President Trump announced last week that John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations for the Bush administration, will replace Gen. H.R. McMaster as national security adviser.
Bolton has been known in Washington as a war hawk who continues to support the Iraq war despite the U.S. never finding any weapons of mass destruction. Bolton has also been outspoken about his disapproval of the Iran deal and has supported preemptive strikes on both Iran and North Korea.
The GroundTruth Project's Charlie Sennott told Boston Public Radio Monday that he is troubled by Bolton’s appointment.
“This new reconfiguration of the cabinet and this new push forward by the White House is really distressing. We used to think there were adults in the room when we had McMaster, when we had Tillerson, and they have left the building. And we are going to boil this thing down to a guy who doesn't believe in talking to North Korea even though we just had a historic breakthrough in diplomacy,” Sennott said.
Despite Trump’s history of opposition to the Iraq war and Bolton’s continued support of it, Sennott says that the two will work well together, and that is what worries him.
“[There is] very little room for debate. He is going to work really well with Trump because they’re in lockstep," Sennott said.
Trump and Bolton have similarly negative views on the Iran deal. If Trump were to veto the deal, there may not only be potential setbacks in Iran, but in North Korea as well. Sennott says that North Korea would be hard pressed to believe the validity of any deal after watching the U.S. back out of its deal with Iran.
“You are talking about a terrible move to make. If you kill the Iran deal, you deeply damage the possibility of a deal with North Korea," he said.
While many politicians and pundits have referred to Bolton as a hawk hungry for war since his appointment was announced, Sennott doesn't think that is a strong enough term to describe him.
“To call him a hawk — he is so much more than that. He is not hawk, he is a pterodactyl."
