John Bolton, who once served as former US President Donald Trump’s top national security adviser, recently said that Trump would likely withdraw the US from the NATO military bloc if ever reelected.
Bolton, widely considered to be a foreign policy war hawk, was speaking to a conservative US media outlet on Thursday following an op-ed he penned that was published on Tuesday. In both the interview and op-ed, Bolton criticized the Trump administration for not being aggressive enough in his foreign policy, including in Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan and the administration’s failed attempts to overthrow the democratically-elected leader of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro.
During the interview, Bolton said Trump “threatened the existence of NATO” in his first term and would “almost certainly withdraw from NATO” if elected again in 2024.
Bolton served as Trump’s top national security adviser until he was ousted in September 2019 over disagreements with the then-president over foreign policy, particularly in Afghanistan, North Korea and Iran. Media reports have indicated the United States was within “minutes” of attacking Iran under Bolton’s tenure.
In the past, Bolton has advocated for wars or regime change in Libya, Syria, Yemen, Cuba and the aforementioned Venezuela, where the Bolton/Trump ouster plan failed spectacularly. He was also a director for the Project for a New American Century, which advocated regime change in Iraq, Iran and Syria as far back as 1997.
Bolton also criticized Trump's decision to pull out of Afghanistan after nearly 20 years of bloody conflict, saying it was a “disastrous mistake for America and for national security in the world.”
Likewise, in his op-ed, Bolton warned Trump may not be enough of a war hawk in foreign policy during a second term to satisfy Bolton.
He opined that “despite increasing defense spending in his first term, Trump could freeze or slash military budgets next time,” cautioning that Trump may prefer to focus on “civilian infrastructure projects” instead.
When asked about Ukraine, Bolton said that he is “worried about the [US President Joe] Biden administration’s staying power,” and said the same about “a lot of Europeans.”
Trump has pledged to end the bloodshed in Ukraine by forcing both sides to the table. The Biden administration has provided over $100 billion in military and other aid to Ukraine during the conflict and is the largest benefactor of the Kiev regime. Meanwhile, a recent poll of US residents indicated the majority want to end the country’s aid to Ukraine.
Bolton also served as the recess ambassador to the UN under the George W. Bush administration, despite previously saying that if the UN headquarters “lost 10 stories, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.” He has long argued against that organization’s existence and the United States’ participation in it.