2026-02-15 19:35
publication
2026-02-15 19:35
Donald Trump's former national security adviser, conservative Republican John Bolton, warns in the Atlantic magazine that the US president's decisions on foreign policy are chaotic “global piracy” and its consequences may prove disastrous for America.
“Trump is guided by the instinct of a seller-developer”
Trump's foreign policy has the hallmarks of adventurism, the president does not take into account the lessons that should be drawn from historyor political theories, has little contact with reality and is guided by the instinct of a seller-developer – says Bolton, who was also the US ambassador to the UN.
Among ordinary Republicans who still believe in the security policy paradigm created by Presidents Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush, long overdue voices of disagreement with Trump's actions are finally emerging, the politician adds.
Bolton, widely considered a “hawk” in foreign policy, close in some respects to neoconservatives who promote “regime change” in hostile countries and building democracy there, calls Trump's position in foreign policy something worse than ideas for forceful changes of governments.
In Venezuela, led by Nicolas Maduro after the election results were falsified, the US carried out an operation to kidnap the leader, but left the entire existing power apparatus in office and even granted Caracas funds from the sale of oil, which was previously subject to an embargo.
“The Trump administration is strengthening the regime of (new president Delca) Rodriguez at the expense of the opposition. How on earth can this end well?” – asks the author.
Trump wants to run Gaza?
The president's ideas for solving the Gaza Strip problem “would make a 19th-century imperialist blush with shame”; Trump imagines that he will create a Middle Eastern Riviera there, without disarming Hamas, introducing peacekeeping forces, or ensuring security. His position “has no connection with the current reality in Gaza,” and at the same time Trump is giving signals that he would like to “manage Gaza personally,” with an “executive committee,” Bolton enumerates.
He points out that this “executive committee” on Gaza would include the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and the president's special envoy, “New York developer Steve Witkoff.”
“The Kremlin is delighted with Trump's ideas for Greenland”
Trump's ideas of annexing Greenland, which he has withdrawn for now, and threats to impose tariffs on those European countries that were against it, threaten “catastrophic divisions” in NATO, but are “delightful for the Kremlin,” Bolton emphasizes.
“Around the world and in America, the bewilderment at Trump's countless 'political' decisions is giving way to the belief that Trump has no 'politics'. No philosophy. No grand strategy,” the author concludes.
Bolton was Trump's third national security adviser, following the tumultuous terms of Mike Flynn and HR McMaster; he held this position from April 2018 to September 2019, when he resigned due to conflict with the president. One of Trump's first decisions upon returning to the White House was to revoke Bolton's access to classified information and strip him of government protection. (PAP)
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