Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

John Boltin'
Steyn Online ^ | 11 Sep 2019 | Mark Steyn

Posted on 09/13/2019 8:22:10 AM PDT by Rummyfan

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-26 next last

A good long read on Bolton. Sorry he's gone but when you work for The President you have a constituency of one. If you don't please him for any reason whatsoever...

Some good Bolton quotes:

The UN building?

'If you lost ten storeys, it wouldn't make a bit of difference.'

Reform of the Security Council?

'If I were redoing the Security Council, I'd have one permanent member ...the United States.'

The International Criminal Court?

'Fuzzy-minded romanticism ...not just naive but dangerous.'

International law in general?

'It is a big mistake for us to grant any validity to international law.'

Offering incentives to rogue states?

'I don't do carrots.'

1 posted on 09/13/2019 8:22:10 AM PDT by Rummyfan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Rummyfan

No more war mongers.


2 posted on 09/13/2019 8:37:05 AM PDT by wastedyears (The left would kill every single one of us and our families if they knew they could get away with it)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Rummyfan

“was either fired (per Trump) or resigned (per Bolton)”

WRONG! Bolton, according to Bolton, OFFERED his resignation, he didn’t resign PERIOD!

Then, Trump FIRED him.

It’s not unclear in any way. There is no question.

Trump said “You’re FIRED!” just like on The Apprentice.

Mark, you can be very funny sometimes, but then you can be a real A$$, like your anti-birther rants. You lost me over that. Have a nice day, actually have a lousy day.


3 posted on 09/13/2019 8:55:57 AM PDT by faucetman (Just the facts, ma'am, Just the facts)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wastedyears

When I read Bolton’s comments I think it most resembles Reagan. I guess Reagan was warmonger - to you.


4 posted on 09/13/2019 9:01:22 AM PDT by Wuli
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Rummyfan
Great article. As usual, Steyn is a gem.

I don't know what went wrong between Bolton and Trump. I would suspect that Bolton was undermined by the weasels he was surrounded by.

5 posted on 09/13/2019 10:02:41 AM PDT by zeugma (I sure wish I lived in a country where the rule of law actually applied to those in power.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: faucetman

It would have been better if he had never accepted the job to begin with.


6 posted on 09/13/2019 10:13:43 AM PDT by Lisbon1940 (No full-term Governors (at the time of election))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Rummyfan
Short article by Steyn w/ two longer one he wrote from past years. Still worth the time to read it.

I do like this one:

At one event, a startled British cabinet minister said to me afterwards, 'He doesn't mean all that, does he?'

Reminds me of a conversation I had with a former PM of the Netherlands during the 2016 election on Trump's promise to move the US embassy to Jerusalem. I reminded his Honourableness that Bush and Obama had promised the same. "This man is dangerous becuase he means it!" he replied.

Yep.
7 posted on 09/13/2019 10:25:14 AM PDT by nicollo (I said no!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wastedyears
A realist is more like it. It's a nasty world out there and he is quite attuned to that fact.

I didn't care that President Trump let him go, however, I disagreed with President Trump when he went on twitter to bash Bolton. There was no need for that, and it served the President in no way. Now I suspect that you will call me anti-Trump. Keep in mind that has been my only complaint of President Trump to date.

8 posted on 09/13/2019 10:33:48 AM PDT by Robert DeLong
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Rummyfan
International law in general?

'It is a big mistake for us to grant any validity to international law.'

=========================================

The irony is, without "international law," there would be no United States of America as there could be no recognition of our Declaration of Independence.

British common law specifically, and expressly forbid such an action, so our founders had to turn to internationally recognized law & legal treatise.

9 posted on 09/13/2019 10:47:17 AM PDT by rxsid (HOW CAN A NATURAL BORN CITIZEN'S STATUS BE "GOVERNED" BY GREAT BRITAIN? - Leo Donofrio (2009))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Robert DeLong
"I didn't care that President Trump let him go, however, I disagreed with President Trump when he went on twitter to bash Bolton."

I'm glad he let Bolton go...surprised he hired him in the first place if his goal really is to work toward peace on the Korean peninsula, get substantive talks going with Iran and improve our relations with Russia.

I agree though, Trump should not have sent out those tweets bashing him. IMV, makes Trump look more like he didn't know what he was doing when he hired him, than making him look tough on his subordinates.

Trump has a tendency to shoot himself in the foot with unnecessary tweets. That's the double edge sword of being able to "immediately" take a message to the people in the modern world.

10 posted on 09/13/2019 10:59:21 AM PDT by rxsid (HOW CAN A NATURAL BORN CITIZEN'S STATUS BE "GOVERNED" BY GREAT BRITAIN? - Leo Donofrio (2009))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Wuli

Was Reagan willing to throw away American lives?


11 posted on 09/13/2019 11:11:31 AM PDT by wastedyears (The left would kill every single one of us and our families if they knew they could get away with it)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Robert DeLong

It is indeed a hostile world, but does that mean we should be the world’s police? Should we go to Venezuela and “free” them? Maybe we should parachute into South Africa and tell them that persecuting people for their skin color is wrong.


12 posted on 09/13/2019 11:19:24 AM PDT by wastedyears (The left would kill every single one of us and our families if they knew they could get away with it)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: rxsid

President Trump probably listened to someone he shouldn’t have. Wouldn’t be the first time heh. 8>)


13 posted on 09/13/2019 11:23:55 AM PDT by Robert DeLong
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: wastedyears
No of course we shouldn't be the world's policemen, just as we should not be totally disengaged from conflicts.

I agree with President Trump that Bolton's statement regarding how we will deal with Kim would be the Libya response, was not a wise statement at all. Why would Kim want to engage any further with a plan to get rid of nuclear weapons, after that statement?

My point was not really to stand with or justify Bolton, but that I understand Bolton. Bolton makes a lot of good points, but it does not necessarily mean he wants to act on every one of them, just as President Trump makes statements that he no intention of carrying forth.

My point was to say that President Trump did not need to get nasty on twitter. Let him go, and then move on. He did not enhance himself in that situation, in my opinion. In other words, there is no need to engage in name calling. By the President of others.

John Bolton deserves better than to be called a warmonger, even if he might be. To my knowledge he has never started any wars, even though the press is quick to say that is what he wanted to do. But believing the press these days is probably not a bright thing to do either. 8>)

14 posted on 09/13/2019 11:43:29 AM PDT by Robert DeLong
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Robert DeLong
Of course he can't "start" any wars, but he never saw a potential conflict he didn't want us involved in.


15 posted on 09/13/2019 11:57:19 AM PDT by wastedyears (The left would kill every single one of us and our families if they knew they could get away with it)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: wastedyears
Of course he can't "start" any wars, but he never saw a potential conflict he didn't want us involved in.

And you know your statement is accurate, how exactly? Let me guess, you read it in the press. Often times the press lies, so we can't trust them to tell us anything, even as it pertains to John Bolton.

But you only make the case, that he should never be President, just in case the press happened to tell the truth this time. 8>)

16 posted on 09/13/2019 12:13:56 PM PDT by Robert DeLong
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Robert DeLong

Trump’s use of Twitter has to stop. It does not serve him well.


17 posted on 09/13/2019 12:28:07 PM PDT by bagman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: rxsid

Who has recognized the Declaration of Independence? What legal standing does it have?

Did France enter the War of Independence due to some legal doctrine?


18 posted on 09/13/2019 12:29:43 PM PDT by bagman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: bagman

Foolish comment by a paleo dry cod

It is not 1953


19 posted on 09/13/2019 12:31:58 PM PDT by bert ( (KE. NP. N.C. +12) Progressives are existential American enemies)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: bagman
Trump’s use of Twitter has to stop. It does not serve him well.

It may not serve him well, but it's a damn sight better than expecting the Lame Stream Media to get his real message out there.

20 posted on 09/13/2019 12:34:05 PM PDT by ssaftler (The opinions expressed here have not been peer reviewed, fact checked or focus group tested.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-26 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson