All the News That's Fit to Print'. Its sad to see an iconic newspaper now not even attempting to be objective. They need to relearn the difference between printing the n news and printing ideological propaganda.
2
I’ve been reading the NYT longer than you have. Surely you know the difference between a news article and an op-ed piece? You’d no doubt have preferred Dowd’s anti-Hillary screeds during the campaign, but she seems to be seeing (if not admitting) the error of her ways. I’ll take that. What she is pointing out here needs to be said if history is not to repeat the same mistakes.
johnoleary
This is an opinion piece by Ms. Dowd, not an article. OPINION.
So the cabinet and Oval Office are filling up with draft dodgers who will send our young people to die.
10
Dowd is not enough. The Times owes us an investigation into how a pro-war evangelist ever had a career within our country's "diplomatic" service.
Bolton lusts for war, anytime, anywhere.
Trump operates by diversion. A war is a good diversion. See, e.g. George W Bush. Trump cares not one wit for his voters, nor their children.
5
Trump aka The Tabula Rasa President, has a brain now being etched upon by a lunatic. Bolton takes the same comfort in making his audience uncomfortable as his boss for some form of pathological ego gratification no doubt. ...Some where I read of Bolton "he carries his china closet with him". And , as such, given his paleoconservative tendencies, he will be breaking many eggs to make not omelettes but war...Now back to my bomb shelter.
3
Open memo to Trump
Everything you know is wrong;
having Mike Pompeo, and now John Bolton
on either side of you, proves it!
3
The good news in the ocean of bad news that engulfs us daily is that Bolton won’t last long. While W. was an empty vessel that allowed himself to be filled up with dangerous and dumb ideas, Trump is an empty vessel who delights in remaining an empty vessel. Trump could care less about Bolton’s unhinged worldview. It’s the tough guy packaging that matters at the moment. But as soon as Bolton grabs the spotlight – and he will – or bruises the ego of our infamously thin skinned, uninformed, insecure, boy-dictator President, he will be gone. Let’s just hope this happens before Bolton blows anything up.
11
Ms. Dowd, you got it right, Bolton is not only a Neocon, he's the Neocon's Neocon, he's Dr. Strangelove's Dr Strangelove, yes, and last but not least, he's M.A.S.H.'s Colonel Samuel Flagg's ---Colonel Flagg.
Ultimately both Republicans and Democrats are onto the Neocon's con, with nearly 5,000 troops lost, and over 38,000 wounded in Iraq alone, to say nothing of the trillions that we are still paying in more ways than one, that's not going to happen. Sure, Trump will get the headlines he desires, the feints to two new battle zones, Iran and North Korea, all much ado about nothing. America cannot even nail down Afghanistan and so America will now invade both Iran and North Korea?
Bolton is going to last less than H.R. McMaster, he's quickly going to get out ahead of his skis and soon, very soon, he's going to not only be beating the war drum, but he's going to start getting more attention than Trump---always fatal. Sure we'll all soon be seeing Bolton's mustache moving furiously extorting America about the "new danger" the same nonsense the Neocons consistently trot out about Israel's phantoms. Bolton can talk a tough game in the Faux News propaganda bubble, but out here in the real world, he's going to hit brick wall. Bolton forgets that Republicans, yes Republicans wouldn't grant Obama the authorization to officially invade Syria. Trump simply thinks Bolton's rants about war or fear of war will erase his personal and legal problems---not gonna happen.
2
Congress must move to protect their constituents and the nation from our "empty vessel" accidental president and his band of Fox News freaks. Congress must renew and reinforce the moribund War Powers Act.
Our spineless representatives, cowards in the face of controversy, have too long abrogated their responsibility to us. Congress must step forward to rein in this reign of error, before our perverse pied piper leads us down the same path that brings us another Vietnam, another Iraq, or worse.
1
We've had one bizarre week followed by another since Trump was inaugurated. Anymore pundit writers such as yourself will run out of adjectives to describe Trumps actions. Bolton is no surprise. Stay tuned for next weeks idiotic moves. Our goal now is to stay buoyant and hopefully safe during this turbulent presidency.
6
Fabulous op-ed. Bringing on Bolton totally demonstrates the stupidity of Trump. After spending all that time pointing out the errors in invading Iraq to rid it of Saddam Hussein, the man now brings in one of the strongest supporters of that war. It is like he is taking a hammer and hitting himself over the head with it again and again. But of course he will never admit or even understand how he is contradicting himself.
It probably wouldn't matter even if he did understand how he contradicts himself. All he cares about is what his gut tells him, and his gut is guided by those wise counselors at Fox News.
Trump is a nightmare just as the Cold War was a nightmare at its height. People wonder if the world can survive this nightmare. Will events fall in place appropriately to remove this nightmare before he can cause some devastating disaster?
One thing is clear: as some have suggested, the Republican Party is probably the greatest threat to life on earth. The two most recent Republican administrations: George W. Bush and Donald Trump. With that kind of record, why would anybody in their right mind even consider voting Republican?
5
Yes, Trump is a disaster but will have to work overtime to be worse than Bush/Cheney
1
After watching my fellow New Yorker for 35 years I have yet to see Trump exhibit any emotions beyond vanity, greed, lust, and most of all, revenge served hot.
Bolton and the other sinister drama queens in Trump's freakishly bizarre entourage are competing to control his feeble, chaotic brain by inflaming his hate-mongering vices and exploiting his pathetic insecurities.
Only a Democrat-controlled House, or Senate, can put the brakes on Trump's rocket-ride to Armageddon. 227 days until November 6th and counting...
7
Trump is capable of anything, especially as the walls close in around him. Inviting a crazy person like Bolton into the White House is a preview of coming attractions.
3
America now has president Trump, the chicken-hawk-in chief, being advised by another chicken hawk, John Bolton, who never saw a military conflict he didn't like as long as other people's lives were on the line. We saw a version of this with GWB and Dick Cheney. The planet still convulses from it.
Republicans in the House and Senate are abetting this insanity. This has to end, or America must admit that the ideals it supposedly cherishes are a sham.
5
Those of us who read the NYT agree that what is going on in this disaster of a presidency is a national disgrace and also a threat to national security. Unfortunately, the information I read daily from the NYT and other news outlets are not read by the people who most need to read, namely the President. The columnists who write weekly are preaching to the choir; we all agree this presidency is the most corrupt and inept ever in our history. The question is what can we do now to enact change, how can we stop Bolton?
3
Shouldn't there be an expiration-date on these DC hangers-on? Guys like Bolton should be stamped as expired, after they fail in a nomination process. Period. Sorry, no more job offers from Presidents, or elected officials.
Go off and sell your crazy ideas to news outlets and thoughtless-think-tanks, write blogs and books...make money for preaching to the choir. But IF you've failed a nomination process, especially like Bolton did - they should be marked as expired goods, and banned from job offers like this one.
Too many of these old, outdated white guys are still in circulation seeking to get back in and muck things up all over again. Too many of these old mule ideologues feeding on the edges, seeking to roll back time, acting like its the 1950's and the world is still beholden to the US.
FYI; Trump and friends...the world has moved on. They've learned from watching us muck things up...learned how to push-back, and are pushing back, and for the most part don't really need our input in matters of trade, etc. China,etc can easily skirt around us and make any number of deals with those Trump and his clown college grads are burning bridges...
Bolton is but another virus Trump has revived.
1
"That makes him, like W., a magnet for extremists who want to hijack the Oval."
Maureen, you should have said a magnet for the Russians - Putin - who want to hijack the Oval. Our country is fast crumbling and Putin is dancing and shouting, "it was all so easy, so very easy." Bolten in his way, is another Trump. Bone spurs and joining the National Guard, ha, ha. They make wonderful bed fellows.
1
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu who can't stand Iran used to sleep in the bedroom of Jared Kushner.
Kusher sleeps with Presidential daughter Ivanka and is an advisor to his father-in-law, Trump.
The fact that Trump is now in bed with Bolton, who wanted to bomb Iran to stop Iran’s bomb (https://nyti.ms/2kFGMCa) means that we stand to lose sleep as these crazy people start another war, now with Iran, in addition to the wars started by W.
When will our long national nightmare end?
4
Had President Obama not been so busy "looking forward, not back," perhaps we wouldn't have to suffer the indignity of Bush's evil brew of lying war-hawks back in the Oval Office. But no. Accountability wasn't Obama's "thing." No indictment, no grand jury, not even a cursory investigation. Obama picked up his "never again" Nobel and promptly let the liars and torturers retire peacefully to Wyoming or the American Enterprise Institute. And here they are again - no worse for the wear, and just as ignorant and unrepentant. We'll have a maniac at NSC, an old torturer running the CIA, and a Cheney-wannabe at State.
Obama ought to return his Nobel.
2
One could write an alternate history of the Obama years -- perhaps along the lines of "What would have happened if the Allies lost WWII? -- but Obama had to prove he wasn't "an angry Black man".
Hindsight is 20-20.
This seems hopeless unless Trump is impeached or dies in office. He really doesn't know what he is doing about anything. Bolton will succeed in fomenting a new level of warfare, perhaps strategic nukes. The USA will be mourned by the rest of the world as we sink into the morass of a military dictatorship. The kids are right but just too young to vote and have any organized effect. Unfortunately the survivalists will win.. and then die one by one.
Liars beget liars, and from the NYT article which clarified why even Republicans had serious doubts about Bolton's lack of integrity as he tried to tamp out reasonable research into the Iraq nuclear and chemical weapons programs, we know that Trump has selected one of his own kind.
The other discouraging note re liars is that the more they engage in this behavior, the easier and more automatic it is to do. That someone as blind to the complexities of international relationships as Bolton has now the power to influence, with impunity, the young lives in the military and reputation of the country is just more evidence of the need for voters to reverse this cataclysmic course in November.
1
As I listen to the screeching on Fox News Romper Room for Trump about the “deep state”, I believe that Bolton and rest of the court jesters that bang the drums of war will put this country into something deep and foul, with the help of the no-nothing grifter from Queens.
G.W. Bush can possibly have solace in knowing he will not be the dumbest president in modern times as his dumbness is in the long shadow of Trump.
I fear the easily fooled by shiny trinkets supporters in the media and public will cheer any movement toward military action against North Korea and Iran as they participate in the military action from the safety of their arm chairs.
1
Maybe if we actually prosecuted our war criminals from neocons and torturers to complicit media heads we would see their return and present leaders would learn that the limits of international law apply to us as well.
1
Another one of “those” guys — hawks with other people doing the fighting — but too cowardly to fight himself.
Our only hope is that he doesn't listen to Bolton any more than he listens to any other advisor.
2
“Bush will go down as the worst and by far the dumbest president in history.”
In 2006, I might have agreed with Trump. Boy was I wrong. I'm not absolving Bush but we'll need to ask Trump someday: How does it feel to be dead last? The number 45 takes on new significance when you look at presidential rankings. I suspect Trump is going to stay on the bottom of the pile for a very long time as well.
Bolton "explains" his not wanting to die in a "rice paddy" on the basis that he thought the Vietnam War already lost - as if he would have fought had he thought the opposite - who does he think he's kidding? Himself maybe?
How much easier it must be to be in favor of war when you know you won't be fighting and risking your own life.
1
Bolton is associated with MEK, which was on the US list of terrorists until 2012. Sen. Tim Kaine wonders whether Bolton can get a security clearance, in part because Bolton recorded a video for a Russian gun rights group which is backed by an ally of Putin.
Will Bolton be able to take up the post as head of NSA if he doesn't have a full security clearance? Shouldn't complete vetting be a requirement for anyone in that position?
17
Those of us who have studied diplomacy or practiced the art know that the definition of war is the failure of diplomacy.
Bolton believes that the definition of diplomacy is the failure of war.
19
Maureen Dowd’s column should have mentioned some facts about Bolton that the NYT mentioned this morning: That Bolton gets his financial boost from the Mercer’s. It looks like Trump took Bolton in because of his ties to Mercer money. How else can you explain this appointment when Trump disparaged all those neocons who pushed for war with Iraq? Bolton was one of those gung-ho on war with Iraq. Now he wants war with Iran.
14
Maureen Dowd’s memories about what she has written and supports is about as vague as Bolton and Trump’s. And about as apologetic, too.
13
Trump didn't pick Bolton because of his record, but because he saw him on Fox News.
19
The US 240 year old constitution never contemplated that the US would be like an internal combustion engine where the chase of the C atoms for O atoms causes an explosion
2
You cannot be a patriot and claim to support our military personal and leave their lives and the lives of their families to the whims of such men. If you claim to honor their lives and service then it is a coin that should be spent thoughtfully, judiciously. They pledge their lives to defend us and give up a fundamental right of choice trusting us, the people, to do the right thing. If you really honor their service than do so before their lives are uselessly spent by arrogant, self interested cowards like those that inhabit this White House. Call and write your representatives today! It is time for Congress, spineless as they are, to reassert their constitutional powers to wage war. And if congress refuses than be prepared to take to the streets.
17
Why, oh why, is that swamp so vast and its drains so small and so easily plugged?
10
Someone tell Trump war is bad for the hospitality and leisure business.
If Bolton starts WWIII, who flys to fancy golf courses and Trump hotels?
Simple enough for Trump's 6th grade comprehension of the world. Having the PBS professors, CNN screaming-heads and MSNBC smugs lay out the obvious case against Bolton does not move Trump's needle.
Keep it simple eggheads.
11
What will the GOP do this time around?
4
The dumbness that drips from every ceiling in the capital suggests that national politics, a morass of money grubbing, has scant ability to attract decent and intelligent individuals to public service.
The rot extends to the highest ranks of the military, judging by the amoral platitudes of "or else" that underline their every pronouncement.
The mass of Americans, gaping yokels who spend their life in cubicles, facilitating corporate deceptions, yawn and buy another pizza.
5
Never worry - the mustache and Bolton won't last long with Con-Don. They have much in common (like dodging the draft with bone spurs and service with the National Guards), BUT they both like being praised to the hilt and with Bolton lining up his 'cabinet' - Con-Don will have to contain it with his favorite one liner: "YOU'RE FIRED!!!"
6
That makes him, like W., a magnet for extremists who want to hijack the Oval.
Too late - Trump already hijacked the Oval .................
12
I am old enough to remember when Ms. Dowd called Trump s peace candidate and Hillary Clinton a warmonger.
16
Yeah- me too.
Trump was always 1000x worse than Hillary was ever going to be.
2
This can't be said enough. Ms Dowd, you helped elect this monster. Apologize, seek forgiveness, and then we'll listen to you.
24
Bolton was likely picked because Trump has no clue who he is or what he’s done or what the heck he’s talking about all the time. Trump just likes his TV persona.
9
Bolton is Trump’s henchman, hired to provide cover for the cowardly Potus, to divert attention from Putin’s leverage on his personal and financial indiscretions.
Donald’s narcissism will create a military conflict, to cover his tracks, and Bolton will gladly accommodate him.
8
As a nation, we need to be terrified. Warmonger John Bolton is headed for the White House. The military budget has just had a whopping increase. International tensions are rising by the day. Trump leads by chaos. Let’s face this reality: we are heading for war — and possibly a nuclear war at that. We need to follow the leadership of our children this past weekend. They stood up for life, not death. And remember they turned out in far, far larger numbers in Washington, DC alone than Trump supporters showed up for his inauguration. The youth protested in the vast majority of congressional districts. I believe they will remain very active through the midterm elections. Let’s all follow their lead — they are the adults in the room now — and bring down this administration and Congress in humbling fashion at the midterm elections. Thousands, if not millions, of lives are at stake — from bullets flying inside schools to missiles flying between countries. Remember the words of Martin Luther King Junior: “It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; it's nonviolence or nonexistence.”
20
What this proves is that the Iraq WarMongers have suffered not a whit for their incompetence, misfeasance, and malfeasance in that frightfully awful set of decisions. It's the World's Biggest Mulligan extant, and must not be forgotten just because these losers dislike Trump, too. Our media mostly fails to remind its customers who did what and when. Bolton was Cheney's spy and provocateur; this alone should damn him forever.
12
Trump is a con man Andy a compulsive, chronic and pathological liar. To be successful he needs followers, to keep them happy, periodically he must give them something they feel is valuable. So, he promises coal mining jobs, he attacks immigrants, people of color and threatens war with Iran and N. Korea.
Few notice he isn’t getting anything done, he’s just making noise and spending $money. Well, as they say, a sucker is born every minute and Trump seems to have cornered the market.
8
I can think of three possible scenarios to explain Trump's appointment of Bolton: 1) Trump is shrewd and thinks Bolton will scare the hell out of the North Koreans and Iranians and motivate them to reach some kind of agreement with the US ending decades of belligerence, or 2) Trump really is as profoundly incompetent as many had feared, or 3) Trump has lost his mind. Unfortunately, none of these scenarios is any comfort.
6
Bolton should have been relegated to the dustbin of history long ago. Thank Fox News for giving him a continued platform and at least the veneer of credibility—and now for lodging him in the addled brain of the simpleton in the White House. Talk about having blood on your hands.
8
“Bush will go down as the worst and by far the dumbest president in history.”
You’re wrong on that one, Donald.
18
"Iraq was a waste of blood& treasure". Mo, that war was a war of aggression that violated the same laws the Nazi's were hung for at Nuremberg. Our war criminals have faced no justice at all!
Trump on the other hand is a traitor, conspiring with Vladimir et.al. His hubris is his attempt to distract and he will burn down the house if he thinks it will save him from destruction.
PROSECUTE RUSSIAGATE!
9
"Bush will go down as the worst and by far the dumbest president in history."
Trump was wrong on both counts. And he will probably be around long enough to see it in print, in the history books.
7
I don't think it's hyperbole to say that with Bolton in the White House, the chances of war have increased dramatically. A war of aggression, started by the United States.
To its great discredit, the American public was duped into supporting the Iraq War back in 2003. At least there was a modicum of an excuse at the time - the trauma from 9/11, coupled with a ubiquitous drums-of-war campaign by the Bush administration (and virtually all of the mainstream media), generated public support.
In this case, a war would come at a time when the public is supposedly war-weary, and when the only talk of war in the 2016 campaign was Trump warning us that if Hillary were elected she'd "start world war III." Well, now we're in a position where if we engage in a war of aggression against North Korea or Iran (both of which Bolton has advocated for), we could certainly start World War III. How will Americans react this time?
2
I’m making an assumption, but my guess is the middle and working class Trump supporters have a higher proportion of family members in the military than the general population. What will it take for them to turn against this president?
19
Unfortunately, Fred, Trump's voter base has "slipped the surly bonds of truth" to "touch the face of fraud."
They are not quite a Jim Jones cult, but they're of the same mold.
These are duped Americans who would gleefully explain to you that the lump of 'beautiful' filthy coal in their Christmas stockings was pure gold.
America needs to register and vote in record numbers to chemotherapy out the Party of Proud Stupidity.
25
To compare Trump to George W. Bush is to flatter him. Bush and Trump differ in one crucial way. George W. Bush is a decent person who believed he was standing up to a tyrant and would be helping the Iraqi people. There were plenty of non-Cheneyesqe supporters of the Iraq war. His failure was in understanding the many ways things could and did go wrong.
Trump is a bully, who enjoys going after people's vulnerabilities. He operates under one principle, namely that the biggest/richest/highest ratings man in the room can do whatever he wants without ramifications. He believes in throwing his weight around and going after vulnerability. He believes in greed. He said that a chaotic situation in Iraq would create a power vacuum would represent an opportunity for darker forces in Iraq to prevail because that is what he would do.
While Bush is at heart a decent person who was in over his head, Trump is at heart a malignant narcissist who enjoys sticking it to people who fail to respect him. Trump gave every indication that he intended to represent America the way he represented himself and the way he conducted his business- being boastful, and throwing his weight around and making profits at others' expense.
His attraction to people like John Bolton is not the result of not knowing enough. It is being true to himself.
27
"Bush is at heart a decent person who was in over his head"
Bush was at heart a neo-con who believed in ideology rather than analysis and facts.
He dismissed the advice of generals about the cost of the war and the number of soldiers needed to occupy a country, and happily hired mercenaries so that his rich cronies could profit from a terrible war.
1
There is a Prez from Manhattan
Looking for a country to flatten
Bolton says he is right
Don't wait for a fight
"Why have nukes if we're not gonna use 'em"
25
When he was made Ambassador to the UN, the most revealing assessment of Bolton was "He kisses up and kicks down", the quintessence of a bully.
27
Ah, John Bolton. Meet the latest poster child for war tax resistance.
11
It's once more deeply dismaying to see an issue of such importance treated by Ms. Dowd with flippancy. This reads like a synopsis of two or three episodes of "The West Wing".
People and treasure were squandered thanks to the counsel of this criminal. "The Naomi Campbell of the Bush administration"--Dowd's hyperlinking herself now? That wasn't funny the first time. It's not funny now.
8
Best column Me. Dowd has written in a long time. Thank you.
8
All these hawks who never put their lives where their words are...
16
Ego, meet EGO.
7
Dowd, who generally tends to write with bright red lipstick, makes more sense vis a vis Bolton & Trump, than Stephens’ does in today’s column.
9
It is clear why Trump picked Bolton. They both like to behave as child bullies, torment people for fun and they both savor revenge.
Ah, America...what have you done?
33
Don't ya just love how all the toughest talking neo-CONs and Don CON, all managed to skirt their own military service. From Cheney's 5 deferments, "I had other priorities", and Newty Gingrich, to Cadet, now Generalissimo Bone Spurs, and revoltin Bolton.
They were and are all rough and ready to send your kids to fight and maybe die, but NO way will they or any of theirs ever be in harms way. Except perhaps from Mr Mueller's investigative team.
I'm willing to wager all my proceeds* from the fantabulous Trump tax cut on the bet that nary a one of these chicken hawks have ever even been in a physical fight. (And Don Con, being slapped or spanked by Stormy doesn't count).
Trump, Bolton, Cheney and their pals talk tough as long as they've got a security detail and phalanx of lawyers to throw lawsuits around.
In addition to showing us his taxes (WHAT is he afraid of?). I'd like to see some actual (un-doctored) photo or video evidence of the brave tough Tweeting 'precedent' that is known to some as President-- in action throwing or taking a punch. THAT would be awesome.
Of course some magical thinkers may believe they'd see Trump running in to a school under gun fire unarmed to save the day, but that kind of talk is cheap. Just like saying you're for the working man while being well known for stiffing contractors on payment.
VOTE Them OUT
*all $125 and no more property tax deduction.
32
Empires end, when you have all the wrong people, making all the wrong decisions, for all the wrong reasons.
This is the Trump Brigade in Spades.
MAGA - Mueller Ain´t Going Away!
1
From the lady who denigrated HRC as a hawk, and praised Donald as a dove.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/01/opinion/sunday/donald-the-dove-hillar...
19
Pleased to see that Dowd is the first to link the stupidity of the past two Republican presidents together. When it comes to foreign policy, Trump is heading to a position where he is Bush on steroids and that's a bad proposition for America.
11
" Trump is heading to a position where he is Bush on steroids "
He's already Madoff on steroids.
1
Trump won't listen to Bolton either. He's done with advisers. The appointment of all these "Sith" warriors is to show the other dictators that Donald is super-tough and ready for anything. Bolton will gab at him, illustrating ideological nuance {or nonsense} and the Donald will shake his head and tell him: "You know, you ought to shave off that mustache, it makes you look like a walrus." Once off TV, and live, Bolton will not be spared the Emperor's wrath. Fear not about Bolton; Trump is the issue.
6
This "Fox Cabinet" sure is unsettling.
15
We get your point: Bolton is a hawk. The point you miss is that we need more hawks. Pre-emptive war is the only policy that will protect America. After 8 years of your feckless darling, the world needs once more to recognize and respect the power of the greatest country in history.
2
That logic is the same logic that helped to bring Rome, then Britain to their knees.
Imperial overreach is never, ever sustainable.
We’d get more respect speaking softly, and we’ve already got a big stick.
"(T)he greatest country in history" laid to waste by 19 religious zealots with box cutters and a criminal overclass poised to profit from chaos. Well done, greatest country in history. And for your next act?
They’re all just shills for the military industrial complex. These wars will never end with the amount of money they get in these ridiculous budgets
11
If there ever is another war, the POTUS, National Security Advisor, Secretary of Defense, and all Generals will need to LEAD the troops into battle; that is be the first to face the enemy fire. They should not ask of others that which they wouldn't do themselves. Between the bone spur boy king, and the national guard enlistee draft avoider, we have two chickenhawks making decisions regarding sending Americans to war; something they took great pains to avoid themselves. Cowards.
17
John Bolton should never have another important role in government yet here he is being appointed NSA by the disgrace sitting in the Oval Office. John Bolton is stained by the blood of our troops and the millions of civilians that have died and continue to die in the Middle East. He is one of the architects of the Iraq war and has continued to defend our invasion and the disaster that followed it.
This decision has nothing to do with a change in policy and everything to do with distracting the public and the media from the interviews of a Playboy Bunny and a porn star not to mention the fast approach of the Mueller investigation into the filthy realm of the con man president. I fear that as his chances of surviving the investigation become minuscule, he will use Bolton to justify another war and more death and destruction. This is a man with no scruples and will do anything to save himself.
8
A US President is NOT all powerful. The Constitution provides for effective checks on his power. If Mr. Trump and Mr. Bolton want to do something stupid, we don't have to let them do it. We are not obligated to act as their lemmings.
6
Tell that again and again to the Red Republicans cowering on their knees.
2
Sadly, the elected Republican lemmings will co-sign any White House nonsense.
Nothing like a couple “easy wars” to excite Trump’s base and distract everyone from the current horrors. . . . . Wish Bolton needed to be confirmed.
8
When President Obama moved into the White House, Michelle left all the windows open for a day to air the place out. When the current occupant is finally evicted, the next president will have to tear the place down.
22
Mo , The stache is beyond unruly , it looks downright unsanitary , and the mind , devious , frightful because as you said , like Wile Coyote he keeps trying and trying . Trump has stepped over his own red line with this one ! Amazing how this insecure man will tolerate Wally the Walrus because his one track mind is focused ever on bullying , instead of diplomacy , that assures his loyalty . It is a meeting of the bullies doing a mind meld.
4
"It’s even more unsettling covering two Republican presidents who fit this description: George W. Bush and Donald Trump."
Oh Maureen, you leave yourself so open with that statement- but I've grown tired of reading new ways to complain about your lopsided interpretations of the players of the presidential election that brought us Trump and your refusal to ever find anything positive to write about Obama.
I'm ready to forgive and hope you do find a path to redemption from the many readers of this paper who may be less willing to offer absolution.
New York is a tough town.
4
Mr. Obama, even with both houses of Congress, by failing to provide ANY relief for the struggling classes abandoned by both parties save a Heritage Foundation corporate welfare healthcare bill, gave us Trump. The 80% of the electorate that lost ground during global capital's push for hegemony felt they were out of options so they voted for the nuclear one.
Presidente is nearing the end of the bench with the Bolton pick. After he fouls out, what next? A crisis situation develops and Dick Cheney is undergoing a transfusion in his remote bat tower and out of cell phone range?
Is Henry Kissinger still alive?
11
The world will be lucky if it survives the Trump presidency.
12
It won't take Bolton long to figure out how to lead DT around by the nose, assuming he hasn't figured it out already. Wow.
6
What does Trump see in Bolton? Well, anybody remember that Bolton in his younger days was a swinger who used to hang out at the NY sex club, Plato's Retreat? That this was exposed back in the Bush administration by Larry Flynt of Hustler? Who has also offered lots of cash for stories about Trump? Think any of these things might be connected?
12
The kids who marched yesterday have no idea what they are up against. More dark and dark our woes.
9
For dictionaries that have pictures next to some of their entries, a photo of John Bolton would be worth considering to illustrate the entry for "warmonger." And given his zealotry toward the internationally unlawful invasion and occupation of Iraq, even to this day, it also would be appropriate next to the word "shameless."
8
You didn’t like Hillary either. And many National Guard units get called into active duty so that was a cheap shot.
1
I was in the NG then and at that time the only thing we got called up for was the postal strike. I don't think any NG units went to Nam.
1
How is mentioning Bolton's military service avoidance at "cheap shot"? Bolton himself has admitted he joined the National Guard to avoid serving in Viet Nam. He has never denied it, and has, in fact, defended his choice more than once over the years. While many National Guard units are called into active duty, Bolton's unit was not called up. He remained safely at home. Dowd is merely writing the truth.
The fuse for the next war has now been lit.
Let us only hope that it's not going to be a nuclear one
4
Trump intends to start a war to get out from under the impeachment. Our congress has failed to act when they could have. Millions will die due to the bizarrely hawkish opinions of two draft dodgers:Trump and Bolton.
10
I see Ms Dowd you are trying to say that Trump is not a war monger based on his oppostion to Iraq.
You always find good words for him. I suppose you still have some soft corner for him.
I got news for you. He is never here or there. He will say whatever comes to his mind when asked a question. Who other than Bolten would be ready to work for him anymore , certainly not any sensible person.
To tell you the truth Bolten should be locked in a room and the door bolted until Mr Trump Presidency is over. Otherwise we are in deep deep trouble
10
Concerning our foreign policy, Pompao is the tinder, Trump is the match and Bolton is two gallons of gasoline. Stand by for the conflagration...
12
Trump, even Trump at this point knows that there's a good chance he'll go to prison. He's probably half-heard that George W. was re-elected because he was a president in war time. He's setting up another war (which is easy, due to Iran and North Korea) to take the heat off the Mueller investigation. he knows he can't just deploy troops, so he's using 'experts' like Bolton to say that HE didn't start the war(s), his advisors did. He's scared and stupid and backed into a corner. The lives of American soldiers mean nothing to him or Bolton or Cheney, etc. These are men who think that the world is a chess game they're playing. They think in historical terms- that you're only alive and living if you have power and are wielding it.
10
So, he was going to surround himself with the “best people”? Odd definition of “best”.
6
The Republican Parties dumbing down of this countries highest office did start with George W. It continued with McCain choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate ( I shiver just thinking about the possibilities ) who fortunately lost in their bid for the presidency. The downward spiral has not abated. The GOP has now given us the ultimate buffoon/sleaze ball, DJT.
I am hoping the bottom has been reached. But who knows for sure.
Trump for President in 2020?
6
Could say it started with the clown actor. But actually with the Texas Mafia oil bunch.
2
This is the tough diplomat the US needs!
Iran and NK should be very concerned.l.l
"Tough" is one thing.
Warmonger chicken hawk is another.
Iran and NK are indeed concerned and so is the rest of the world.
Especially here in the USA.
1
The ones who should be most concerned about Bolton are the American people. This guy is totally bad news with no chance of making peace.
1
There?--There certainly IS "there" there, but it's not you. American citizens should be extremely concerned. This guy likes to wave his hand and make unknown thousands die where they stand.
1
It's futile pointing to Trump's logical contradictions. lies, and hypocrisy. He's an amoral opportunist with no guiding light other than self-interest. Right now, for too many reasons to count, he needs a war; hence, John Bolton.
14
There are several members of this administration, Trump chief among them, who are such ignorant bunglers that they might unintentionally get us into a war.
That's how many wars happen. World War I is a good example of a war that began this way.
John Bolton would not do this. He has repeatedly announced that he wants to get the United States involved in many wars, but quite intentionally. He wants hot wars with North Korea, which has dozens of nukes, Iran, which stopped developing nuclear weapons but would certainly produce them if we went to war with them, Syria, China, and others. Not with his good friend Putin, whom Bolton claims was aiIandered by "false flag" attacks
9
My take on Bolton? Nobody of sound mind wants their name and reputation to be sullied by being part of chumps administration. So who is willing to serve ? The dregs, the bottom of the barrel, the outliers, those who have been booted out and still know they have a few more words to say.
It's only less than three years,folks. We will make it. That is of course, only if Bolton and chump don't start a war.
16
Yes Maureen, there are definite similarities between George W. Bush and Donald Trump. Both men are incurious and not the brightest bulbs in the marquee. Both the lost the popular vote by significant amounts, and both are completely out of their depth as Commander in Chief, and both easily led by more devious men.
But there is a crucial difference between the two: Bush, looking beyond his obvious deficiencies, was at heart a nice guy. While a disaster as president, he would have made a fine neighbor. He would have happily shoveled your walk if you were ill. You could have trusted him with the keys to your house while you were away to water your plants.
Trump? No way you would trust him with the keys. For one thing, he'd refuse to water your plants. And if he did agree to hold the keys, he'd be going through your daughter's underwear drawer.
22
We all know that Trump and his family and fawners and manipulators are all looking for the perfect way to avoid the imprisonment they surely deserve when Mueller proves they interfered in the last election. And WAR has always been the instrument of choice. And who better to start an undeserved, terrifying war than Bolton and the loose cannon that is Trump?!
Question: Will the GOP so-called leadership ever wake up from their TRANCE of fealty and politics? Will the generals step in and disarm this terrorist team of very sick, very removed from reality fools? I never thought I'd be rooting for the military to step in and get rid of this despot and his cronies, but here it is. Yes, please do. Stop him, and return us to however-messed-up our former so-called democratic process was, PLEASE!
Perhaps Congress could pass a law that Presidents who start wars have to live in the midst of those wars, and that their children all have to serve in the military where there is a war they started. Not that I'm sure Trump cares at all about his own children (much less any one else's), except as they make him look good. (The very definition of the mental health disorder called Narcissistic Personality Disorder; google it.)
You know it's serious when Maureen can't say anything humorous about a situation. Thanks for your courage in writing this, Maureen.
6
Trump regularly spits upon the former Trump who actually got elected.
The Trump who got elected kept pointing out that the Second Iraq War was a mistake. The Trump who is in office now hires Bolton.
The Trump who got elected promised universal healthcare and he was the only Republican who said we should not have people "dying in the streets" for lack of health care. (Apparently all other Republican candidates were, and have been, okay with people dying in the streets.) The Trump who is in office is now willing to let people die in the streets for lack of healthcare.
The Trump who got elected promised progressive tax reform. The Trump who is in office signed a massive tax give-away to the wealthy.
In short, the Trump who is in office retains all of his vices as a tempestuous and thoughtless man, with none of the policy-virtues that made him a candidate to whom the working classes turned to address their suffering.
Instead, in the end, the worst of the Republican "establishment" has absorbed Trump. Given his ignorance and inability to sustain thought and attention, Trump has become a puppet. A badly-behaved puppet, but a puppet all the same.
In sum, Bolton's appointment is, in a nutshell (nuthouse?), all that is wrong with Trump-as-president, versus Trump-as-candidate.
11
I think Bolton was picked because Trump has Stormy Daniels and Robert Mueller and possibly others closing in on him. As attention grabbing as Bolton is I think Stormy and Robert are keenly focused on Trump.
In any case John Bolton is a very despicable man who does not belong in a responsible administration.
9
And the lunacy continues, steering us on a course of destruction, and chaos.
As usual, the degenerate in the white house selected the worst man possible for the job as he has done countless times in filling positions. It is expected, that the worst man who could be president, select the worst people as assistants.
We have elected the Manchurian candidate, who has no thought at all of doing what is right for this country, or the world. It is clear that this man has absolutely no idea of what he is doing, nor concerned about the consequences of his actions.
Thank you Trump voters for making all this possible, and thank you GOP for being the spineless, self absorbed jellyfish you are in allowing this to continue.
11
Trump's sick mind and lust for power becomes more apparent every day. He aligns himself with fellow world dictators and would have this country go to war over his very radical and dangerous ideas about making America First. The GOP are his enablers now as this country is slowly being over-taken by very dark forces. Let's pray that the mid-terms arrive before it's too late to restore our democracy and the country that we once knew for its greatness and diversity.
8
Maureen,
While well said, your song macabre is being heard only by the choir. As the so-called POTUS once said, paraphrasing, he could probably murder someone in Times Square and not lose his base.
A war would galvanize both the ‘Murica-first wing and also, if the right “enemy” is chosen, the apocalypse-yearning fundamentalist-evangelicals around Donald and his administration. The small, still, voices of criticism would likely be drowned out by the thunder of marching boots and the roar of war planes. The anti-Trump pundits and talking heads would give way to video game images of American might and the gloating braggadocio of the man who who be king - at least in the beginning.
And the elected Republicans either sit fiddling as this great house and its storied traditions are set afire or wait greedily in the wings for their chance to feed at the plutocrat’s teat.
I fear that we have allowed this man to go too far unchecked. The charge of failure belongs to all of us for we have allowed his actions to go unchecked and unhindered by the very values, ethics, and rule of law his office is supposed to uphold.
#ustoo
6
It's not so much that Trump is "a magnet for extremists who want to hijack the Oval."
It's that Trump is, himself, an extremist.
10
" It’s unnerving covering a president who is treated like a boy king, requiring minders; who is easily swayed because he is underinformed; who can sit still only long enough for short oral briefings; who swaggers and mocks to mask his insecurities; who tries to replace real news with faux; and who can’t seem to fathom that distorting reality to suit political ends is dangerous."
Probably would have made sense to recognize this before you wrote all your light weight, easy coverage, semi-positive editorials about him before he was elected.
Anyway.....
5
Trump never cared about, nor understood, domestic or foreign policy. Trump only cares about Trump. American intelligence and the Russia Investigation are close to exposing Trump's criminality, so he needs to destroy them. Trump didn't appoint Bolton in a "King George madness" moment, he did it because Bolton was willing to use illegal means to get him elected. Bolton was one of the first patrons of Cambridge Analytica, and one of the earliest beneficiaries of its Facebook hack to elect Trump. Bolton repeatedly propagates the lie that Vladimir Putin never undermined the 2016 election, that it was a false-flag operation by Obama. Like Trump, Bolton has repeatedly peddled "fake news" blaming Putin's and Trump's crimes on Obama and American Intelligence. Bolton's conspiracy theories, lies, and contempt for American intelligence help lay the ground for Trump firing Rod Rosenstein and Robert Mueller, and killing the Russia Investigation. Mueller subpoenaing Trump Organization documents related to Russia has Trump in a panic. Trump's acting like the documents prove he's guilty. Bolton may play an anti-Russia hawk, yet he was the NRA's top adviser to Putin, blames Obama for Putin's and Trump's crimes, and wanted Trump elected at any cost. Trump was furious at Sessions for protecting the Constitution instead of him. Bolton, a serial liar, doesn't care about the Constitution, says Obama and the FBI framed Russia and Trump, and wants to kill the Russia investigation, so Trump hired him.
5
You write that Trump opposed Bolton's views. The problem is that Trump[ has no views, just an echo of the last person he talked with and with Bolton available the consequences could be godawful.
4
They could stop it all rather quickly. Just introduce a bill that all kids, male and female get drafted and force Congress to do their job by actually declaring a war. No more actions by crazed, reckless and immature cowards. Congress, who answer to voters quickly, must be forced to do their jobs after abdicating responsibility for the last 50 years.
No way the suburban, rural and religious parents that voted for Trump will allow their little Faberge eggs go and fight.
5
"The wretch who weaves deceit will bring death into his country," an ancient saying, possibly before the written word and as true today as then. From the beginning of our human history, in our genes and our blood, normal people know that liars are not good for a country or a society. That's why we push against their lies and injustices, we know instinctively what will happen if we loose. It happened under Bush with Bolton's able assistance, and it could happen again. The GOP and the far right may think this is just politics, but that's only because they are so lost, so gone that they have no survival instincts left, they can't even come in when it's raining unless told to do so. It's raining now, but they won't admit it; too proud, too blind, too lost.
3
We already know the president is our most vulnerable national security risk, tell us something we don’t know.
4
So for all those “rust belt marginalized” supporters of DJT, please take notice that as Bolton ascends to National Security Advisor, your victimization only increases. In 2016, your only “ skin in the game was $20 on a “Make America Great Again Cap”. In 2018, if Bolton has his way, you might see your sons and daughters, go to war/wars to protect the empty sentiment behind your investment.
If the Bolton doctrines become reality, the potential for war increases as does the potential for loss of life. I wish this does not happen. I also once had a wish that you would not be gullible dupes who bought into the idea that Trump was going to be “your voice”. Would you have spent the $20 if you knew that Trump intended to “Make America Great” by using your children’s lives as a bargaining chip? If you think you have been marginalized already, just wait and see what’s coming next.
8
Donald Trump's appointment of Bolton is quite predictable. Bolton and Trump are warmongers and with Bolton in place, don't be surprised if we start a conflagration with Iran, North Korea, or both. Bolton will convince Trump that negotiating with Kim is pointless and Trump will reduce Mattis to a figurehead and eventually dispatch him as he's done with many other voices of reason (Tillerson, McMaster, Cohn, etc.) This is a presidency unhinged and as Clapper, Brennan and other respected former CIA/NSA/FBI directors have indicated, Donald Trump is a threat to our national security.
3
Trump is running out of smart political options, like a peaceful one, so he is setting the old gang. Grandpas are taking humankind to disaster; a last macho reflex before extinction.
2
Don't sweat this one too much. Trump doesn't hire based on ideology or perspective. He hires based on various factors, chief among them what suits his tactical, political, or public relations needs of the moment. All of those will change (they do daily) and with that change John Bolton, too, will find himself shown the door. The only question: will this take days (a la The Mooch), weeks (a la Flynn), or months (a la McMaster).
5
Trump hires based first and last on who will stroke his only oversized part, his ego.
He thinks he is a king and he is like an historical British monarch - King George III aka the mad king .
2
I still haven’t seen the ‘Bless me, Father, for I have sinned...’ confession from Ms. Dowd. She had a part to play in this whole debacle and she should be humbly asking for forgiveness.
Until I see this I have no forgiveness at all. She should be begging forgiveness from Hillary Clinton too.
23
You are absolutely correct! I have not read her columns since two weeks before the election! Not a real critical word for Trump but petty petty petty comments about Hilarie.
2
Parallels to W are interesting but misleading. After all, the US wss attacked on 9/11, killing more Americans on Amerucan soil than Pearl Harbor. At a minimum, that was more than enough reason to go to war in Afghanistan. Today, no one has attacked the United States, and the odds that either Iran or North Korea will do so are nil. Any military action against them would be pure aggression.
9
Please note, 911 was the work of our good friends the Saudis, the fiasco into Afghanistan and Iraq were always the wrong targets, although Iraq had oil and Cheney liked ownership for Haliburton.
So We go to war with Afganistan because the terrorists were Saudis???
We have a nation-based response for small group terrorist attacks?
We go to war with Iraq who had nothing to do with 9/11?
No rationale except for blind rage fanned by vengeance.
The so called president is a flashing warning sign that congress must aggressively reclaim the power to declare war. Events since the invasion of Iraq prove beyond doubt it is a bad idea to cede increasing amounts of power to the executive branch no matter the occupant is. The fact the current occupant is dangerous and incompetent makes the need more urgent. Sadly, the Republican Party cares only about party power not the good of the country.
3
Those that fail to learn from history.....Bolton is a dangerous man for he is another person who will prove that he is right no matter how many die. Soon to be in the service of the man child POTUS we are edging closer to the abyss. I am very concerned that another global war could be looming. For over 70 years a system was developed and implemented to prevent such an occurrence from happening. Granted it was far from perfect but it worked. Now individuals such as Bolton are working to undermine this and in their ideological fervor place all in grave jeopardy. There are no easy solutions to either North Korea or Iran. The answer though is not to go charging in at full speed. Of course Bolton will never admit to the fallacy of Iraq for he is convinced that he was right. There is blood on Bolton's hands {Iraq} that cannot be washed off. It is time for Congress to consider limiting the ability of the executive branch to wage war. Although it is too late and in the future may become a political football it is time to make the position of National Security Advisor one that must have congressional approval.
3
Just wondering how these two egomaniacs, Trump and Bolton, will actually have a conversation. Two bullies shouting at each other does not make for deliberative and sound policy. True, Bolton knows a lot more than Trump but Trump looses interest quickly so Bombs Away Bolton may not get enough quality time with the boss. Trump may just send him out to do TV leaving Pompeo in the Oval. I fear that war is definitely in America's future.
2
Congress has the ability to put the brakes on. Don't fund Bolton's hawkish stance. As person who came of age during Vietnam and protested against the war, I wish there were more protests about Iraq and Afghanistan and funding the Saudis' war against Yemen. Pressure Congress to pressure for more diplomacy from skilled diplomats instead of newbies like Jared and bullies like Bolton. Foreign Service folks spend years studying their particular country to understand the culture, thereby making informed decisions in building relationships. Trump is like a dog distracted by squirrels. Bolton is the latest squirrel.
11
Nah, dogs are smarter.
2
Bolton sitting next to the Diet Coke swilling Trump makes it clear once again that the national leadership of our country (they are out there somewhere, aren't they?) needs to put a cork in this administration so that we all have a better chance to survive the next three years. Trump needs to be called to task, to be told in no uncertain terms what the limits of his presidency and his powers are should he continue on the present course.
How could this be achieved? Right now, only two Republican Senate votes could shutdown Trump's legislative agenda. That is a very narrow margin. Trump needs to be told that he will get nothing more from Congress unless he reigns in his chaotic presidency.
There should be a five person council assigned the task of approving, or disapproving, any use of nuclear power and any decision to go to war. Trump should be forced to ceed power to this council at the risk of losing his entire legislative agenda. Basically, he should be made to realize that unless his mends his ways, he will see the fate of Obama staring down on him, the potential that nothing he wants will be passed by Congress.
Imposing this on Trump, even behind closed doors, would involve major risks for the Republicans and for Democrats as well. The risk otherwise, however, is that tens of millions of people could die in Korea, in Iran and, if a North Korean missile were to succeed, on the west coast of the U.S. as well. The stakes are extremely high.
6
There is a council of 538 already, in theory, sitting on the decision to go to war. It is called the US Congress and its powers are spelled out quite explicitly in the Constitution, that "thing" that all the Congresscritters and the President swore to uphold and defend. Starting a pre-emptive war without a declaration (or at least an authorization, as even the Bush cabal needed) should be automatic grounds for impeachment and trial for perjury. trump took an oath and even if he was crossing his tiny fingers behind his back, he must honor it.
2
Congress does not have the immediate ability to weigh all of the options and prevent a president from making nuclear war. In fact, we should have had such an executive council all along. It is unacceptable that one man or woman should have should unlimited power to order the deaths of millions of people. Impeachment, unfortunately, would come too late in the event the bombs starting flying. Indeed, it is possible that 80% or more of the world's population could be killed if an all out conflict erupted.
Congress does not have the immediate power to stop nuclear war. By the time they all flew in from their home districts, the death toll would be in the millions.
Hiring Bolton was a smart move. He's like having a nuke that's bigger than any other. Great deterrent to our enemies. Following Bolton's advice is like detonating the nuke. Time to build those underground shelters.
1
So on point, Ms.Dowd.
And the thing that’s particularly scary now is this all happens, Bolton and Pompeo, as Mueller circles in closer. Trump habitually changes topics to take the heat off of himself. War is just the antidote for what ails him. War will cause mass chaos. And take the public’s attention off of Russia and Trump. People will die, and Trump doesn’t care. His only interest is Trump.
8
Ms. Dowd, that is quite a first paragraph. Especially from someone such as yourself, who has spent a significant part of your career legitimizing Trump. If it were not for people like you, he would never have gotten to where he is. But, wasn't it all just such good fun, and, since he was a New Yorker, he was special. Don't preach to the rest of us until you have your own "come to Jesus" moment.
25
I think CNN deserves most of the blame for Trump, not Dowd. Free (hot) air time most mornings.
Does Trump understand that Iran is aligned with Russia and that Bolton wants to invade Iran?
9
All of those who were involved in the Iraqi debacle, from George W. to Cheney to Rumsfeld to Bolton, should be considered war criminals, responsible for the unnecessary deaths of thousands of America's finest young people and tens of thousands of Iraqis.
The fact that one of them, John Bolton, is now Trump's national security director is the scariest thing Trump has done. Especially considering that Trump, like George W., has little knowledge and less understanding of foreign policy.
God help us all.
16
President Trump is walking in the footsteps of the person who most recently had his ear. On matters of foreign policy, it now looks as though that person is John Bolton.
Unless Bolton does a 180-degree turn from just about every public statement he has made over the past two decades, then the entire world has reason to be very nervous.
6
Brennan was right; the Russians own Trump and his mission is to sow chaos here, in whatever way he can.
18
So when Trump finds out Bolton still thinks the invasion of Iraq was a good idea, will he:
A. withdraw his job offer in a fit of high moral outrage;
B. decide the invasion was a really good idea and deny he ever spoke against it; or
C. withdraw the job offer because the mustache turned out to be a deal breaker after all.
I'm betting on B, but C is a strong possibility, too.
5
Yes, Bolton appears to be a thoroughly unpleasant character. But on this account, the case against him seems to depend largely on phrases such as "was known as", "reviewing charges", "accused of", "claimed". What was the outcome on those? I assume that if they had been confirmed, the author would have been eager to tell us about it.
Oh, and we must consider "the 69-year-old's unruly mustache", which Trump had to "overlook". So his age and physical appearance are also relevant to his culpability.
I guess that since #Metoo prevailed, nothing more than accusations are ever required for summary action. Why waste time and effort on substantiating things, particularly when we already know who the bad guys are?
2
Bolton's own statements, forever preserved by media, provide all the substantiation needed.
We don't know how things turned out in Iraq because the war is still on.
A good way of getting Bolton out of the White House: have Trump believe that Bolton projects a persona of greater strength and toughness than he has.
8
great column. It's easy to think Bush looks good in hindsight but the empty vessel theory is spot on. They are/were equally CLUELESS. But Trump is still more frightening, because he doesn't have one trace of moral fiber in his body. Not that it does any good, but W was capable of expressing self-doubt and remorse. Without those qualities, no matter how small-minded they were, who knows where we may have ended up? Trump does not possess ANY of the same.
3
To go to war it should be presented to the whole Congress, just like Iraq was presented. Our only hope is those politicians will see the folly in undertaking any new conflict. True the president can declare war but we do have a system in place to keep our president from being a Monarch.
I am hoping to see a big change in Jan of 2019. One that will finally let the government know how fed up “We the People of the United States” are with what is happening in Washington. Our president is a big bully baby and all of the Republican Senators and Comgressman are complicite. He/they must be stopped in November.
4
I'm surprised you still have faith that the Republican led Congress has the gumption to speak out against anything their buffoon leader says or does. They know that Trump saved them from oblivion in this last election, and they're amazed and thankful to be left standing. As to the positions they take on any matter under their purview, follow the money.
This is going to end bad, really bad. Now that Trump has elevated Bolton and Pompeo, and at last might have people who will tell him what he wants to hear, we are almost certainly going to end up in war with North Korea and Iran. And yes, they will be war crimes, possibly with nuclear weapons being used.
2
Bolton's language represents in Trump's mind a person with simple, straight-forward sound bites ("attack", "take over", "win", "bully"). No need to struggle with complexity in a world of vastly differing beliefs, views and interests. Trump and Bolton are naturals: vain, rapacious, insecure men in a world of enormous complexity.
We are being led by bullying, weak-minded men who are threats not only to our democratic values, but to the human race!
When will intelligence enter the room?
5
Intelligence has had its credentials revoked, so it can’t get anywhere near a he room.
Of all the columns and op eds I’ve read, none seem to mention the fact that the constitutional power to declare war rests with Congress. Congress needs to take back this power that it ceded to the Presidency over the last decade . If Trump and Bolton start a war without Congressional consent, that should be impeachable.
26
True. Though remember how our current war began - lies and distortion from the WH, and a willing and blood-thirsty congress. Now, throw in a base of reckless, hating monsters—and we’re on the fast-track to another war. We should be terrified by this educated kook, Bolton.
America's allies and trading partners are working around the US, while Trump continues to court tyrants and dictators who hold both him and America in contempt. Another unnecessary war, along with a burgeoning trade war will ruin the US, and not all of its nuclear weapons and carrier fleets will save it from collapsing.
15
This change of heart by Trump shows that the cause of his demented behavior is his dementia. The GOP believes that Trump will pacify the anti abortion crowd and protect their right to subject the country to their religious tyranny but will follow GOP think tank developed orthodoxy. They are wrong. Trump is reacting to the direction given by Fox News. He is being artfully manipulated by Rupert and friends through Fox and Friends. Trump is nearly out of control and is perfectly willing to kill millions.
50
This Neocon appointment is another explicit betrayal of an important Trump Campaign promise.
I hope the men and women of Draft age, and their families, who supported Trump, will find comfort in the Conservative Supreme Court Justice appointed by Trump when they get their draft notices.
41
I would like to address the nihilistic Bernie (and other anti-Hillary) Democrats, especially those in the Midwest, who were too pure to go to the polls on election day.
I was a Clean Gene (and then Bobby) supporter in 1968, excited but somber about McGovern's chances in 1972, etc. Bernie was probably the first national candidate since that time (in that EW didn't run) who spoke to my sense of fairness. However, we now live in a polarized nation, and many of those on the other side would rather vote for a child molester than a Democrat.
So, I voted for Hillary, even though she wasn't my first choice. I encouraged my friends to vote. Here in Maine, although Hillary was likely to win, we are in a tug-of-war with an antediluvian plurality that's strong enough to prevail when we Democrats would rather fight each other. Paul LePage, the John the Baptist to Trump's Redeemer, was elected Governor with 38% of the vote.
Although the GOP seems to be acting out an Escher version of Opposite Day (asking, "What would be the sensible thing to do here?" And then choosing to do the exact opposite), I will give them this: When, after some of the most entertaining primary debates since Barnum met Bailey, that party nominated a candidate, that party came together and worked to elect the Frankenstein's monster they had created.
So, it's not just you, Maureen, who should rue her precipitate actions in denigrating the only sensible 2016 candidate. Although a few mea culpas would be appropriate.
88
The truly scary thing is that the Bolton appointment, together with the proposed appointment of Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State, is consistent with the speculation that Trump is looking for a war with Iran and/or North Korea in order to divert attention from the Mueller inquiry. After all, who's going to care about collusion with Russia, money laundering and porn stars when the U. S. is headed into a nuclear conflict? As with 9/11, the nation will rally around the president however feckless he may be.
86
Interesting theory. But is your conclusion warranted? Trump is surely feckless, and 9/11 is a good example of the U.S. public counter-punching into an unnecessary war. With today's polarization, however, can anyone guarantee that "the nation will rally around the president"? Fox News has, and will continue to do so. The MAGA zombies will goose-step themselves into the abyss. The spineless Republican leaders in the House and Senate will rattle their sabers. What about the rest of us? Are we really going to lay down our lives for a nation whose rule is based on such egregious economic inequality and is defined by such nasty partisanship? It seems to me that a real weakness in the divide-and-conquer strategy has been exposed.
4
For my part, I will NOT ‘support the troops’ if these craven draft dodgers send them to yet another war of choice.
Juniper, I hope you are right but I am not as sanguine as you. Public opinion and Congress can be easily manipulated as we have seen of late with the misuse of Facebook data and as we have previously seen with the Gulf of Tonkin resolution and the lead up to the Iraq War. Sure, a majority of Americans can see through Trump and his actions but will they still stay strong in the face of a threatened nuclear war and the fear that that will instill?
It’s all cover to distract us from the upcoming 60 Minutes interview, the Mueller investigation and to ramp up the chaos he uses to increase his field of options.
62
Ms Dowd, before I comment on Bolting Bolton, I have to ask you, or perhaps others, what happened to Trump's mind and psyche between 2003 and now? When one reads what seems to have been a rational response to the invasion of Iraq and juxtaposes that with a seemingly most unstable and unbalanced mind, it is difficult not to think that this, gulp, president has more than just a behavioral problem. He seems to have crossed the line from neurotic to pathological.
Now, Mr. Bolton. Yes, we have reason to fear his extremely hawkish views, a bully and thug not unlike his new boss. What seems even more ominous is that I believe he is, a. smarter than Trump; b. more ideological; and c. even more manipulative. We are facing a whole new level of threats with this new marriage of sorts. To think back to pre-revolutionary Russia (hmm, how fitting), there seems to be a metaphorical resurrection of Tsar Nicholas and Rasputin.
52
Dowd's column today underscores just how much of a blank check Trump really is on foreign policy. Other than tariffs, about all this Administration has accomplished is upsetting our allies while showering praise on despots around the world. And just as Trump doesn't have the courage to fire people to their face, he also can't manage to make amends with our allies; witness the sending of clueless Kushner to Mexico.
Adding Bolton this mess is akin to pouring sugar into a bowl of pablum. The baby in the Oval Office will slurp up the sweet nothings being whispered into his hear and, before you know it, N Korea will be confronted -- or else, Iran will be back to making nuclear weapons and Russia will be running our elections from afar. Again.
And the many deplorables in our midst will eat up their pablum and, like Oliver, beg for more of the same.
42
We are in deep now. Who is the adult in the room? Who will say no? Should I hope for a coup? Honestly, this is terrifying to me. I can only imagine what the South Koreans are thinking, the Japanese are thinking? They sit in the backyard of North Korea. And what does Israel think? What will these world leaders do to clamor for a different outcome? They all have a stake. We all have a stake.
18
I’m not sure about what the others are thinking but in South Korea they’re ready for us to depart. What used to be their protection is now becoming a risk of war.
17
Can we be clear about this statement? -' He is a fervent believer in pre-emptive war.' This is a polite way to say Bolton, and apparently now Trump, believe in invasion. Invasion of nations that have not actually harmed us, based on fabricated lies - again? Two endless wars and now these bullies want to start their own, like an enterprise. Its no surprise that both Trump and Bolton have significant ties to both the NRA and Russia. Thugs like them are great for the arms industry and they clearly don't care if they get us all killed.
45
The constitutional power to declare war lies with congress. The must exert this power and make it clear that any attempt to circumvent them is impeachable. Democrats should be making this point loud and clear.
1
Statements made in Trump's 2006 interview with Dowd regarding the Iraq invasion almost left me with the impression he actually has logical thoughts. Of course, that was 2006, I am older now too and so is Trump. Bolton's mistreatment of underlings reminds me of fits I once observed from a previous employer. He would go in his office, slam the door and then kick the walls and hurl objects at the windows. He was an only child.
6
Bolton cannot make it in the inner circle because of his hirsute upper lip collects dust bunnies and potato chip crumbs. It is annoying to everyone and unsettling to Bolton because he is constantly paranoid and insecure. Some believe that he is in a state of fearfulness always looking under his bed for Bogeymen. Trump will be afraid to tell his to shave his upper lip region but he will be continuously disgusted looking at his chips and dip mustache. Bolton in no gold leaf golf cart GOP type as he is strictly business and cannot think past interactive atoms in small, erupting spaces.
6
I have served in the Iranian Border Guard in a quick reaction force and I have seen every single border bar in the western borders but in two year of service I have failed to see a single "conservative" or a "war hawk" serve on the border. I guess it doesn't matter where you are, there will always be cowards who haven't sacrificed a thing in their lives and ask for the ultimate sacrifice from the others, people who campaign for wars so their country man can die in, so they can glorify it with sinister words.
66
Thank you for writing. this should be on the front page.
I served in Berlin 1969-71, and observed the very same thing. Russian officers maintained their stern decorum, but the rank and file soldiers, when we encountered them, were thrilled to meet Americans. In their country as well as ours, it's the old men who send young men to war.
6
Soon enough, Trump's poll numbers will teeter, and more Republicans in Congress will start to abandon him. That's how Bolton will convince Trump to attack Iran or Korea: Trump and his ragtag band of miscreants have covered their criminality so poorly, only war can stave off the long-awaited justice coming their way. What a ridiculous way for the world to end.
28
Like "W" Bush, who needed an attack dog to defend his position in the U.N. and global stage after the Iraq fiasco, Trump also needs an attack dog. At this stage in his presidency Bush faced the prospect of a withering defeat in the next presidential election.
Bush was not an empty vessel filled with neocon bravado by the cabal. He (Karl Rove) was the decider to invade Iraq. Rumsfeld assured him the victory would be swift and with few risks. Iraq was a plausible target - controlled by a troublesome dictator, it was in the Middle East, the source of the 9-11 terrorists. Bush sought vengeance for America. Planning for "Mission Accomplished" to sweep "W" into his 2nd term may have preceded military planning for the conflict.
Trump needs an attack dog that barks more loudly than he Tweets. Then Trump can look presidential and statesmanlike when he disregards urgings to "Attack! Attack!" and talks with Kim Jong-Un. Perhaps this strange combination can produce some unlikely results. We will soon see whether Bolton survives into the summer.
2
Maureen, what a tragically accurate analogy, describing W as a "host vessel" inhabited by parasites like Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bolton.
With Trump, however, he himself is the parasite inhabiting the hollow vessel called the American electorate.
Collectively, enough of us to get Trump elected have voluntarily chosen to become lazy consumers of vapid so-called entertainment for hours a day instead of educating ourselves on key issues impacting our lives. A huge percentage of us don't read anything longer than a few paragraphs in a Facebook link or watch a 30-second video clip about any topic.
We now view celebrity on a par with expertise. We view political leadership as an extension of entertainment. We pay more attention to Grumpy Cat than whether our president and his national-defense advisors are seriously contemplating more wars.
And our host vessel status begins with our educational system. By most reputable rankings, Trump's red state base has the worst educational systems in the nations. And when we see students who appear to be well educated and well spoken--like many from Parkland--the GOP and NRA attack apparatus is set upon them, calling them everything from crazy lesbians to wanna be celebrities, to divert attention from the true issues.
The GOP, NRA, and wealthy ultra conservative elites like the Kochs and Mercers (funders of Cambridge Analytica) want us uneducated and distracted so they can stay in power. Don't be a Trojan horse for them.
35
I agree with your sentiments about education helping people make wiser, more thoughtful and less emotional decisions.
But Rogers was Editor of the Harvard Law Review; Bolton, Yale undergrad and Law: W Bush, Yale undergrad and Harvard Business. Not to mention Trump and Wharton.
These look like the best and the brightest, at least on paper.
Your comments made me even more depressed.
1
Superb narrative !!!
It may not matter this time round but it's surely the case that Trump and Bolton will be unable to create an 'international coalition' to provide cover for their military objectives. Trump has alienated every US ally on this side of the Atlantic. There are still reactionary lunatics in the UK government who will prostrate themselves for Trump in the mistaken belief that he will deliver on his promise to the Brexit fanatics of a wonderful trade deal favourable to Britain (and pigs might fly!). Fortunately for us there are too many Parliamentarians wary of further Middle East adventures sponsored by charlatans in the White House. Besides the country would not stand for the slaughter of more of our young men and women for no perceived benefit whatsoever. The USA will likely have to go it alone and hopefully this may act in some way as a brake on Trump/Pompeo/ Bolton's wilder delusions..
12
Our feeble minded President, so susceptible to the ejaculations of the right wing media, anoints a warmongering ideologue likely to lead him and our nation into a war of aggression. We have much to fear as Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, indelibly stained as war criminals by the unnecessary deaths they caused, re-emerge in the person of this mustachioed, callous, like-minded zealot. In their self-aggrandizing inhumanity, John Bolton and a Donald Trump are likely to prove only too willing to sacrifice the lives of our young and countless others to satisfy theur pathological idiosyncrasies. As a nation of principles and laws, America, we must arise in protest.
18
Republicans always do this. Increase our economy for the rich with giant tax cuts and a bellicose foreign policy.
Tax cuts for the rich and wars, that's your America. That's the message from its leaders. That is what the mindless get, to come home an amputee but with a medal, so the rich can continue to give themselves more money.
21
I think it is interesting, the juxtaposition of Bolton’s appointment against this weekend’s March for Our Lives. This is clear evidence of Trump’s misread...or disregard..of the mood of. The country...tired of war, tired of gun murders, mass shootings, etc...in the midst of all this, he hires a war monger. Trump, proves once again, he seeks to serve himself.
17
Trump sees that all is lost unless he can have something big happen like 9/11 because he knows how popular it made even the disliked George W. And with little patience and even less of a time window to make something happen he’s in a hurry to get on with it, so what better than a war? But unlike W., trump has to win and as he clearly he’s got the “biggest bombs”.
Trump’s base wishes to see him unleashed. Be careful what you wish for...
7
Great piece that hit every wrong note both of these republican presidents; Trump and W Bush. That all this mindless war making, might happen again leaves this nation no consolation. Remember, when W flew off in his helicopter, for the last time, our elation, we thought we would be saved from quagmire destruction, and now the bad dream of the crocodile returning, lurching in the cesspool, ready to swallow the nation whole again is here. And the madmen rule with consent of congress and the Supreme Court.
12
Great column, Ms. Dowd, and sadly, all too true.
3
An splendid and profoundly insightful 'Bolt the Oval Against Bolton' by Maureen Dowd! Trump's election to succeed Obama in the White House was a bolt from the blue. It is now being topped by the "boy king" choosing rapacious Bolton as his 'national security adviser'. Let us hope that no further "anarchy is loosed upon the world".
5
I hope your brother is still enjoying the increase in his savings !
9
Another draft dogger in charge of our military policy? God bless America!
11
Another member of the bully club, who have at their disposal the world's largest and most capable military. Who needs diplomacy when you can threaten others to get your way?
5
Your OP-ed column dear Maureen is the bright side of America or of Anglo-Saxon culture. What people around the world fail to understand is how come such things like Trump’s election and Brexit vote can ever arrive. Yes, in Europe we had a Berlusconi, but, that’s it. Is it the result of those Machiavelli inspired nerds creating such sophisticated machinery emerging with those unbelievable names like Cambridge Analytica or Aggregate IQ, SCL, Dr Spectre, Dr Nix. But again, we don’t see this schema operating successfully in Canada, nor in Europe. It’s dreadful like nightmares. U.S. emerged unscathed after last big war (WWII); this will not be the case if a new war of that kind happens now though.
2
Thank you Maureen. At least no one can say we sleepwalked into the next war, even though that’s what it feels like, and for who or what’s benefit will thousands, millions be maimed and killed? Tragedy.
5
What are the chances that any attempt to put US kids on foreign soil would be attacked so vehemently by the students that it would not even start. How would the government that can't help students finance their studies because it does not have money for that justify spending million plus it takes to send each to foreign soil with high risk of them not coming back. By a 70+ plus Trump who never went anywhere to serve? And by a Bolton who in his 80 or so years never could find time or backbone to serve himself despite many wars during his years. How can these two bojos send us to die - the kids would ask.
2
I'm not so sure that Trump is "letting himself be guided by W's most hawkish advisor" -- Trump guides himself.
These appointed hawks are a face to put fear into potential aggressors such as North Korea.
Many of those who don't believe in prayers, have started to pray that POTUS continues renewing, by firing, his own staff. Sad!
And what can we learn from the fact that both Bush and Trump were/are minority presidents, ascending to the Presidency despite the will of the majority of voters, courtesy our broken antique, the Electoral College.
We have three serious systemic problems in this country:
1. The Electoral College, which gives undue influence in presidential elections to the most sparsely populated, least-well-educated parts of this country. It's Dumbocracy.
2. Our system of legalized bribery, in which big money buys influence in DC via campaign contributions.
3. Our gun insanity, exacerbated by the wrongly decided Heller decision, in which Scalia would have us believe that the first 13 words of the 2nd Amendment don't change its meaning, overturning 150 year of Supreme Court precedent.
Fixing all three will require constitutional amendments, but we had better do it because they are all contributing to ignorant and/or crazy people becoming president, the Congress failing to what's right (rather than what keeps them in office) and our children being murdered in school.
8
Every “hawk” has a nest that is lavishly feathered by the arms manufacturers and merchants of the “military-industrial complex” Eisenhower so presciently warned Americans about in the aftermath of WW II. A military budget over 700 billion per annum is unconscionable when you consider our national needs for education, infrastructure and renewable energy. Find the hawk’s money trail, expose it and vote them all out of office ASAP.
7
Thank you for your column about “chickenhawks:” Dubya, Cheney, Bolton and Trump. Why do dangerous mediocrities such as these find their way into positions of power?
7
Maureen you nailed it. I think Trump believes this appointment of Bolton will divert attention from the Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal stories. It might just work because I think even trump knows Bolton is insane. The outrage of this incompetent Neocon becoming the NSA should make every person in the world nervous.
3
Trump's experience is that in the game of 'chicken' he always wins. Bolton is also a believer. They both underestimate Xi and Putin (and N. Korea and Iran).
3
I’m up for a bit less chaos then, if it means less news then I can deal with that too. This administration defines chaos as its daily gruel, not so much as it intends to clear the decks and drain the swamp but rather that it doesn’t have a clue what it’s doing.
4
Bolton is simply Trumps’ ticket to a major catastrophic event (new war, etc) that will distract and take all the pressure off him from the Russia investigation.
3
Calling Bolton a "neocon" won't mean anything to most people because they don't follow politics that deeply. A better label would be "chicken hawk." Trump's base should always be mindful that the new NSA who definitely believes there is always a good place to send sons and daughters to war never served a day in the military.
4
I wonder what Trump's boss, Putin, thinks about Bolton publicly calling for retaliatory cyberattacks on Russia. We all know what Trump thinks, so obsequiously kissing up to Putin on his sham election instead of criticizing Putin for using chemical weapons, or for those aforementioned cyberattacks against USA. I suppose Bolton is willing to bite his tongue when it comes to Russia if doing so puts him in position to convince Trump to start a war with North Korea or Iran. The idea of Bolton whispering (or more likely shouting) in nuke-loving Trump's ear should make us all very worried.
1
Curious how all the warmongers are those who consciously avoided going off to war themselves. Now that they're too old for the front lines themselves, they are gung ho to send other peoples' children off to the slaughter.
I recently visited the Eisenhower Museum in Abilene KS. Many quotes from Ike are emblazoned on the walls and they all resonate across the years. The one that comes to mind today is this:
"God help the country when the day comes that we have a president that doesn't understand the military like I do!"
Dwight David Eisenhower
6
With Trump in charge, and Bolton on his new perch, the hen is finally guarding the fox house.
1
Appointing John Bolton is possibly the worst of countless awful appointments this so-called administration has made. He is dangerous, to our country as much and more as to all others. This madness must be ended before it begins.
4
Bolton isn’t the problem. Trump is. He’s a weakling who wants to put on a big show of strength, and what better means is there than exploding gigantic bombs on top of people he doesn’t like?
The only way to get Trump to back off on playing with his shiny new army set is to make it cost him personally. And that means making him do the job he was elected to perform. If it means he can’t run off and hide on the golf course every weekend, he won’t want a war. If it means he can’t waste time strutting around campaigning among people who already think he’s the second coming, he won’t want a war. If he doesn’t have time to munch and watch TV for hours on end, he won’t want a war. If he doesn’t have countless hours to show C&W stars around the White House or gloat over his huge desserts at state dinners, he won’t want a war. If he has to come clean about his foreign 'investors' ….. well, that’s another problem.
Real work isn’t something Trump likes or has much experience with. His attempts at it in his civilian life interfered with his social life and often led to bankruptcy. But he could at least put in the time.
And if he won’t work …… throw him out.
3
The clearest and most chilling elucidation of Bolton I have seen.
1
This Holy Week, I am reminded that " Blessed are the Peacemakers. they will inherit the earth.".
And that we should become like children in our approach to God.
The children are leading us now as shown by the huge marches. I wonder if Trump believes his inaugural crowds were bigger?
9
He will probably add them to his inaugural total, as they were just a little late.
Why would John Bolton take the job? He has to know that politically Trump is walking a tightrope that could break at any time. Is he like old man Sessions who is finally holding on to the brass ring ? Or is he a “chicken”war hawk intent on sending others off to war having “no desire to die in a Southeast Asian rice paddy” Bolton’s words. More than likely,as has been stated, Bolton and Trump are two weak, vain, braggarts spoiling for a distraction (Trump) and a vindication (Bolton). We deserve better.
480
@Edgar
It’s hard for me to know what I like less: guys like Bolton who avoided service in Vietnam or guys like John Kerry who turned his service into a launchpad for his political career.
In the end, John Kerry did as much damage to the nation as Bolton; and he came frighteningly close to the White House.
I am not sure what would have been worse: John Kerry in charge or Trump.
So, no, I don’t get torqued about the Bolton “rice paddy” remark, any more than I do about politicians trying to “maintain their viability” during war time. Politicians are a pretty low class of folks, sadly. And both parties are equal opportunity employers.
9
Bolton is fine working for Trump because as National Security Adviser, Bolton knows he will always be the last person in the room with Trump. As as we have all learned, the last person in is the one whose opinion Trump will adopt. There will be little sleep anywhere on the planet as a result.
7
My main problem with Bolton is that he was part of the "Cheney administration". And we all know how well that went. False information seems to be a mark of Bolton's career. I don't think Mr. Kerry promoted war during his secretary of state tenure.
8
Is Trump purposely appointing extremists to frighten us with the "Worst case scenario"? Nuclear war a tangible threat, not only to his supposed "adversaries" but to us as a country at large?
Who's side is this guy on?
Two bloviating bullies, neither of whom has served in the forces, neither of whom can hear advice, intelligence or dissent without seeing treachery and reacting with a tantrum.
Are they really going to be able to work together?
Wait till he sends Bolton out to say one thing, then contradicts him in a tweet. Will Bolton be able to keep his cool? He is notoriously thin skinned and hot headed.
It is one thing sabre-rattling on Fox News. It's another matter entirely to declare war on a sovereign nation, and convince Congress to agree to it. There is a danger these two will identify a common enemy and make common cause, but the more likely scenario is that these two incompetent braggarts will fall foul of each other in no time.
It's terrible that we have to rely on sheer incompetence to save us from getting into a major conflict but - hey - these are tough times. I'll take what I can get.
21
Trump would likely preferred another instead of Bolton, but Roy Cohen was occupied with "Angeles in America." Likely we might all be meeting angels with Bolton whispering in Trump's ear.
4
Patience. The world only spins forward.
It's true that our real enemy was Iran, the number 1 terrorist regime in the world, not Saddam Hussein. So why did Obama give Iran $150 billion to undermine the Middle East, and a go-ahead on Iran's nuclear program in a few short years?
Bolton tells it like it is, whenever I have heard him, and is tough enough to stand up to the very bad guys who have or are developing nukes. So why is Bolton portrayed as the "problem" and those threatening the world with nukes, let off the hook. The article and comments have it backwards.
4
that Money was Iranian money that was frozen by the US Government. It was a not a gift of US Money.
4
How many times must this be said. It was Iran's money in the first place that legally had to returned to them.
8
This comment shows a misunderstanding of the Iran deal. They were on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons, giving them enormous strategic advantage in the region. The agreement halted this and will be renegotiated in ten years. The money sent was their own, frozen by us in our banks for years. The deal did not include allowing their banks to rejoin the international banking system, so their money could only be returned to them in cash.
Please recall, the options were:
1- do nothing, they get nuclear weapons
2- bomb or invade (advocated by John Bolton), setting off another Middle East war
3- make a deal to halt the nuclear program
The answer here should be obvious.
10
The ultimate war hawk will be encouraging and cheering on the "Wish I could be an ultimate war hawk." I can't think of two more dangerous people playing chicken with our WMDs.
14
Brava! I hope IQ45 reads this!
9
All of Trump's faults were on full display before the election, They were, apparently, what appealed to many voters, and were not enough to override other voters' commitment to low taxes or deregulation or, ironically, conservative social agendas. The predictable result: a new war to serve a narcissist's ego, a new war led by an old, demented man with an impulsive finger on a decisive button.
15
... and the same people who gleefully voted for Trump will be the ones who send their kids to war, or go off themselves, all the while glaring at us and shouting that freedom isn't free.
God, I'm getting tired of this movie.
Many thanks for reintroducing Mr. Bolton to those who have forgotten his criminal role in the invasion of Iraq. Indeed if there was justice in this world, Bolton, George H.C. Bush (H.C.= Hanging Chad) and many others should have been tried in the International Criminal Court.
Let see if anyone from the White House press corps, who gets the chance to ask questions from POTUS, would dare to bring up Mr. Bolton's past with Mr. Trump.
10
GW Bush, until recently the worst and most destructive president in American history, is having a ball these days, painting, hanging out at his museum and most of all watching Trump act so awful that the former president's ratings are soaring. Americans are far too forgetful and forgiving.
21
Remember the good old days before the Great War of 2018 when we thought Stormy Daniels' sex tape, Ben Carson's office furniture and the theft of Andy McCabe's pension were stories we should pay attention to? How naive we were, how innocent of the horrors to come?
22
The Oval Office has been hijacked a while ago. The hijackers, more of the same chicken hawks, operate it with remotes. Now, of course, another chicken hawk is set to control the flow of information to the President, assuming that he can make right choices on his own. The new guardian of the gate would decipher and distribute the information he thinks Trump should have. Two long, unending wars are not enough for this Dr. Strangelove. At least the military industrial complex should be happy. While to America's mothers I say hold on to your children. Genies of war want more blood.
The media has also played a huge role in building up this child-king. During the campaign, all coverage was given to him., wall to wall. Hillary was only a sideshow if and when she ever got a mention. Even now we find it hard to break our self-imposed chains of civility and politeness toward the man whom Times has called as the most indecent (and incompetent) person to occupy the White House.
And as usual, Democrats are okay with playing ever the sissy - afraid of their own shadows. Even an intelligent, energetic person like Congressman Adam Schiff finds it difficult to describe Trump as he sees Trump. This is after all the provocations and shenanigans of Nunes and the White House fraudsters. Friends we have a choice to make: Either respect Trump's office or protect the country. After Bolton enters the WH and Pompeo's take-over the State, we may not have the time on our side.
18
Trump is not an empty vessel when it comes to foreign policy. He repeatedly reminds us that that he's all about America First. His trade policy, his foreign aid policy, and his immigration policy are all inspired by his America First approach. No foreign policy development this past year has caused Trump to become deeply entanglement in foreign matters. And his abandonment of America's mission as a peacekeeper and as a champion of democracy has been near total. If he were to withdraw from the treaty with Iran, it would be to reduce our entanglement. And his dealings with North Korea have been consistently bilateral, simplistic, and unrealistic. On most matters, Trump is an isolationist. The perception that he and Bolton are a fit ignores the fact that Bolton advocates aggressive activism which violates the principles underlying America First isolationism. Moreover, Bolton and Trump are both opinionated and abrasive and difficult to deal with. If they last long together, I will be surprised.
6
Ms. Dowd's best column in years. Completely different tone. Keep it up, please.
16
While I did not vote for George W, I believed that he was lied to by Cheney and cronies who wanted war with Iraq. They all stood to profit from said war. George W was naive enough to believe them. And yes, the buck stops at the President’s desk.
As far as Trump is concerned he is not naive. He just does not care. So long as he gets fawned over and profits personally he is happy to wallow in the mud with people as evil as he is.
I hope Treason is proven in the Mueller investigation and soon.
Otherwise we may not live to see another election. Between Kim and Donald I would not be surprised if one of them pushes the Nuclear button.
13
Bannon, when in Europe recently, was described as a "parasite looking for a host". That's a pretty accurate description of Bolton. The epitome of an arm chair warrior.
25
Is there any way we can make "Dr. Strangelove" and "War Games" required viewing for all citizens, and maybe even on a weekly basis for anyone who has an oval shaped office?
9
I'd add The Bedford Incident to that list. Not as entertaining, just chillingly uncomfortable. Saw it 50 years ago and I still recall the crucial scene.
4
America From Abroad.......Living abroad as an expatriate affords a clearer prism to view the decline of America as a result of the worst leadership in the history of the country.
George W. Bush and now Donald Trump have both used their ignorance as a weapon against their adversaries to win the White House. Both have overcome the handicap of being unqualified presidents by following the advice of cleverly manipulative aides like Dick Cheney and Stephen Bannon.
Despite their incompetence, America still enjoys a strong economy and low unemployment. What America doesn't enjoy having is anything resembling a soul based on humanitarian values that translate into caring legislation for tragedies like gun violence, competent public education, and decent single payer health care for all Americans including the most desperate citizens.
Trumps latest bout of Oval Office indigestion has burped up John Bolton, a thoroughly unpleasant and dangerous individual with a destructive track record of bureaucratic debris.
As an expatriate American, my view through the prism of Trumpism is more of the same dangerous instability, now led by John Bolton who may well manipulate Trump into starting a war in Iran or North Korea.
21
Indeed, deja vu. Once again the ultra-rich, most powerful chose an established brand; an unstable, ungrounded person of very low intelligence who would be easily to manipulate and carry out their agenda.
Credible estimate of Iraq war casualties range from 150,000 to 460,000. Fear is a powerful emotion; most Americans were brainwashed daily into believing Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, we cannot let this happen again.
Trump and his minions have shown their true colors; make no mistake if they start a war it will be for money and power, money and power, money and power.
It is time to amend the Constitution; "leaders/politicians" that choose to enter the US in wars of illegal aggression shall lead the charge with their families, children included riding happily alongside in pursuit of righteousness.
8
Nov. 6 can't get here fast enough, that is if Mueller doesn't.
12
"And the president, whose curiosity only extends to himself..." I beg to differ. He has no curiosity about anything, himself included. He is apparently incapable of reflection, internal or external.
14
The vast participation in the great number of worldwide demonstrations for "March For Our Lives" should give Trump and Bolton some second thoughts when it comes to the possible promotion of war-making of any kind.
They haven't seen anything yet ..... as the world at large will erupt and demonstrate their fierce and negative reaction to any war thinking and promotion that might occur in the Oval Office.
The protest genie is out of the bottle and all promoters of war will be quickly put on notice to stand down.
I doubt very much that our military forces will support Trump and Bolton in any military escapades, if these two firebrands get out of hand.
Trump has fired more than one military general and he has barked up the wrong tree in this regard.
Will the American people support a defiant military reaction against Trump and Bolton. You betcha!!
Lock 'em up in the nearest Brig and throw away the key.
8
You never even used your nickname! So I won't either. Bolton will be good for an endless number of palace intrigue stories until he wears out his welcome again. I can't wait to meet his friends, they should be some real winners.
2
I guess we’re down to Mattis now to protect us from Trump and Bolton. Can the old Marine Corps general hold against the craziness that emanates from Bolton and worms its way into what exists of Trump’s grey matter to protect us and other people around the world?
10
For Ben.
I have met General Mattis and I welcome him as Sec. of the Dept. of Defense.
What the future will be regarding the General and Trump is uncertain.
Gen. Mattis is a history buff extremely well-read on history and military history. He has an extensive library of his own.
He is a thoughtful, considerate leader and an empathetic person as well.
He has a reputation of being very supportive of the troops and is always very concerned for their welfare in all regards.
He has a reputation as a commander who never asks anyone to do anything he wouldn't do himself.
The General led the USMC contingent that took part in the initial invasion of Iraq.
He spoke strongly to the troops and strongly told them that their task was to totally defeat the deadly army of the dangerous Saddam Hussein.
They were to do so in a professional manner as Marines and to complete the task assigned with determination.
Also they were to perform the mission while taking great care not to harm any civilian persons in the process.
I am a Democrat totally opposed to Trump and especially to him as being the Commander-in-Chief.
I breathe easier knowing that General Mattis heads the DOD.
Ooh Rah.
4
In a democracy, the public is the enabler. When polled by PPP during his campaign, 41% of Trump's supporters favored the bombing of Agrabah (the fictional city of Disney's Aladdin). This funny fact has become scary, far worse in portent than, say, the fact that 80% of Americans favor food containing DNA to be so labeled. When educational systems fail to teach critical thinking, people are content to believe whatever they feel like. Further, when people feel they have no ability to affect public policy, they happily remain ignorant of social and political issues.
12
"I watched in alarm as W., who had promised a “humble” foreign policy with no nation-building and who had been a bipartisan, genial Texas governor, shape-shifted into a hyperaggressive and belligerently unilateral president."
Ms. Dowd - That genial Texas governor had more people executed while in office than any other governor and didn't much care whether they were really guilty or not. So I wasn't surprised when he "shape-shifted into a hyperaggressive and belligerently unilateral President." Trump, unfortunately, is turning out to be worse.
11
My view from up north: People are not nearly as alarmed as they should be. A slow moving trainwreck is a deadly event nonetheless. More resistance is called for.
7
Only those who have never been in combat, like Bolton, argue for aggressive military intervention. God help us.
7
Post election polls indicated that about 2/3 of active military voted for Trump. Had to know that this evil, belligerent man would start wars whenever he wanted. Supine Democrats just voted a budget that adds $60! billion to offense, excuse me defense, spending. America’s culture of the gun is enshrined deeply within us. The best that we can hope for is that the evil Trump/Bolton will not attack Iran and North Korea will nuclear weapons. If that happens, the nuclear option will be in play throughout this century. Israel, among others, will not survive such a century. If I were Israeli I might want ti think about that.
3
Trump is expedient with absolutely no ideological or moral mooring. His only motivation is, "How does this benefit me personally?". This is why he can bring a character like Bolton onto his team without batting an eyelid. Bolton is the antithesis of many things he espoused on the campaign trail. However, most of his supportors did not realize he was just mirroring what they wanted hear. (They still don't realize this unfortunately.)
Bolton is smart, he knows Trump is extremely malleable and tailored his message on Fox to be extremely flattering of Trump and has wormed his way into a position that won't require Senate confirmation. He didn't even need to shave his"walrus style mustache".
We have a president who is severely compromised morally and is in a tight squeeze. Like a rabid dog, expect to see more irrational and dangerous moves on his part to hang on to power.
4
The thing about con men is that they always want to do things the easy way. Don't learn, don't listen, don't analyze, don't consider extended consequences. Just blow everything up and make sure there is someone to blame. Bolton's your man for that.
Really, everyone knows that the next big war is likely to be the last for everyone. There is nothing to gain from the loss of diplomacy and the beating of chests. IMPEACH.
5
Iraq was a distraction after the failed attempt to get bin Laden. The bombing of Baghdad was all for show, especially as it was done at night and the bombs lit up the sky.
1
We were reading the same things about Steve Bannon.
Maybe it's time to stop reporting on Trump for a while and spinning up endless speculation on what he will do in some imagined future scenario.
While I understand that journalists have to write and report, the rest of us have lives and speculating on people like Bolton is pretty far down my priority list.
1
Easily your best column this year.
Thank you.
3
Bush may have heeded the advice of Cheney and Rumsfeld, but the claim that Trump follows the counsel of anyone fails to explain the erratic nature of his behavior as president. Tillerson, McMaster, Kelly and others attempted to restrain the gigantic, unstable ego that governs Trump, but they paid a high price for this fool's errand, both in reputation and peace of mind. Even Steve Bannon, who most resembles Bolton, found himself kicked off the island when he no longer served his boss's interests.
The president has repeatedly declared that he seeks advice mainly from himself and that he is the only one in the executive branch who counts, and we should believe him. He follows the talk shows on Fox News slavishly, but only because the commentators confirm his own worst instincts. If these individuals, whose ignorance of the real world matches his own, urged him to take actions that contradicted his whims, they would lose their influence as quickly as have the president's more formal advisers.
Like Captain Queeg in the novel, "The Cain Mutiny," Trump's ego and paranoia blind him to the reality that, if the ship of state he commands founders, he will suffer the same fate as the crew. A junior officer aboard the Cain averted that disaster by seizing control of the ship, but our equivalent of that courageous individual, Congress, seems too frightened of the political consequences to restrain Trump.
Trump's supporters wanted to shake up Washington. They have their wish.
3
If we were to stop for a minute and ask ourselves, “What would Trump be doing if he knew he had colluded with the Russians, obstructed justice and, most likely of all, laundered money for the Russians, and it is only a matter of time before Mueller gathers the evidence needed to bring charges?”
He would be working on two fundamental fronts: prevention and leverage.
Trump would be attempting to prevent the incriminating evidence from ever coming to light. That means (i) never criticizing Putin, else he might release the incriminating evidence; and (ii) undermining the Mueller investigation (e.g., the bogus Republican House Intelligence report: false claim of “all Democrats on Mueller team” and “dossier as sole basis for FISA warrant,” etc.), all of which gives him reason to fire Mueller or at least credibility with his base to claim its all a deep state conspiracy, come fight for me.the
Trump would also be attempting to build political leverage to combat an indictment or impeachment proceeding. That means (i) never criticizing the white supremacists because Trump will need them to march in the streets, probably with guns; and (ii) building a case for war so he can “Wag the Dog.” Hence, the need for hawks like Bolton who give Trump credibility for waging war against North Korea and Iran.
Trump’s actions, examined through a prism of guilt, are both logical and consistent. They also give us a pretty good idea of where President Trump is taking the country.
7
I am 81 years old. I served in Vietnam, my son in Iraq, my daughter a retired Air Force colonel like her husband and me.
The upcoming election this November will be the most important one in our history. We have had less than worthy individuals in the Oval Office before, but at least they were sane. At present, all three branches of our Federal government are controlled by Republicans who,have sold their souls to the devil.
13
The vast participation in the great number of worldwide demonstrations for "March For Our Lives" should give Trump and Bolton some second thoughts when it comes to the possible promotion of war-making of any kind.
They haven't seen anything yet ..... as the world at large will erupt and demonstrate their fierce and negative reaction to any war thinking and promotion that might occur in the Oval Office.
The protest march genie is out of the bottle and all promoters of war will be quickly put on notice to stand down.
I doubt very much that our military forces will support Trump and Bolton in any military escapades, if these two firebrands get out of hand.
Trump has fired more than one military general and he has barked up the wrong tree in this regard.
Will the American people support a defiant military reaction against Trump and Bolton. You betcha!!
Lock 'em up in the nearest Brig and throw away the key..
2
“[John Bolton] was known as the most undiplomatic diplomat ever, with a rip-their-eyeballs-out, foaming-at-the-mouth style”.
Ms. Dowd, Bolton is not a hawk, but the president’s raptor who, if turned loose, will devour treaties any diplomatic pretense just because he will have the authority to do as he pleases. This appointment cannot end well for world stability. Bolton will go out there and pick fights just as pretext for preventing a war. This isn’t diplomacy, it’s sheer madness. And this appointment comes on the heels of firing his SOS. What kind of message is he sending to Kim Jong-un?
3
Well, look at this from Trump's point of view. He is itching to drop some bombs somewhere but can't decide so he hires Bolton to select the target. Before you know it Bolton has fulfilled that responsibility and away we go.
Only one problem. As is true with anything else this president has done, no thought has been given to what happens next. Things get very ugly very fast. There is only one solution for Trump. He has to blame everything on Bolton and then fire him.
1
What's scary is these guys just aren't very smart. War is easy. Winning the peace through diplomacy is hard. Anyone who thinks starting a war solves anything in the long run just isn't very smart.
1
For you, in the US, the scenario is familiar, as is the cast of characters. You marvel only at the choice of actors chosen to play the parts. You applaud or boo the performance, of the director/male lead and of the supporting troupe. But you don't appear to question the setup as such in the least.
For all the bad press you have been giving Donald the Magnificent, I have yet to read the first thought-trough critique on the sequence of events that led a serially bankrupt businessman and reality-TV person, whose unsuitability for high office was on display for all to see, to be selected by a major party for the Presidency.. Or for the peculiar mechanism that turned a significant voter-majority in a defeat for his opponent. Or for the processes that manage the staffing of the White House and the high offices in the Federal Administration. You see, there is absolutely no point in lamenting Bolton's elevation to the post of National Security Advisor, when the process by which he CAN become this isn't itself questioned.
From all I read, the tasks of the NatSecAdv are pretty clear. He/she assembles and collates information on matters pertaining to national security from a variety of sources, and presents a consensus view to the President, as well as options for action.
With Bolton, these tasks are very unlikely to be filled in the prescribed manner. In view of the possible consequences thereof, John Bolton shouldn't be able to get the post. Unfortunately, he can. Too bad!
4
Although I am no fan of Pax Americana, and although I often found fault with American foreign policy that was based on anti-communism (I think the VC and the North Vietnamese had the better argument and deserved to win), Dowd's attack on Bolton brings out the William Buckley in me.
Let's get something straight: Islamist extremism is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT from revolutionary communism which strove for freedom. North Vietnamese never attacked Americans on American soil. But Islamic extremists killed 3000 people on 9/11 on American soil. Accordingly, although the hawks were all wrong in the fight against communism in the third world, they have a better understanding of the mideast than Acela appeasers.
Also, Bolton was spot on when he said the UN was ineffectual. Perhaps Dowd forgot that UN forces had been stationed between Israel and Egypt before the 67 war. In 67, Egypt demanded that the UN leave so it could attack Israel. U thant, Secretary General of the UN, a man whose meek face made him look like a human mouse, quickly complied and set the stage for war. In Rwanda, the UN twiddled its thumbs and half a million died.
There isn't too much to commend the argument of the softies. Under Bill Clinton, we gave North Korea money and they were supposed to stop going nuclear. And they cheated every step of the way. Which is what Iran is doing now (The treaty with Iran bars inspectors from searching for nuclear materials in military bases). Give war a chance.
"But somehow, in his King George madness." How about King Lear madness?
Thank you for saying this. Back then this very newspaper beat the war-drum the loudest! While we joined the millions of peace marchers.
2
Maybe Bolton would care if he were more about having been in bombing areas of the war he got out of serving in harms way.
Maybe he'd change his tune if he was the one being bombed by the USA .
Maybe
But just the same maybe not
He might like killing other people plain and simple..
Hand this guy a sword let him lead in the charge, see how he acts then when faced with real tough guy fighting, swords.
1
I keep asking what does it take for the Republicans to
Impeach Trump?
3
One thing that I think we can be fairly sure of is that a President Hillary Clinton would not have appointed John Bolton as her National Security Advisor.
Thank you Maureen for not forgetting. Dubya might not have been as venal as Trump, but he was nearly as incurious and paralyzed. And he let Cheney and Rumsfeld manipulate those traits. And now -- and I am truly scared -- Trump has gotten around to the same paradigm.
Enough insecure and unqualified male scions with daddy issues! We have work to do in this world!
Do not let us forget the pattern, Ms. Dowd. Because -- can you believe it?? -- it seems the Republicans are stuck in this gear. Let them get unstuck. And until then, refrain from aspiring to the higher levels of leadership.
It is beyond revolting!
The nation is being held hostage by an irrational buffoon. The nation suffers. The world suffers. We are being reduced to bullying others who do not do what we want them to. We are tuning our entire national outlook to match that of our Ranting Toddler-In-Chief and his ever more warlike minions.
We have strayed revoltingly far indeed from more balanced, even peaceful approaches to foreign policy, that were once far more common in our past. Look at who we are: the holders of the biggest military by orders of magnitude, the nation with the least senior diplomatic expertise (with little interest in applying diplomacy), and a nation with leaders almost obsessive about seeing war as the only reasonable answer to all problems.
We are quickly assembling all the pieces to make ourselves the world’s foremost war machine - with an eagerness for aggression to match the capabilities of all our military might. This is how Rogue Nation’s are made...
1
"Bolton rejected the neocon label, preferring to see himself as a Goldwater conservative."
The same Goldwater who in 1964 received only 38.5 percent of the popular vote and won only six states in the Electoral College?
The same Goldwater who was famously quoted as saying "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue?"
Not to worry. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
Keep your bad ideas alive, wait fifty four years, and who knows?
One more point Maureen. At least you have the consolation that "Barry" and the Clinton's aren't running the nation.
Anything is better than that? Wouldn't you agree?
Although you are preaching to the choir, well stated, Ms. Dowd.
This is the hand we have been dealt.
3
It is frightening to see an unhinged person nominated to the post of National Security Advisor in any country, let alone the United States.
As an Iranian I am even more appalled that this particular individual has for decades supported the terrorist Mujaheddin-e-Khalgh organization that joined Saddam Hussein's invasion of Iran that caused one million deaths and countless millions wounded. I wonder how Americans would have felt if Iran had openly supported the Weathermen while they wee bombing the Capitol and the Pentagon in the Seventies.
Trump's nomination of a serial warmonger to a key foreign policy post, in dire contrast to the campaign promises made by Trump to avoid repeats of Iraq, suggests Trump is desperate to divert attention from his financial troubles and sex scandals, even at the risk of starting WWIII. Trump's choice is not a nomination but an abomination.
Does the U.S. want to be labelled a 'terrorist nation' by not just enemies but allies?
3
Small point: It's not a nomination. He just selected him.
I would be interested to see a comparison of the IQ of Republican Presidents vs Democratic Presidents. Between Trump, W and Regan I would wager that they wouldn't even come close to Obama, Clinton and Carter.
2
Can`t help comparing this over the hill trump and his another warmonger old man Bolton to today`s Washington Rally with teenagers with so much promises, speaking up against gum violence and untimely death of hundreds makes me so proud of the young generation.
Give them a few years to finish their studies to later become the pillar of our society when trump and Bolton become oblivion.
3
We, the supposed adults, have failed our children. I also hope they learn from our mistakes when it's their turn.
1
Within a very short period of time I am afraid that opinions expressed through words will no longer matter. Look at the faces and look into the eyes of Trump and the men of evil he is assembling to destroy the world. The manic pace Trump displayed last week in assembling his Horsemen of the Apocalypse is stunning. The transparent insanity of the man leading America and in charge of the most potent collection of weapons of mass destruction is certifiably evil. And we are finding out how ridiculously weak our democratic institutions are in this country and how powerless they are apparently to stop him. And that is the assessment of the best and brightest, most informed and experienced, sanest and most sober people in this country. Warning after warning after warning about this monster and his abettors lead to just more warnings and no action. Mueller is too slow and deferential to the power of the Presidency to intervene and stop this tyrant. Republicans in Congress are too afraid to confront him. His Cabinet and closest advisors are now made up entirely of those who share his same insanity. Past American Presidents are so caught up in enjoying their rises in popularity and adhering to some ridiculous precedent of not speaking ill of their successors that they share complicity in this national nightmare, too. We are on the precipice of something historically horrific occurring. The warning signs are blaring as loud as they ever will. Who will stop this madness?
3
This is why the US needs to reinstate the draft. Concentrate people's minds before sending their own kids off to war. Mind you, these days, so much of the bombing the US does around the world is with drones, from the safety of a porta cabin in Nevada. Maybe it's time America's allies to stand up to this administration to stop them spreading more instability.
1
Bolton, Cheney, "W" and all the rest should have served in combat.
Those who did, like Ike, JFK and Bush 41, had a decent respect for the awesome responsibilities a commander in chief exercises when he sends Americans off to war.
But we are stuck with cowards like "bone spurs" Trump and "I loathe the military" Clinton.
2
Everyone recognizes irony in the fact that the biggest and loudest warmongers are invariably those who avoided the Vietnam draft, pulling strings either to serve in the National Guard or to obtain multiple deferments.
The list of cowards ready to send other people and other people's children into battle thousands of miles away is testament to the stupidity of those who elect these 'officials'. Voters elected absentee National Guardsman 'Dubya' and now Donnie 'Bone Spurs' Trump, without thought to the consequences of electing cowardly ideologues to positions that determine life and death.
How can the presidential Man-Child, who refers to military equipment as "our beautiful weapons", possibly imagine the consequences of his actions?
How can someone like Bolton, who admitted he wouldn't "die in a Southeast Asian rice paddy", avoid contempt and ridicule by Senate Committee members deciding on his nomination, unless the committee itself is comprised of equally cowardly ideologues?
I truly fear all the warnings will fall on deaf ears and Bolton's nomination will be approved, thereby triggering Armageddon. The NYT Editorial Board needs to oppose Bolton's nomination loudly and relentlessly, and countervailing views such as those of AIPAC, Netanyahu and of your Op-Ed writer Bret Stephens should be given short shrift in the interests of national AND global security. This is no time for compromise and 'equal time' for those who despise democracy and diplomacy.
1
Will there ever come a day when Congress will reassert its right to declare war rather than let some president bully us into one?
4
Was Iraq better off when Bush took office in 2001 or when he left in 2009? The answer is unequivocally when he left. He made the situation better.
Was Iraq better off when Obama took office in 2009 or when he left in 2017? The answer is unequivocally when he took office. He made the situation worse.
Calling Bush an immature boy-king is not an argument. It is name calling, which puts you in the same class of thinkers as Donald Trump.
1
Here's an unpopular position to take in the NY Times. 60% of me thinks Bolton is right about preemptively attacking North Korea. The government of that country is unquestionably evil, not the least to it's own people. And their highest national goal is to develop the ability to attack American cities with nuclear weapons. They are quite close. Should we patiently wait, cross our fingers and see what happens? Generally it's better to destroy someone threatening to destroy you before they do it. Personally, I haven't seen much out of this North Korean dictator which inspires trust or confidence. Better the ugliness is over there than over here.
President Bush was rather an empty vessel looking to be filled with answers to problems. He chose bad advisors who believed war would be easy because we are America.
President Trump is a vessel full of himself, in search of problems for which he will make himself the answer.
1
I remember how horrified many of us were when W got elected, with Cheney and Rummy and all the rest actually calling the shots. That was nothing compared to this. Trump is absolutely the most pugilistic president we've ever had, is proud of it, and has been itching to go to war (just to show how powerful he is) since he took the oath of office (which, ironically, he is intent on destroying at every turn). Unless Mueller delivers and whoever is in charge of Congress gets going on impeachment, there's just no doubt in my mind that we will be in a war, or multiple wars, soon.
14
Bolton's not a bad choice for Trump. Anyone who thinks Trump is an "empty vessel" that Bolton can control is in for a surprise. Bolton is headstrong, belligerent, and bellicose, yes. But Trump will use him like a guided missile. Trump will be holding Bolton's leash, trust me. Oh and yes, I am a "woman for Trump" who supports the president. I also appreciate the NY Times. I guess I am one of those unicorns you have heard about.
2
Trump can’t even manage to leash himself. Bolton is smart and will manipulate Trump’s ego to get what he wants. Trump will heel, particularly since he needs a war to distract us from his problems with multiple women and the Russian mob.
1
There are no surprises here. GOP spends money on the military and the wars that supposedly justify that spending. Democrats spend it on domestic programs. Both the parties' spending lines the pockets of voters who are their base. It always has been, and always shall be.
8
"Pick a war any war any war in the deck." Trump is faced with so many options (all of which are hyped by the media and politicians) that he will be unable to make up his mind and choose. Let's just pray that a war doesn't choose us. I'm afraid this country is to broken to come together for even that.
12
The "two tragically unending wars" didn't have to be either tragic or unending. That was only Iraq.
Afghanistan began as a noble and justified reaction to 9/11 to defend America and to deliver justice to those perceived to have carried out the atrocity.
That it morphed into something else is entirely attributable to the decision to go to war with Iraq. From that moment on the narrative began that the U.S. was not really interested in defending freedom, but in promoting the parochial interests of the oil and gas industry in the Middle East.
Even Afghans came away with such a perception, which is what ultimately led to our ineffectual presence in their country. We weren't really in it to make the Afghan people's lives any better, just powerful interests in Washington.
40
Another excellent column by Ms. Dowd!
What we must not forget, however, is that President Trump has proven to be an equal opportunity President. So far his administration has seen a cast of characters come and go. Mr. Bolton is just another invited guest and could be asked to leave as quickly as Mr. Trump wishes him to do so.
America, The United States of, is in chaos and turmoil. Right now it is the beneficiary of all the negative words about existence.
We already have one year of Mr. Trump's Presidency behind us, and we are still here, although tenuously in some shape, form, fashion or manner. All entities endure periods of chaos during their existence. Chaos is part of the nature of existence and life itself. Chaos is what generates "news" each day. If it weren't for chaos, there would be no news fit to print.
We are best to take Mr. Trump's Presidency for the adventuresome four (4) years that it is likely to be. Every rock and stone and slab and boulder is going to overturned during his administration. Those who are ill at ease over a changing government and national landscape might be best advised to become ex-pats, or to sign up for 3 consecutive year-long cruises all around the world.
7
@Reggie
You end with wise counsel.
There are many things that will leave us shaking our heads about Trump, including trade and trying to put health care back on the table to address the current trend line of what "we" have inherited from Obama and the Democratic Congress.
The immigration debate is another head-scratcher born of Trump's derisive remarks of those from Muslim-dominant countries, understandable given the state of many of their governments and vulnerability to abuse; but ultimately something that needs to be tackled rationally. DACA is a great example of using a bargaining chip designed to stir a visceral and emotional reaction rather than get serious change underway by both parties.
Kim is showing signs of turning. I realize that is probably due to his sister attending the Olympics, but Trump's terrifying posturing obviously got his attention. Maybe we can see progress for the first time in many decades.
What our national press should be focusing on is how the FBI was manipulated by those who leapt on bogus intelligence and spun the whole affair into a tail-chasing game about collusion. Even thoughtful Liberals understand this is about anger for Trump's election, something I certainly never wanted.
Our government is becoming a sewer of special interests, money, and secrecy. Some of that needs to be ripped out. The fact that Trump had to be the person for the job is tragic for all of us.
I just choose not to get tweaked by the media every day. It's hard.
1
Wow you think by taking a long cruise or live in another country is an answer to the vaccum that Trump is creating. Life never stops still and never reverse backwards this world is teetering and Trump is a major contributor.
I suggest something more constructive than selfishly burying your head in the sand. Become active, and VOTE.
1
The likely scenario the GOP and Trump will play out in months before November 2018 Midterm elections to save the Republican majorities and President’s demise from Mueller and sex scandals.
() A big foreign war to rouse American patriotism long enough for the party to climb over the challenge of the Midterms.
() North Korea? Not on the cards. Neither South Koreans nor the Japanese, who will be among the first casualties, will countenance a war in Korea under any circumstances. Both Japan and South Korea have enough international political and financial clout in the region to veto any war designs by the Trump Administration.
() Syria? Not likely, because of the serious risk of wider conflict with Russia.
() The Persian Gulf? Doable, especially if pre-Midterm prognosis looks very dire for the GOP.
Israel, KSA, UAE, and Sunni regimes in the ME will be for it or stay neutral. UAE, armed to the teeth, is in a position – with the support of American military in the region – to challenge Iran militarily over the disputed islands in the Persian Gulf now occupied by Iran.
The calculation will be that, with all these forces aligned against it, Iran will quickly be defeated and in no position to retaliate. The Islamic Republic might even be compelled to make some big concessions over its nuclear and missile programs.
Will the UAE and Saudi rulers actually dare, risk a war with Iran? We will see the answer before November Midterm elections.
27
That is a "great idea". How to provoke an all out ME war between Sunni's and Shia Muslims.
Those relentless undercurrents that pull presidencies under in the Oval, often appear out of heaps of chaos. Hopefully the existing chaos in the Oval will prevent more relentless undercurrents from displacing existing chaos, and not make room for even more chaos. It seems that good organization is the norm of low key white house administrations. Chaos probably can never be bypassed but can be reduced. Leading up to 911, it must have been impossibly chaotic to examine email information following the activates of those involved in that attack. Sometimes the executive branch is ahead of the chaos, and sometimes it moves through it as the event unfolds. How many decisions are quick response coin tosses and how many are weighed carefully? Are all of those people in the Oval good decision makers? It just seems that 911 was a series of hijackings and over takings that had a momentum that is unique to a war machine, easy to start up on perceived insults, and eventually running smoothly. It is shocking to have clear direction and proper planning hijacked on a moment’s notice, again, maybe that is another coin toss with a dreaded outcome.
2
"He was known as the most undiplomatic diplomat ever, with a rip-their-eyeballs-out, foaming-at-the-mouth style."
I've listened to Bolton for decades and never came away with this impression. He has almost always made sense on multiple issues. The countries of our world are all in different places with regards to what influences and drives them. The way we relate to Mexico may not be the end goal or approach to take with Iran for instance.
I like the pick of Bolton and look forward to seeing the true end result.
4
That's so sweet! Thank you for sharing.
19
Russian trolls have infiltrated the NY Times!
64
Ah....the true end result, that is what I'm looking forward to. Somehow I see Bolton outlasting Flynn, but not McMaster. His exit will be messier than normal, think Bannon/Gorka instead of Tillerson/Cohn.
Hopefully it doesn't all end with a big bang....stay tuned.
1
Bolton should remember active shooters create active voters. His message of war is a state extension of NRA public policy.
59
Really Walter? How many of those "active shooters" were NRA members?
Did I say they were? No! I said: "his message of war is a state extension of NRA public policy." Not it's membership! But it's "public policy."
There are two statement here: one on how active shooters are now creating a vast movement of resistance which is taking up the vote and their voices as weapons to fight gun violence their way--in direct contrast and opposition to NRA public policy--and Bolton's views that the gun is the solution to international problems, gun being a metaphor for military intervention.
Riano, it was a simple read. One sentence identifying that shootings/active shooters are driving a voter registration/turn-out movement. (It did not say they were NRA members, as you presume it said--without any evidence or syntax making that connection!)
The second sentence addresses policy--not membership. It ties Bolton's views as a state actor to NRA public policy--the idea that more guns are safer, locally/globally.
Don't ever conflate my meanings! The tactic of distorted blame is exactly why so many reject the views of those who can't seem to keep issues and logic straight.
Often one’s face reveals one’s soul. I don’t mean the aesthetics we’re born with — physical beauty or lack of it — but the way a face settles in over the years. Some joyous people hold a constant hint of a smile at the corners of the eyes. Some who have faced disappointment show bitterness in the commisures of the lips, or resentment in the set of the jaw. Some faces seem to simmer with fury. Bolton’s face is boiling with such anger, incipient violence, hatred and sourness that I cannot bear to look at him. That is a face of evil.
I’m not a religious person, but right now I am hoping there is a deity somewhere who can help us.
132
You have accurately put it into words the feeling I get when I ever I see a picture of him.
1
Well said!
1
Dear Passion, There is no one, no person, no god, no God, no Yawweh, no Mohammed, no deity on earth or in Heaven or in the Universe, that can help us. We are inexorably heading toward The End of Days -- the Apocalypse, Armageddon, et. al.
Protect your Teddy Bear as best you can.
2
Trump's hiring of Bolton as National Security Advisor shows that Trump is not even loyal to his own words. He criticized the War in Iraq, but now he wants to hire one of its chief architects. Was he criticism of the Iraq War solely his means of attacking Hillary about her vote on Iraq? Was there no substance to Trump's criticism and only politics? It seems so if he could even think for a second of hiring Bolton. But Trump has no values; he just operates for political advantages and to make his Trump brand of authoritarianism the means he uses to enhance his self-perception. Trump is not an empty vessel; he is a flow through entity who allows whatever he thinks helps Trump control the debate. Policy is irrelevant. Does it help Trump is all he "thinks."
40