The Bolton Creature

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John Bolton,  turning on the President who hired him?   Who could have imagined such a thing?  Well, just about anyone who knew anything about John Bolton, an insufferable boor, an ego without a human personality,  a man who talks crazy through a silly mustache. Perhaps he's trying to look like Nietzsche but with only two thirds of the intelligence and none of the erudition.

I understand why Trump, who knew little about Washington apart from the going rate for senators, congressmen, and cabinet officials, would rely on the advice of “professionals” when he hires someone for an important position, but what sort of Trump advisor would have given him advice far more lethal than the coronavirus?  

I suppose we could do a little digging and find out, but the President has made many appointments just as disastrous:  Steve Bannon, Elliott [sic!] Abrams, Anthony Scaramucci….It’s a long list, and I would venture to say that the Trump administration resembles nothing so much as the Vatican in the days of Pope Benedict, when the Vatican conspiracy worked with uncharacteristic unity to frustrate every good thing the Pope wanted to do.

 Nothing of this should surprise the President’s supporters.  I never thought for a moment that the Republicans would give him an ounce more authority than he could grab for himself, and, for all his innumerable gaffes, errors, and bad decisions, he is still the best hope for that half of the population that does not hate their country and its people.

 

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Thomas Fleming

Thomas Fleming is president of the Fleming Foundation. He is the author of six books, including The Morality of Everyday Life and The Politics of Human Nature, as well as many articles and columns for newspapers, magazines,and learned journals. He holds a Ph.D. in Classics from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and a B.A. in Greek from the College of Charleston. He served as editor of Chronicles: a Magazine of American Culture from 1984 to 2015 and president of The Rockford Institute from 1997-2014. In a previous life he taught classics at several colleges and served as a school headmaster in South Carolina

1 Response

  1. Vince Cornell says:
    January 28, 2020 at 1:13 pm

    I was baffled when Trump brought Bolton into his administration. Surely his experience in business would have helped him see through Bolton as a phony from the moment he saw that absurd mustache? Of course, now, thanks to the hysterical left, Bolton is a seasoned and highly experienced statesman who has never had anything but the best interest of his country at heart. The most difficult political question I struggle with is who to think less of – the America-hating Democrats or the Spineless Turncoat Republicans. I guess Mercutio said it best.