Trump would not be 'capable' of holding Ukraine-Russia peace talks, says his former national security adviser John Bolton

Business Insider ^ | 3/27/22 | Joshua Zitser

[Its All Over Except ...]

Former President Donald Trump would not be "capable" of holding peace talks in Moscow between Ukraine and Russia to stop the ongoing war, said John Bolton on Saturday.

Bolton, who served as Trump's national security adviser from 2018 to 2019, said that such statesmanship would be out of Trump's character.

"He's not capable of it," Bolton told The Palm Beach Post. "This would require thinking through a policy and considering the pluses and minuses, the risks and costs involved. That's just not what he does."

Last Saturday, Trump said his personality kept the US out of war and added that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not have invaded Ukraine if he were still in office. 

The former president has repeatedly asserted that the ongoing war would not be happening if he was still in charge, Insider Lauren Frias and Sonam Sheth reported.

Bolton previously told The Washington Post that the only reason Putin didn't invade Ukraine during Trump's presidency is that he would've withdrawn the United States from the NATO alliance in his second term. 

"In a second Trump term, I think he may well have withdrawn from NATO," Bolton said, per the newspaper. "And I think Putin was waiting for that."

In his interview with The Palm Beach Post, Bolton reiterated his belief that Trump's objective was to "withdraw the U.S. from NATO or substantially limit" Washington's support for the defensive alliance.

"He was very negative on the institution," Bolton added. 

Bolton also told the local newspaper that Trump would have gifted Russia Ukraine had had won a second term as president.

Speaking to British radio station LBC last week, Bolton offered a negative assessment of how his former boss would have fared in this conflict. "If Trump had been re-elected, Putin would be in Kyiv already," he said.

[WKUHilltopper]

Bolton is showing his true globalist ass kissing colors.

[Wonder Warthog]

"From what I have read, it seems the labs were already in Ukraine at the time USSR broke up and Ukraine gave up its nukes. What happened after that is unclear, but it appears the US may have been involved."

What happened is that the US, in order to prevent the biological researchers who had previously been working on OFFENSIVE bio-weapons in those labs from going to work for, for example, Iran. The US repurposed those labs and that research into DEFENSIVE bio-research, and paid the salaries of the researchers.

This was well-known in the US bio-research community at the time.

[sima_yi]

Bolton’s an a**. I actually approved of him at one time.

As did I. I wonder what the heck happened to him.

[Robert DeLong]

Oh contraire, I didn't attack you. I made an observation that you must be getting desperate falling to John Bolton as a source, who was proven to be lying about Trump in France.

But in return you call me a loser. I'll admit that I am no Elon Musk, but I'm also not Hunter Biden either, and certainly am not like lying John Bolton.

However, you do remind me of a die-hard liberal that also brings up John Bolton as proof against Trump regarding this Ukraine-Russia conflict. In fact, I sometimes feel like I'm in the same argument with that liberal with regards to the Ukraine cheerleaders on this board. For they all bring up the same arguments as does he, and call me the same names, because I see where Putin might be coming from.

There are a lot of issues that have fomented this war, and you all look only at one fact. That being of course, that Putin invaded Ukraine. While that is undeniably the case, that does not tell the whole story. Furthermore, you have allowed yourselves to be manipulated by the press that his invasion was a much more brutal invasion then it actually was.

If it had been a brutal invasion, it would have started like our invasion of Iraq, with a shock & awe campaign of bombing to soften up the enemy before going in with boots on the ground and tanks.

There would be literally 100s of thousands of civilian casualties, and far less Russian military casualties. But that simply is not the case.

No, it's you who engages in personal attacks.

I have stated over and over that I stand with neither country in this conflict, as I have zero respect for either of these corrupt countries or their corrupt leaders.

I do not wish to see our leaders make us responsible for more carnage and spending of our money making us more financially in ruin then we already are. They are destroying our country, and in my opinion you are aiding and abetting that destruction of this nation, solely upon emotional reasons. You cheer leading people need to wake up and realize you are again being manipulated.

Is what is happening in Ukraine, really worth losing this country for your children & grandchildren?

I'm asking you to wake up and realize what you are doing. You ignore my statements that state I am for neither country in this conflict, that my focus is on this country, which is in the most danger this country has ever been in its entire existence, yet I am called a Putin puffer and Putin lover while I have avoided calling any of you names.

That's because name calling is for liberals and those who cannot see the forest for the trees. I believe you have admirable traits for wanting to help others, but there comes a time when one must think of themselves first. For America that time has come, and in reality it came quite a while ago. It's getting almost too late to save us, but if we wake up perhaps it can be accomplished. If we do not wake up, we are doomed.

I just do not think Ukraine is even worth our or this nation's destruction.

[dfwgator]

Bolton has always been Bolton, even Dumbya got tired of his crap.

[OKSooner]

His bad (1974) haircut and soup strainer moustache were a tell.

[Robert DeLong]

LOL, as you are wrong on your cheer leading for Ukraine, you are also wrong about me being anti-Trump.

In fact, beyond Ukraine I suspect we are far more in agreement than disagreement on many topics. The fact that I am trying to make you understand that while it is easy to get entangled in emotional responses, they rarely do the good one thinks they do. An intelligent response always accomplishes more than do emotional responses. In fact, sometimes emotional responses create far more harm than they do good.

It's my contention that Ukraine is one of those instances.

But all you can do, instead of listening to me, and I freely admit that I am not the best of speakers, is to call me names and attempt to belittle me. This post is the perfect example of that. For if you had bothered to really look into my past, you would have seen that not only am I a supporter of Donald J. Trump, but that I am an avid supporter of him.

When he first announced his candidacy I readily admit that I thought he was a joke. I was a Ted Cruz supporter. But it really did not take long before I liked what I was hearing from candidate Trump, and I left Cruz for Trump. I have never regretted that move to this day, and I am all in for him in 2024, but secretly hope we can get him in before that time. 🙂

You need to look more into Zelenskyy. He is not a person you should be supporting, for he is a Klaus Schwab One World Government supporting fool who cares no more about Ukraine's sovereignty than does Putin.

[A_perfect_lady]

He wouldn’t have had to hold peace talks.

Yep. There's a reason Putin waited till Trump was out of office.

[Albion Wilde]

Troublemaker Robert Delong is back at it here in post #6.

You utterly misunderstood his first post, imagining it was directed at you instead of the author of the article, then had fits and called in your posse twice, at #27 and #42, denounced him as a libtard to other posters—seriously?

Those are the marks of a person who cannot debate on the contents. Grow up and stop stinking up the threads with personal attacks and misplaced moral outrage.

[Robert DeLong]

You want to hear what my most favorite joke regarding Biden is?

The president and the first lady Jill Biden went to an exclusive restaurant for dinner.

The waiter asks for the first lady's order and she responds:

Steak medium-well done with a salad.

The waiter replies, and the vegetable?

And the first lady responds:

Oh., he will have the same.

Yeah, I'm a big-time supporter of Biden.

[Its All Over Except ...]

You aren’t fooling anyone and that joke proves nothing.

You came out of nowhere early in this thread and instead of defending Trump instead of taking Bolton to task, you deflect and attack me because you were triggered by the thread going after your buddy Bolton, deflecting is what you do, you’ve shown your allegiances, and you were desperate as you are now...and crawling back after a hiatus.

I exposed you here and now trust me, numerous people know you’re a libtard who uses typical libtard tactics, so buzz off.

Done talking to trash like you.

[Dr. Franklin]

NATO is worthless in that its existence permits EU nations to avoid spending on their own security and instead foisting the expense onto the backs of American taxpayers, all while implementing expensive goodies that make our leftists drool with envy.

NATO has outlived its usefulness. Russia's main power now is economic. It's military is weak, but backed with only the threat of nuclear terror. The U.S. by itself can counter that threat, as Trump obviously did with Ukraine. So, Russia is nothing more than a neighborhood bully.

A more modern solution would be to create a new alliance of all of Russia's neighbors who want to join, who promise to attack Russia if it commits aggression against any of them, backed by the promise of U.S. nuclear deterrence. So, start with Poland, the Baltic states, and add in Ukraine, Georgia, Finland and Japan. That would keep Putin and other revanchist Russians in check because they know they would lose in a confrontation. In the present situation, no nation bordering Russia should be denied a nuclear deterrent to check Russia either.

[Robert DeLong]

Thanks Albion.

I was however, referring to the poster that he must be getting desperate. I'll explain why.

First off he is an unabashed cheerleader for Ukraine. I have been trying to debate these cheerleaders for Ukraine, not because I support Putin's invasion of Ukraine, but because we have more than our fair share of issues in this country to be worrying about Ukraine. Once you learn more about Zelenskyy, the more conservatives need to realize that Zelenskyy is not someone conservatives should be supporting at all.

Secondly, he (the person who posted this) made no comment about the article he posted. So. I assumed he was using John Bolton as yet another of his justification for supporting Ukraine.

However, anyone who clearly sees what I said about John Bolton, could ever rationally take that as being pro Biden. 😋

[CommerceComet]

Not that he meant to be but Bolton is actually correct. Citizen Trump would not be able to negotiate because the Logan Act prohibits it. Although ignored when Democrat meddlers like Kerry do it, you know the DOJ would enforce the Logan Act beyond the letter of the law if the alleged violator was Trump.

[Robert DeLong]

Only someone who is devoid of critical thinking skills, would think my statement was anything but support for Trump. You lack certain comprehension skills, I guess, if you fail to see that.

Since you said nothing about the article you posted, I assumed you were posting it in support of your misplaced support for Ukraine.

It may prove nothing, however, it really is my most favorite joke regarding Biden. But you are so biased that you can't even accept that from me as being legitimate.

Your debating skills really are rather inadequate though. You should work on them more. For you do come off as nothing more than an emotional wreck who cannot even offer up facts to support your argument.

[gleeaikin]

Yes, I recall seeing something like that. Also last year I saw information on how Bolton had removed the Pandemic Study effort started by Obama after the Ebola crisis from the White House and moved it elsewhere for national security. I also saw that the budget for this had been reduced and from 46 countries, had been cut to only 40 countries (if my 83 year old memory is accurate). I believe the Chinese Wuhan lab was one of these facilities retained. I wonder how much influence Fauci had in all this. China has been mentioned, anything doing by him in Ukraine?

[Pollard]

Trump to Putin; “You better behave or I’ll make your life a living hell.”

Putin would believe and respect that and behave.

[Albion Wilde]

Thanks for the explanation, Robert DeLong. Agreed, Bolton is no standard of measurement. Hard to believe how his usefulness has utterly plummeted.

Both of you need to stop carrying a feud over from one thread to another. See JimRob's "Do's and Don'ts" section on the FR Help page: "Don't jump threads - If you get involved in an argument in one thread, it's considered poor manners to restart the previous argument in the middle of an unrelated thread." Which is why "All Over" calling for reinforcements was also bad form.

And that said, he certainly is hair-trigger with the personal insults.