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Trump’s Vendetta Campaign Targets John Bolton
Wall Street Journal ^ | August 22, 2025 | WSJ Editorial Board

Posted on 08/23/2025 8:16:44 AM PDT by karpov

President Trump promised voters during his campaign for a second term that he had bigger things on his mind than retribution against opponents. But it is increasingly clear that vengeance is a large part, maybe the largest part, of how he will define success in his second term.

His revenge campaign took an ominous turn Friday as FBI agents raided the home and office of Mr. Trump’s first-term national security adviser John Bolton. They brought two broad warrants to search the “premises.” Agents showed up unannounced at his Bethesda, Md., home at 7 a.m. They confiscated his wife Gretchen’s phone because it was visible and not on her person. Mr. Bolton had already left for his office, which is where FBI agents greeted him.

Kash Patel, the FBI director, sent out a cryptic tweet at 7:03 Friday morning that “NO ONE is above the law . . . @FBI agents on mission.” He didn’t specify to whom he was referring, but the timing is unlikely to have been coincidental.

It’s hard to see the raid as anything other than vindictive. Mr. Bolton fell out of Mr. Trump’s favor in the first term and then wrote a book about his experience in the White House while Mr. Trump was still President. Mr. Trump tried and failed to block publication. The President then claimed Mr. Bolton had exposed classified information, though the book had gone through an extensive pre-publication scrub at the White House for classified material.

The book investigation faded away under President Biden, but now it looks as if Mr. Patel is reviving it. Whether Mr. Trump ordered the FBI probe or not doesn’t matter.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Editorial; Front Page News; Government; Political Humor/Cartoons; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: agitprop; arrestrupertmurdoch; bolton; bookdeals; checkersmaximus; christophersteele; concerntroll; concerntrolling; fakefreepers; fakenews; fbi; fusiongps; googoogjoob; johnbolton; karpovstrollcampaign; kashpatel; letsgobolton; maralagobathroom; mrtoughguy; murdochownswsj; neocon; neoconwalrus; nevertrump; nevertrumper; nevertrumpers; nevertrumpertrolls; nevertrumpingtroll; pulltheirfcclicense; roomwhereithappened; sidebarabuse; tds; theclownbolton; theeggman; thewalrus; wjssedition; wsjtreason; wsurinal; zot
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1 posted on 08/23/2025 8:16:44 AM PDT by karpov
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To: karpov

WSJ used to be a great source of news.......


2 posted on 08/23/2025 8:20:46 AM PDT by eeriegeno (Checks and balances??? What checks and balances?)
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To: eeriegeno

Is there any honest media anywhere these days?


3 posted on 08/23/2025 8:21:55 AM PDT by JaguarXKE (Liberalism is a cancer on our nation.)
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To: karpov
They confiscated his wife Gretchen’s phone because it was visible and not on her person.

Did they rummage through her lingerie closet too?

4 posted on 08/23/2025 8:22:10 AM PDT by HIDEK6 (God bless Donald Trump)
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To: JaguarXKE

No.


5 posted on 08/23/2025 8:22:19 AM PDT by who knows what evil? (Hospitals are the most dangerous place on Earth! Dr. David Williams)
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To: karpov

The spin is palpable.


6 posted on 08/23/2025 8:22:29 AM PDT by Fester Chugabrew (Are you now, or have you ever been, a Democrat?)
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To: karpov

Call it what you want but if anyone deserves to have a revenge campaign it’s President Donald Trump. Democrats have enjoyed immunity from their dastardly underhanded illegal conniving schemes for far too long.


7 posted on 08/23/2025 8:24:59 AM PDT by From The Deer Stand (Mp)
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To: karpov

The Democrats are never held responsible for their criminal activities. When the Democrats are in power, they are allowed to skate. And when the Republicans are in office, bringing them to justice is a vendetta.


8 posted on 08/23/2025 8:26:18 AM PDT by RoosterRedux ("There's nothing so inert as a closed mind" )
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To: eeriegeno

“WSJ used to be a great source of news.......”

Used to be

This is irresponsible.

It is a lesson in propaganda.


9 posted on 08/23/2025 8:26:52 AM PDT by stanne (Because they were mesmerized by Obama, the man for whom this was named, whose name they left out of )
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To: karpov

I’m old enough to remember when the Wall Street Journal Editorial Page was Pro-America, or at least appeared to be that way.

Now the Neocons control it and will defend every damn Neocon, even those as evil as Bolton.


10 posted on 08/23/2025 8:27:49 AM PDT by BobL
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To: eeriegeno

A lot of people get caught off guard by a “newspaper” allegedly for capitalists that is run by communists.


11 posted on 08/23/2025 8:27:57 AM PDT by Dalberg-Acton
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To: karpov
Why wait for charges? Just speculate now and make $hit up.

Its really comical to watch leftists coming to the aide of John Bolton.

12 posted on 08/23/2025 8:28:51 AM PDT by blackdog ((Z28.310) "Diggin the scene with a gangster lean" (Mayfield, Curtis) )
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To: karpov
... It’s hard to see the raid as anything other than vindictive....

It's much too soon to say that.

13 posted on 08/23/2025 8:30:32 AM PDT by gloryblaze
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To: karpov

The warrant service on John Bolton is a prescient view of what is to come.

If you are a bad guy, turning state’s evidence is the only way to save your ass. It’s time to come to Jesus or descend into hell.


14 posted on 08/23/2025 8:30:56 AM PDT by bert ( (KE. NP. +12) Where is ZORRO when California so desperately needs him?)
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To: karpov

Vendetta? Is this an admission that Bolton did something? I wonder 🤔


15 posted on 08/23/2025 8:31:04 AM PDT by Texas Eagle ("Throw me to the wolves and I'll return leading the pack"- Donald J. Trump)
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To: karpov
Interesting because everyone thought it was about "the book"...But it isn't.

Seems he was sending "Classified Info" to his relatives for safe keeping. That's what I heard last...but...I'll take a wait and see.

So this is a vendetta....and Russia Russia Russia was a love story.

16 posted on 08/23/2025 8:31:33 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: karpov

No vendetta. Yes, Trump never hits first; but he alsays hits back. The main fact,though, is that he follows the law; they never did. So there’s no tit-for-tat here.


17 posted on 08/23/2025 8:31:35 AM PDT by Migraine
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To: JaguarXKE

“Is there any honest media anywhere these days?”

Try channel 12 Portland. They are a far left source reporting the family reunion of “wrongfully” deported slave trader Maryland Man.


18 posted on 08/23/2025 8:33:26 AM PDT by Cold Heart (Democrats protect criminals and prosecute innocents)
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To: From The Deer Stand

They may call it a vendetta, but in reality, this is just rough street justice. A turf war, yes, but the opposition made the mistake of self-selecting themselves to be “enemies” of Trump. Trump does not make the first strike, but his counterpunch is devastating to say the least.

Just ask Rosie O’Donnell.

If you are out to kill the king, better not miss.

Yet they did miss.


19 posted on 08/23/2025 8:33:41 AM PDT by alloysteel (When in doubt, run about, scream and shout.)
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To: karpov

Funny how 10+ years of lawfare against Trump was “justice” and “saving democracy” while Trump going after actual criminals and those who committed treason is a “vendetta “😂😂😂😂

They can’t help themselves, TDS on full display


20 posted on 08/23/2025 8:33:43 AM PDT by blitz128
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