Trump tweets services no longer ‘needed’
President Trump said Tuesday he fired his national security adviser, John Bolton, because he “disagreed” strongly with his suggestions and so did others.
….I asked John for his resignation, which was given to me this morning. I thank John very much for his service. I will be naming a new National Security Advisor next week.
?@realDonaldTrumpI informed John Bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the White House. I disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions, as did others in the Administration, and therefore….
?@realDonaldTrump….I asked John for his resignation, which was given to me this morning. I thank John very much for his service. I will be naming a new National Security Advisor next week.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday forced out John Bolton, his hawkish national security adviser with whom he had significant disagreements on Iran, Afghanistan and a cascade of other global challenges.
The two men offered opposing accounts on Bolton’s less than friendly departure.
“I informed John Bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the White House. I disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions, as did others in the Administration,” Trump tweeted at midday Tuesday, adding that he would name a replacement next week.
He said Bolton submitted his resignation Tuesday morning. Trump said that he “disagreed strongly” with many of Bolton’s suggestions, “as did others in the administration.”
Bolton responded in a tweet of his own that he offered to resign Monday “and President Trump said, ‘Let’s talk about it tomorrow.'”
Trump and Bolton had disagreed on “many, many issues,” White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said.
Charlie Kupperman, the deputy national security adviser, will assume Bolton’s position on an acting basis, deputy White House press secretary Hogan Gidley said.
Kupperman is a Bolton confidant who has counseled the former national security adviser for more than 30 years, Bolton has said. Grisham said it was “too soon to say” whether Bolton’s National Security Council staff would remain in their jobs.
One Republican familiar with the disagreements between Trump and Bolton said the adviser’s opposition to a possible meeting between Trump and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was a precipitating factor in the dismissal. French President Emmanuel Macron has been trying to broker such a meeting, possibly on the sidelines of the upcoming U.N. General Assembly, in the hope of salvaging the international Iran nuclear deal that Trump withdrew from.
Since joining the administration in the spring of last year, Bolton has espoused skepticism about the president’s whirlwind rapprochement with North Korea and has advocated against Trump’s decision last year to pull U.S. troops out of Syria. He masterminded a quiet campaign inside the administration and with allies abroad to persuade Trump to keep U.S. forces in Syria to counter the remnants of the Islamic State and Iranian influence in the region.
Bolton was also opposed to Trump’s now-scrapped notion to bring Taliban negotiators to Camp David last weekend to try to finalize a peace deal in Afghanistan.
In recent months, tensions have risen between Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over influence in the president’s orbit and how to manage the president’s desire to negotiate with some of the world’s most unsavory actors.
Bolton and his National Security Council staff were also viewed warily by some in the White House who viewed them as more attuned to their own agendas than the president’s — and some administration aides have accused Bolton’s staff of being behind leaks of information embarrassing to Trump.
Bolton’s ouster came as a surprise to many in the White House. Just an hour before Trump’s tweet, the press office announced that Bolton would join Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in a briefing. A White House official said that Bolton had departed the premises after Trump’s tweet and would no longer appear as scheduled.
Bolton was always an unlikely pick to be Trump’s third national security adviser, with a world view seemingly ill-fit to the president’s isolationist “America First” pronouncements.
He’s championed hawkish foreign policy views dating back to the Reagan administration and became a household name over his vociferous support for the Iraq War as the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. under George W. Bush. Bolton briefly considered running for president in 2016, in part to make the case against the isolationism that Trump would come to embody.
Still, Trump has admired Bolton for years, praising him on Twitter as far back as 2014. Trump has told allies he thinks Bolton is “a killer” on television, where Bolton is a frequent face on Fox News, though the president has voiced some unhappiness about Bolton’s trademark mustache, said a person familiar the president’s thinking but not permitted to reveal private discussions.
Bolton was named Trump’s third national security adviser in March 2018 after the departure of Army Gen. H.R. McMaster. Trump said he would name a replacement for Bolton next week.
This report contains material from The Associated Press, Bloomberg News, and Reuters.
Read Newsmax: Trump Fires John Bolton | Newsmax.com
@ Bear Klein:
Exactly right on all counts.
We know who it is on this board who has their eyes wide shut and never understanding anything.
To whomsoever wants to read this…
Partially paraphrasing the satyr Clinton…..”It depends on who “you” ..is….”..
When posters enter this arena with all guns blazing, mouths wide open, and eyes tightly shut, they never understand anything, Whatever and whenever they hit. is only by fortune.. Let this be the final word on the ugly and repellant discord..
I can’t imagine who you are speaking about.
@ Bear Klein:
Bear, you and I can have a friendly difference over anything, and still be poster friends, contrary to my experience with “SHE Who Must Be Obeyed”(Haggard was a stirring writer, I have ALL his books-except his agricultural Magnum Opus) . I don’t care what Trump has been saying over the years. Different years bring different situations, and Trump knows exactly what he wants to accomplish, and will try his best to do it, all the while reserving the right to walk away. That itself, it a strong tactic, often employed when deals are flagging. It leaves the other side in disarray, being so abrupt and unexpected.
The Nth. Korean situation is NOT finished. Trump and Kim will be back together again in the future. You guys are looking for “quick fixes”, and in my opinion that’s what Trump likes best. So we agree on that, you and I. But he is well aware, a thousand times more than we, that “there’s many a slip, ‘twixt the cup and the lip”… And he allows for it, and accordingly changes his DIRECTION, but not his ultimate goals.
I sat in, and was part of many important business meetings when much younger, often in Japan, where the whole directorate of the huge conglomerate would file silently into a Looong room, with a long table between us, with me being supported only by our agent and an independent interpreter..(although many or all of the directors could speak perfect English. This was their way of taking the advantage and putting my side on the defensive at the start. (like the meeting between “Hynkel” and “Napaloni”).
But the deals and agreements got done, though with a minimum of words, although taking often many months to complete.. So I personally am not concerned about your perception, that this or that Trump deal has fallen through. It may have..or may be waiting in the wings , marking time until it’s brought up again, either from a different angle with different incentives, or a straight on approach.
I have a lot more confidence in Trump (without any halos -thank you for the needle- than in the news reports of what he thinks. Only HE himself knows what he really thinks, and what he intends to do.
@ Edgar G.:Actually you do not appear to be following what Trump has said over the years. He is dead set against military occupations and large military conflicts such as occurred in Iraq.
He thinks he can make deals with these Dictators by putting pressure on them and not threatening to take them out.
His Korea negotiations are going nowhere. Odds were stacked against him. Since they have nukes and other deterrents no one will attack them unless they start a war.
Bolton was the fall guy. He was bold and blunt (his style) when Trump’s team was doing something stupid like trying to bring the Taliban to Camp David. So he clashed with others in Trumps team according to Trump.
I like Trump and know his strengths and weaknesses. You appear to have put him on a pedestal your right and see rays of light from the sky hitting his golden hair when he speaks. That is a pretty smart secure man from the Queens speaking but not a super human.
@ Bear Klein:
You guys don’t seem to have got the hang of what Trump is all about, yet. Because he SAYS he’s not for regime change, doesn’t mean for one iota that he is NOT…. He knows that Iran can not come back into the Family of Nations without regime change. That it is the regime which has kept the Iranian people as enemies of civilisation. Particularly of the United States and Israel, both countries very dear to his heart on a personal level. .
We little folk here have absolutely NO idea as to what’s going on in the International arena….and we never will, until after it happens. We can make educated guesses, but how often are they correct. We just forget about them and start discussing the next bit of (carefully slanted) “news”….
Even the expert pundits make educated guesses for the major part. They collate the facts-as they see them- and decide.
I keep saying that Trump holds his cards VERY close to his chest, and I’m as sure of it as I am that today is Thursday. (or is it Wednesday..?…….just kidding.)
@ Edgar G.: Edgar, I am afraid some of my previous posts about the Bolton resignation/firing contained some serious factual errors. Trump did in fact politely accept Bolton’s resignation,and thanked him for his service. He didn’t fire him in a rude way, as I had posted earlier. Bolton says he offered his resignation the night before Trump accepted it. I was misled about this by the sensational and innaccurate reports of Bolton’s departure in the MSM.
Bolton did in fact serve in the Bush administration during the Iraq war as Ambassisor to the United Nations. In that capacity, he defended the president’s decision to invade Iraq. However, I was correct that he played no role in actually directing the invasion or administering Iraq afterwards. I was also correct that he did not serve in the Obama-Clinton administration during the Libyan invasion.
There are still some mysteries surrounding Departure from Office. Only about an hour before Trump announced his resignation, the White House press office had announced that Bolton, Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin were about to hold a joint press conference. Newsmax says that the resignation/dismissal came as a suprise to many at the White House.
Trump liked and respected Bolton, but they could not see eye to eye about Iran and the Taliban. And so there was an agreed departure of Bolton from the White House Security Council staff.
@ Edgar G.:My problem with negotiating with a terrorist organization is that it shows weakness which invites attacks.
Guess what the Taliban have been attacking the USA personnel and facilities.
When Trump failed to respond to the Iranians downing a US drone that showed he had no stomach for a fight and that showed weakness. Some of the Arabs have now started trying to appease Iran. It has made Iran bolder. The US projected weakness and not strength.
Trump IS NOT realizing that sanctions will do not what he wants and that is the major leverage he is using. When he does not respond to Iran militarily when challenged he will NOT get them to change their behavior.
Look Trump is way better than Obama but that is not a high bar. Trump is very good to Israel so far, actually super good compared to any prior POTUS. Just like he has been willing to use effective military force against ISIS he needs to be willing to use it against Iran.
Right now Israel is the only effective military force against Iran. Trump has backed up Israel diplomatically and with military to military cooperation but has kept US forces at bay. When the US drone went down Trump should have listened to his military advisors and taught them a lesson they would heed.
Trump should have used the the downing of the drone to let Iran know if they keep building nuke capabilities the US will blow them up.
The only way to stop Iran is to blow the nuke facilities and decimate the IRGC plus government facilities. Trump does not seem to have this in his playbook of options.
@ Bear Klein:
Bear I’m a bit surprised. You are usually a very “canny” reader of trends and make careful prognostications, usually backed up by research. What difference does it make whether Rouhani was “invited to come to Camp David or Timbuktu. It’s not a solemn Temple of Jupiter, just a patch of ground with a cluster of huts etc. Do you really think that it was more than a publicity stunt….???
And if he DID come there…So what… If Trump didn’t get what he wants, Rouhani would be put on the first plane back. The same goes for the Taliban and other terrorists. He was dealing with Abbas wasn’t he…And Abbas shot himself in the foot,,…as Arabs always do…didn’t he…. And din’t Trump respond by taking away more undeserved privileges didn’t he..freezing the YESHA Arabs out of a central role…Didn’t do Trump any harm at all….did it…??
The news outlets keep their ratings up by inventing new headlines every day. Surely you have enough examples to know that Trump can say many things, is amenable to an easy effortless deal, but will walk away on the spot if it doesn’t suit him. The best tactics in making a deal He already has his “bottom line” fixed ….By scattering these invitations around to deadly enemies and international opponents, it shows him as a peacemaker, puts them completely off-balance, and their refusals shows them for what they are.
To Trump, unless he’s making promises to the American People , words mean ..words, and nothing is certain until the document is signed, sealed and delivered. After all he IS a business man par excellence. I pay little attention to these reports and get my enjoyment from the frenzy of comments I read on Israpundit.
Oh yes…., “sanctions” are squeezing the Iranian people to a pulp, and will eventually be the big factor in the regime’s utter collapse. Utterly without risk to the American People.
I rarely see any ” mean culpa” after the Maelstrom of frantic accusations and wild speculations have withered away.
I listened to Trump at a Press Conference. He blamed Bolton for getting Kim Jun Un mad because he suggested the Libyan model. In other words Bolton is getting blamed because Kim blew up and will not agree to give up his nuke program.
Bolton was rumored to have wanted US military action in Venezuela something Trump does not agree with. In this case I take Trumps side.
Bolton became the scapegoat on some things in Trump’s foreign policy that have not worked out to Trump’s satisfaction it appears to me.
Trump is not isolationist but he is also far from the Hawk Bolton is, Too bad Bolton is gone because Trump needs to hear all points of view.
Trump is having a hard time coming to grips that sanctions will not bend most of the worst of the worst to his thinking.
https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2019/09/11/five-key-policies-of-john-boltons-tenure-as-trumps-national-security-advisor/
So Bolton was proven right and Trump was wrong, therefore Bolton was fired. Trump can’t admit when he’s wrong.
@ Bear Klein:
Wow, if this is the reason then this is worse than I thought. Bolton is 100% correct. Why ease the sanctions when you have mullahs on the ropes? The sheep will go along because its Trump doing it instead of Obama. They will argue he’s playing 3D chess. I’m so sick of that stupid reasoning. If Trump eases the sanctions on Iran, then that is appeasement, pure and simple. There’s no positive way to spin it. Trump is not some genius playing 3D chess, he’s an isolationist, that when push comes to shove, will back down in the face of danger. It’s much easier to be tough and unwavering with political opponents at home then to confront really dangerous enemies abroad. He might be talking to Tucker Carlson and Rand Paul who are telling him his base wants isolationism. That won’t turn out well. Of course I’m jumping way ahead of myself, we have no idea if that rumor is even true.
It is now being reported that Trump wanted to ease the sanctions on Iran and Bolton objected and that is why he was fired. If this is true Bolton was correct in offering his resignation.
Never mind meeting with Rohani would never lead Iran changing behavior.
@ Laura:Yes inviting the Taliban to Camp David is pure DUMB and very weak. This is an Islamic Terror Group. You bomb them you do not fly them to a resort and have tea.
@ Wooly Mammoth:
That it is. If this had been done by Obama or any democrat, or even a RINO, the right would be throwing fits of rage. But it’s Trump, so there’s largely silence. Whatever he does is not to be questioned or is explained away as 3D chess. Such bullshit. Why can’t they just tell it like it is and admit Trump is wrong sometimes.
@ Wooly Mammoth:
Trump really “keeps his cards close to his chest”….despite his sometimes brash statements. Its quite possible that he offered to meet Rouhani so as to get the very response he got, which showed that HE was a peacemaker, and the Iranians were un-redeemed aggressors and terrorists backers.. , As we all now know, they’ve been secretly working all the time to acquire an atom bomb, regardless of their solemn agreements,(which gained them the release of $150 billion, plus 1.75 bill in cash).
I believe that Trump is a genius, certainly at what he does best, which is to try to get his own way. And his own way, as the renewed strength of the US in today’s world shows, is not only a great benefit to the US, but to Israel, and many other countries.
We must remember that although he has been meeting and dealing with world leaders and manufacturing giants on equal terms for very many years, apart from his academic background-which is excellent- he is basically a “hands-on” guy. He worked with his construction teams on the jobs. So he has, to a certain extent, a working class consciousness, which as we’ve seen him apply it to politics, had given him massive victories, and shocked and surprised the whole world ….especially the Clintons and the Democrat Party.
We don’t know what’s in his mind, certainly a lot more than he says, and maybe the opposite of his utterances. We must wait and see. Just my opinion.
@ Edgar G.:
Edgar, you may be correct. I hope so.
However, I can imagine that in Trump’s seeming quest to acquire a private meeting with Iran, (for what reason, who knows), one concession he may have made up front was deep six-ing Bolton.
“They” always demand good faith measures as precursors to meetings with leaders from The USA or Israel they do not wish to attend. I believe they would demand Bolton’s ouster as a down payment. So what else is Trump ready to part with. I am quite certain that Netanyahu knows the outlines of Trump’s Deal, not yet launched. What a coincidence that Bibi should make this statement the same day of Bolton’s lynching, because that is what it appears to be. (Inviting The Taliban to Camp David is asinine.)
I still think canning Bolton was an error. Who is President Trump going to pick to replace Bolton, Berkowitz’s barber?
@ Wooly Mammoth:
I don’t exactly believe this. It’s another “storm in a teacup” and will settle down after a while. Trump has a myriad of serious matters to plough through, and to settle them all by bombing, would tax even the resources of the US , as well as cause him to plunge in public esteem, not to mention the international hullabaloo …
He ALWAYS threatens, then proceeds mildly, and then…. not until absolutely neccessary -like with China- will apply the stick. He is very serious about protecting the US military. There is NO doubt that he prefers to get things done peacefully, more by words than aggression, best done in keeping opponents off-balance by a confusion of activities, and uncertainty as to what his REAL aim is.
Nixon ALWAYS behaved this way, deliberately as he said, keeping his international opponents in uncertainty, and wrong-footing them. He said it was the best way, and it was, and is.
I’m sure Trump knows exactly what he’s doing, and wants to do. I believe the cause of Bolton’s leaving had a lot to do with the animosity between him and Pompeo. Trump chose Pompeo. He couldn’t have that discord along with all his other situations. His time is short, he is well over 70, and has an election coming up. Entering this vital period, there must be at lest a semblance of harmony, showing all on the same page.
It was no oversight that he waited for over 2 years before he tried Bolton.
Laura’s ..”.this is not good…” is an understatement.
Bolton gave Trump legitimacy. Bolton was the canary in the coal mine which kept doubters like virtually everyone allayed by the latest Trump off the wall action as pacified over Bolton remaining inside the gov’t.
I always said, “… If Bolton bolts, then we can believe we are in trouble.
I think Bolton realized this and gave Trump the benefit of the doubt.
What I find compelling right now is Netanyahu’s statement earlier today on annexation/application of Israeli law to The Greater Jordan Valley, settlements in Judea and Samaria and the the land around Lake Kinnaret to the north and east.
Netanyahu must have known about Bolton and Trump’s unfortunate showing of weakness.
Israel has to be prepared for what comes next, of course.
It is probably as good a time as any to call up the reserves….oh well…it always seems to happen this way.
@ Bear Klein:
Yes he did, and he has been demonized for it by the isolationists on the right who are gloating today. Then there are those who simply back whatever Trump does and have now decided Bolton is the enemy because he’s run afoul of team Trump. These are the same people who suddenly decided that “prison reform” ie, letting violent criminals out of prison is a good idea since its coming from Trump.
@ Laura:
Yes, I believe Trump thinks by sanctions he can bend the will of Iran. WRONG!!
He says he is not for regime change. Well only two things stop the terrorism and them getting nukes and one is not sanctions. It is either regime change or military bombing of the nuke sites plus destruction or the IRGC and their infrastructure.
Bolton understood this clearly!
@ Bear Klein:
If Trump is listening to the code pink republicans, he won’t continue to be a friend of Israel. I don’t like the direction he’s heading. Negotiations with Iran? That won’t end well and just another opportunity for Iran to stall while developing nuclear weapons capability. How is this different than Obama’s approach? It appears nothing is going to be done to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons. I’m not a code pink republican or a sycophant, so I won’t be one of those people twisting myself into knots to defend the president on this.
Trump signaled a while ago Bolton was going to axed when he said if John had his way we would bomb everyone.
Too bad as he was a real friend of Israel,
Pompeo is in a gleeful mood. I’m certain he is responsible for the president getting rid of Bolton. Clearly he and Bolton did not get along and so the president preferred Pompeo’s advise. I’m not liking Pompeo’s attitude. In fact at this point I don’t like him at all. He’s clearly gleeful and gloating over Bolton’s humiliation. Mnuchin looks smug as well. Does being on team Trump mean blind obedience? Why bother with advisers if you already have your mind made up? It is clear to me that Bolton dared to express contrary opinions. Pompeo is a yes man with no principles. That is the way I see it. I no longer trust Trump with regard to Iran. And if Bibi loses and Israel has a weak leader, that will give Trump cover for appeasing Iran.
This is not good. The code pink Republicans have won the day and they must be gloating. They have been tearing in to Bolton and marginalizing him and caricaturing him as a warmonger, just like the left did during the Bush years. Now his being fired vindicates them in their own eyes. But that’s not the worst part. It’s one thing if the president did not agree with Bolton’s advise, but why not just accept his resignation last night? Did he want the satisfaction of firing and humiliating him? Trump knew Bolton was a hawk when he appointed him. So why did he appoint him? And what does this signal when it comes to dealing with Iran? I don’t think that Trump is going to stop Iran from going nuclear. And he doesn’t even want regime change although, as Mark Levin points out, we could achieve that without firing a shot.