Here we go again with an administration that's so bad, I'm agreeing with John Bolton. Following bully-boys Trump and Vance's ambush of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who sat there the entire time looking like he just ate a giant turd, made an appearance on CNN, and of course, defended Trump and Vance and attacked Zelensky.
Shortly after the Rubio interview, former Trump National Security Advisor and UN Ambassador John Bolton joined the network and was asked by host Kaitlan Collins what he thought of what he saw transpire that day.
"Well, it was a disaster for American national security," replied Bolton. "We saw the President and the Vice President emotionally committed to being on the Russian side of this. And I think it spells disaster for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization."
"I think it's a signal to Treaty allies of the United States, all around the world, that Trump has divorced himself from the foundations of American foreign policy since 1945. Many of his supporters would applaud that. But that is a disaster for the United States," Bolton continued. "The Europeans can't do this themselves. They can talk about it all they want. But they need a United States, led by somebody who understands what its own interests are."
After hitting Trump for being "consumed with the idea that Zelenskyy and Ukraine conspired against him in the 2016 election" and believing that Vladimir Putin is his friend," Bolton noted that "This is going not just in the wrong direction. This is going in the wrong direction catastrophically fast, with implications, globally, for our system of alliances."
Collins asked Bolton about the fact that it was Rubio and Trump's current National Security Advisor Mike Waltz who were the ones that asked Zelensky to leave the White House after the fiasco with Trump, and what he would have done in that same situation.
"Well, I might have carried out the order, but I would have resigned thereafter," Bolton replied. "I must say, watching Marco on your show, the first half hour, was very sad for me, very sad. He's been a strong defender of a vigorous American foreign policy, and in the -- in the wider world, which keeps us safer at home. And yet, he talked about how hard it is to get the poor Russian regime to the table to negotiate."
"One reason it's getting harder to get the Russians to negotiate is that Donald Trump is giving them everything they want."
Collins asked Bolton whether he agreed with any of the points Rubio made during his interview, and "talking ill of Putin" was "not helpful" during a negotiation, which was met with this sneering response from Bolton.
"Come on, let's get our big boy pants on here. Vladimir Putin is one of the coldest-bloodest -- cold-blooded-est individuals I've ever met. He knows what the back-and-forth means. It's not that he's timid about coming to the table. He doesn't need to. Trump's got the flood running in his direction. He just needs to sit there and get more. This is the exact opposite of the way to negotiate with Putin."
"The Russians, I can tell you, from arms control negotiations beyond counting, are better than anybody else at taking concessions, putting them in their pocket, and then saying, What have you got for me now? That's what they're doing in the Kremlin, tonight," Bolton concluded.
