As customary another ex-politician, Trump’s former National Security Advisor John Bolton, has written a book. Little surprisingly, too, he takes a good swipe at the man he once considered a great president – at least publicly.
But why has he held his tongue for so long? This information would have greatly fuelled Trump’s impeachment. If everything is true, he could have proved abuse of power (all of a sudden he talks about “obstruction of justice as a way of life”) as well as another attempt at roping in foreign governments for his own interests (Bolton claims Trump pleaded with Chinese President Xi to support his re-election by buying American soy-beans and wheat). Instead, in contrast to some of his staff, he refused to testify during the House impeachment inquiry. Then, he opportunistically kept quiet, and now he plainly and simply wants to boost sales with sensational news. I am very sorry, Mr. Bolton – even though one can vividly imagine Trump’s egocentricity and ignorance (like not knowing the UK is a nuclear power and asking if Finland was part of Russia) – no, this does not make you particularly trustworthy. In addition, the basics have all been too well-known for quite a while.
And there is one thing you should not forget: Bolton too is a narrow-minded nationalistic hardliner who, just like his former boss, does not care in the least about other interests apart from his own and from American ones. In this order. He e.g. fervently supported the Vietnam War, but avoided being drafted by enlisting in the Maryland National Guard. And he shares Trump’s penchant for disinformation and lies. As head of the right-wing, Islamophobic Gatestone Institute he was co-responsible for disseminating false information, downright lies and hate campaigns against immigrants in general and Muslims in particular (who, they claimed, were planning the “Great White Death” all over the world). He discredited the UN Human Rights Council whenever he could. And he was one of the architects of the Iraq-War in 2003 and co-author of the WMD fairy-tale. Even though you might rejoice at everybody finding fault with Trump, you cannot really wish for this book to be a success. Two million $ advance from his publisher are already way too much for this man.
What is more, Trump supporters will, as usual, shrug off these stories as fake news. After all, Bolton is not the first one to tell White House inside stories and confirm everything we already know about Trump’s state of mind and traits of character. Even his completely irrational behaviour during the Corona-crisis and his remarks verging on total mental deficiency could not harm him much (the decline in support is rather marginal considering his performance). Not even the current protests against racism and police violence must really disturb him. Racism is much too deeply rooted in American society. It remains to be seen how long this statement by the American journalist David French, referring to the murders of Trayvon Martin and Ahmaud Arbery, will still hold true: “There are Americans who would never pick up a weapon and try to track down a black man running on the street – or follow a young black man on a rainy night – but they understand and sympathize with those who do.” (David French: “The double injustice of unreasonable fear.” TIME Magazine, June 1 / June 8, 2020)
Now as before no book, no protest but only the economic development can seriously endanger Trump’s re-election (https://www.myview-wolfgangmebs.de/dawn/). Bolton’s ‘revelations’ are nothing but cowardly retaliation and pure profiteering, and they will probably remain trivial and inconsequential.