Donald Trump’s former national security adviser delivered a dark forecast for the incoming president’s second term in a stark Christmas Eve assessment where he sharply criticized his former boss’s lack of knowledge and disinterest in facts.
John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser who became an outspoken critic after leaving his administration, said it is “much more likely that a major international crisis will unfold during Trump’s second term,” the Guardian reported on Tuesday.
That's partly because the president-elect “doesn’t have a philosophy, doesn’t do policy as we understand that, [and] he doesn’t have a national security strategy.”
He also bristled at claims Trump made during the campaign that he was the only one who could prevent a third world war and would oversee a speedy end to the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine.
“It’s typical Trump: it’s all braggadocio,” Bolton told the Guardian. “The world is more dangerous than when he was president before. The only real crisis we had was Covid, which is a long term crisis and not against a particular foreign power but against a pandemic. But the risk of an international crisis of the 19th century variety is much more likely in a second Trump term. Given Trump’s inability to focus on coherent decision making, I’m very worried about how that might look.”
ALSO READ: Presidential run eyed for 'relentless' Dem gov who beat brutal GOP opposition in key state
According to Bolton, who also served as George W. Bush’s U.N. ambassador, Trump’s decision-making was driven by personal relationships and “a series of neuron flashes.”
“He doesn’t have a philosophy, doesn’t do policy as we understand that, he doesn’t have a national security strategy,” Bolton said. He later added: “He doesn’t know much about foreign policy. He’s not a big reader. He reads newspapers from time to time but briefing papers are almost never read because he doesn’t think they’re important. He doesn’t think these facts are important.”
The long-time Republican noted that while Trump “could be charming,” he believes his next term could be even more chaotic than the first.
“He now feels more confident in his judgement having been re-elected, which will make it even harder to impose any kind of intellectual decision-making discipline," Bolton said.