Donald Trump ‘not serious’ about foreign policy, John Bolton says

Former Trump national security adviser tells The National the president-elect will damage ‘civic fabric of the country’

Former national security adviser John Bolton fears that president-elect Donald Trump does not understand US interests at a global level, despite having previously served four years in the White House.

Mr Trump has been quick to form his cabinet, assembling a roster of faithful supporters that include television presenter Pete Hegseth to run the Pentagon and real estate investor Steven Witkoff as special envoy to the Middle East.

Mr Bolton, who served under Mr Trump from 2018 to 2019 before he was fired in a tweet, said his former boss appears to be cocooning himself with loyalists who will not push back when necessary.

“I worry that that means that people will be yes men and yes women,” Mr Bolton told The National. “They won't be advisers trying to think through what the right answers to complex problems are.”

He said Mr Trump's anti-Nato sentiments and claims he can end Russia's war against Ukraine “are indications that he's really not serious about understanding US interests in a complex world”.

Mr Bolton, who frequently appears on US news channels to lambast Mr Trump, said the president-elect is primarily seeking “fealty” in his cabinet members. The veteran policymaker, who served as US ambassador to the UN under George W Bush, cautioned that Mr Trump’s cabinet may well be asked to break the law at some point in the coming administration.

He pointed to a federal law known as the Posse Comitatus Act that curbs the powers of the government to use the military to enforce domestic policies. Mr Trump has previously suggested he wants to use the military against “the enemy within”.

“There's no doubt in my mind that at some point … Trump will disregard that and then Hegseth or somebody is going to have to say, I'm not going to comply with that order,” Mr Bolton said.

Mr Bolton worries that the incoming president could decide to withdraw the US from Nato, a “catastrophic” move that would essentially end the current world order established in the aftermath of the Second World War.

“I think it's a very serious prospect,” he said. “I wrote about what he did in the Nato summit in Brussels in 2018 – he was within an inch of withdrawing. Then he was distracted later in the administration and didn't, but his fundamental grievances and misunderstandings about what Nato have not changed.”

On the Middle East, Mr Trump is assembling a staunchly pro-Israel team, including picking Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel. The former Arkansas governor has expressed strong support for settlements and refers to the West Bank by its biblical name of Judea and Samaria.

He has also tapped Mr Witkoff, a close personal friend and real estate investor, to be his Middle East Envoy.

“I don't know who Steve Witkoff is,” Mr Bolton said.

Without giving details, Mr Trump has promised to end the wars in the Middle East, something the administration of President Joe Biden has been unable to achieve. Mr Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have reportedly held several phone calls since the election.

Mr Bolton said he believed Mr Trump would ultimately be remembered as an “aberration” in US politics.

“If you tell me the fight is between Donald Trump and the Constitution, the Constitution is going to win. It may be ugly, but the system will prevail,” he said. “People still have faith in the basic institutions. I believe and hope, anyway, that Trump is an aberration in American politics. He did damage in the first term. Some of that’s being repaired. He’ll do more damage in the second term. There’s no doubt about it.”

Trump nominations

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• Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to run government efficiency department
• Fox News presenter Pete Hegseth to run Department of Defence
• Trump set to choose Marco Rubio as US secretary of state
• Mike Huckabee as next US ambassador to Israel
• Profile: Elise Stefanik, Trump’s new ambassador to the UN
• Profile: Kristi Noem, Trump’s choice for head of Homeland Security

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