Morning Briefing: John Bolton is Crazier than a Sh*thouse Rat, and About that Gov't Shutdown ...

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | March 23, 2018 |

John Bolton will be Donald Trump’s new National Security Advisor. There’s no confirmation hearings, so unless there’s a hold up on security clearance, he’s good to go. Note, however, that he is a Robert Mercer guy, and has connections to Cambridge Analytica, so there’s about a 2.5 percent chance his security clearance will be held up.

This is the guy, by the way, who couldn’t get Senate confirmation under Bush.

You’re probably also reading a lot about how crazy he is. Like that anecdote, where someone asked him what he thinks should be done in North Korea, and he laid down a book called, The End of North Korea. Folks, John Bolton is crazier than a shithouse rat.

Look: He’s probably going to start a war. Maybe with North Korea, probably with Iran. This is not an alarmist take. This is what he wants to do, and it appears it’s also what Donald Trump wants to do, at least with regard to Iran. Bolton doesn’t care about alliances. He does not care about international law. He’s all about pre-emptive war — he supported, and still supports the war with Iraq.

A source close to John Bolton tells me he made no promise to Trump that he "wouldn't start any wars," contrary to reports. "Not true, wasn't discussed," the source says.
— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) March 23, 2018

There is one glimmer of hope, here: Donald Trump notoriously ignores the advice of his advisors. In fact, he often does the opposite of what his advisors warn him against. Let’s hope that Bolton gets on his nerves quickly, and Trump begins working in opposition to Bolton’s advice. Bolton, after all, is another Trump, in that he likes to freewheel; he likes attention; he likes to go it alone. That might rub Trump the wrong way. Plus, Bolton is not going to have a great working relationship inside the White House because John Kelly and General Mattis already hate the guy. There are going to be more power struggles, more chaos, and probably some bombs dropped.

Meanwhile, let’s pour one out for H.R. McMaster. I know we often say that these Trump appointees get what they deserve, but in the case of McMaster and Mattis, I truly do believe that they took those positions for the betterment of the country, and to act as a babysitter to Trump. McMaster is one of the guys who tried to clean up the mess after the Iraq war. He often spoke against Trump policies, and he got slapped down a few times for it. And if we lose Mattis, well, international diplomacy will turn into a game of Risk.

It won’t be the last shake-up in the White House, either. In fact, turns out that John Kelly and Co. had hoped that Trump would hold off on firing McMaster so that the White House could fire several senior officials with one press releases, including Ben Carson and David Shulkin. So much for that plan.

And don’t forget: Earlier this month, Donald Trump seriously considered firing John Kelly and replacing him with himself as Chief of Staff. Nothing tyrannical about that, folks.

.@realDonaldTrump is now set for war on 3 fronts: political vs Bob Mueller, economic vs China/others on trade, and actual vs. Iran and/or North Korea. This is the most perilous moment in modern American history-and it has been largely brought about by ourselves, not by events.
— Richard N. Haass (@RichardHaass) March 23, 2018

There’s a fourth war, too: A legal one against Trump’s former mistresses. I mean, step back a second, and look at this Presidency: We have a philandering President, a miserable First Lady, a White House in complete disarray, an ineffective Congress, a trade war, possible real war with North Korea and Iran, and a digital war against Russia, with whom our President is an ally. We’ve been saying for a year and a half that this is not sustainable. At some point, that may actually come true. We live in surreal, bleak, and broken times.

Hey! But the economy is kicking!

Of the 10 biggest one-day drops in the history of Dow Jones, FOUR of those days have occurred in the past seven weeks under Trump.#SoMuchWinning
— Charlotte Clymer🏳️‍🌈 (@cmclymer) March 22, 2018

Oh, and at least we have avoided a government shutdo ….

I am considering a VETO of the Omnibus Spending Bill based on the fact that the 800,000 plus DACA recipients have been totally abandoned by the Democrats (not even mentioned in Bill) and the BORDER WALL, which is desperately needed for our National Defense, is not fully funded.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2018

Oh shit.

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