At last, we have a president who can talk to the media without the aid of a teleprompter, and Donald Trump has been doing a lot of talking. In the course of reminding us of what it’s like to have a president who is not in the throes of dementia, Trump is making it clear that during his second term, he intends to enact his agenda fully, and he has been unsparing toward those who tried to impede him doing so during his first term.
One of the chief among these was John Bolton, and on Wednesday, Trump was asked why he revoked Bolton’s security clearance. His answer illuminated much more than just Bolton’s status.
A reporter asked Trump, "Why did you remove John Bolton's security clearance, sir?" True to form for the establishment media, this was a question that didn’t particularly need to be asked, as the answer was already contained in one of Trump’s Inauguration Day executive orders, “Holding Former Government Officials Accountable for Election Interference and Improper Disclosure of Sensitive Governmental Information.” (It is, by the way, suddenly a lot of fun to go to whitehouse.gov. Instead of getting inundated with the Biden regime’s woke blather, all you see are Trump’s decisive actions to restore America.)
That executive order states that “it is the policy of the United States that classified information not be publicly disclosed in memoirs, especially those published for personal monetary gain.” It adds:
National security is also damaged by the publication of classified information. Former National Security Advisor John R. Bolton published a memoir for monetary gain after he was terminated from his White House position in 2019. The book was rife with sensitive information drawn from his time in government. The memoir’s reckless treatment of sensitive information undermined the ability of future presidents to request and obtain candid advice on matters of national security from their staff. Publication also created a grave risk that classified material was publicly exposed.
Bolton’s security clearance was accordingly revoked. But on Wednesday, Trump made no reference to any of that, instead answering, "Because, uh, I think that was enough time. It’s, uh — we take a job, uh, you take a job, you want to do a job, we're not going to have security on people for the rest of their lives. Why should we?”
This was a perfectly reasonable point: allowing people to keep security clearances because they formerly held sensitive jobs in government gave them access to information that they could use for partisan or other self-serving purposes. The assessment of the notorious 51 “intelligence professionals” that Hunter Biden’s laptop was Russian disinformation was a prime example of that. People should do the jobs to which they’re appointed and then relinquish their security clearances when they relinquish the job itself.
Trump wasn’t finished. He continued, “I thought he was a very dumb person, but I used him well, because every time people saw me come into a meeting with John Bolton sit—, standing behind me, they thought that he'd attack them because he was a warmonger. He's the one that got us involved — along with Cheney and a couple of others, convinced Bush, which was a terrible decision — to blow up the Middle East. You know, we blew up the Middle East, and we left. We got nothing out of it except a lot of death. We s—, killed a lot of people, and John Bolton was, uh, you know, one of those guys, a stupid guy. But no, you can’t have that for life, you shouldn’t expect it for life."
Related: Trump 'Transition Official' Says All the Gazans Really Need Is ‘a Sense of Hope.’ Really?
Trump’s contention, which he has stated before, that the Bush-era wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were pointless and wrongheaded, is one of the foremost ways in which he differs from the foreign policy establishment. Yet nothing is clearer than the fact that Trump is entirely correct.
The U.S. oversaw the removal of a regime that was not involved in 9/11 and was actually a source of stability in the region, that of Saddam Hussein. (Yes, Saddam Hussein was a bloody dictator; there are no good guys in this story. But what has come after him in Iraq has been much worse in all manner of ways.) Removing him empowered Iran, an error that Obama and Biden then compounded by sending billions to the Islamic regime.
The U.S. involvement in Iraq also led to the rise of the Islamic State (ISIS). Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, as “Who Lost Afghanistan” shows, we entered in order to topple the Taliban, did so, and then stayed long enough to see the Taliban come back to power and benefit from American weaponry (and more foolish Biden largesse). Bush’s wars accomplished less than nothing. We are long overdue for a total overhaul of U.S. foreign policy in line with America-First principles. It is good to see Trump taking action against those who are working to keep this from happening.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member