No One Is Above the Law

That's the six word Democrat mantra no Democrat will utter for the next three and a half years.

By Rich Kozlovich

 

On Monday August 24, 2025 Amy Curtis posted this piece, Chuck Todd: Don't Make Democrats Live by Their Own Lawfare Rules, saying:

Lefties, you were warned. We told you years ago -- before Donald Trump came down that escalator -- that using the government to harass the Democratic Party's political opponents would not end well ... for Democrats.

They didn't listen. Obama's IRS targeted conservative non-profits to throw the 2012 election. Both Obama and Biden used the federal government to attack pro-life businesses and protesters. And, of course, Democrats ran for office vowing to use their power to attack President Trump and throw him in prison.

'No one is above the law!' they screamed at us.  Now the Republicans are playing by the same rules, and the Democrats don't like it. Two days ago, Chuck Todd was whining about the FBI investigating John Bolton, and now he's back to whine some more about Democrats having to live under the rules they created:

So, what was it Todd said?

The virus killing democracy right now is this “two wrongs make a right” mindset. Revenge over principles...

Imagine that, revenge over principles, like the Democrats did for over eight years prosecuting people with made up crimes, like General Flynn who pleaded guilty because the legal costs were unbearable and they told him to plead guilty or they were going to go after his family. And when he pleaded guilty the left sneered, cheered, and rolled on the ground in laughter so pleased this legal fraud worked.  Are those the kind of principles Todd is talking about?

The difference is lawfare wasn't about enforcing the law, it was about creating crimes that didn't exist for political gain to destroy their adversaries.  Even if found not guilty, the process is the punishment, and that process is capable of bankrupting even wealthy people, as they tried to do to Trump.  

What the Trump team is doing is actually enforcing the law against crimes that really were committed.  That's not revenge, it's law enforcement, it's good government.  

The internet wasn't kind to Todd starting with Gregg Gutfeld who commented:

• @greggutfeld on Bolton FBI raid: “Some say it’s retribution, I say who cares. Don’t lecture me on timing of lawfare, don’t lecture me on politically motivated investigations. You guys invented this: you loved doing it to Trump.” 

Curtis says, cope and seethe, Chuckie. Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind. Now it's too late, and a number of others posted comments:

• We warned the left not to do this. We begged them not to weaponize the DOJ. We were ignored. You cheered it on. Now the right is using the rules that the left put in place. The chickens have indeed come home to roost.  If you had a problem with this can of worms being open you should have said something when it was being opened. Stop being a hypocrite.
• In your lifetime, has ANYTHING more harmful to Democracy happened than this: Prosecuting the eventual winner of the presidency in an obvious attempt to block the majority of Americans from electing their preferred candidate?
• What’s killing democracy is hard core far left partisan ideologues hosting television news shows while pretending to be unbiased and objective.
• Except no one on the Left ever said the lawfare against Trump was “wrong.” In fact, the Left incessantly cheered it all on while lecturing the country that “No one is above the law.” And now the hypocrisy from the Left is off the charts.
• The Republicans are playing by Democrat rules now. It's understandable that you're upset about that. They have 2016-2024 to make up for. In eight years we can discuss neutrality.
•  Being this stupid is a choice Chuck. Y'all aren't "losing" your audience so much as insulting their intelligence so much they turn on you.
• These people really thought they were going to be able to throw all the punches they could and then tap out when it was our turn. I can’t even figure out this mentality. Stupidity? Arrogance? Whatever it is, we’re at war now. You declared war. Now, war it is.
• This from actor Nick Searcy:  By the way, we are not a democracy, hypocrite. And you didn’t care when your side did it to us. So STFU.
• Show us where you called the lawfare against Trump “wrong.”
• The concept of "no one is above the law" was discarded rather quickly the night of November 5, 2024.
• The current virus is actually “the first wrong was fine but what’s happening now is a grave threat to democracy.”

Here's what's going on with the Bolton investigation thus far. John Bolton is being investigated for violations of the Espionage Act, and as Jim Jordan notes, the Bolton investigation ‘is not about political retribution, it's about accountability.

• John Bolton and the fall of the Banana Republicans

Accountability, and no one is above the law.  That's the Republican mantra for the next three and one half years, and if Vance is elected in 28, most likely for years go come, and that's what's triggered all this leftist outrage over Bolton.  The left is petrified.  They're asking themselves with fear and trembling.... 'who will be next'?  As  Monica Showalter says:

The swamp is being drained. And now that the first alligator has been taken out -- in the FBI raid on the home and office of Trump-hating former National Security official John Bolton, reportedly for mishandling state secrets -- the rest of them are sleeping with one eye open.......  They plotted against President Trump, and now they're finding that things didn't work out quite the way they thought they were going to work out.......

You have to know in their minds they're frantically working on a defensive strategy for when the FBI comes after them.  Should we cooperate, refuse to cooperate.... or how about this... I'll squeal for a deal?  And that's what the strategy will be for a lot of the "little people" who have no desire to go to prison so those higher up on the food chain can keep living the high life free and easy.  

• Says Walter Giardina ‘Not a Martyr’: ‘Set in Motion the Whole Ball of Wax’  
• John Bolton Should Lawyer Up: Michael Cohen Predicts Indictment Incoming 

Jack Hellner says the Washington Post is clutching its pearls citing a piece from WaPo saying the FBI raid targeting Bolton crosses a line in the Trump revenge campaign.  Jack called them hypocrites over what they approved of over the years:

Calling bad actors like Merrick Garland, Eric Holder, Loretta Lynch, Andy McCabe, James Comey, among other corrupt leftists independent and non partisan.  The corrupt investigation over the Russian collusion, the lies by the FBI to the FISA court, the illegal spying on Trump, the failure to prosecute lying to Congress, and there was a lot of that,  the illegal activities of the FBI persecuting conservatives, destroying documents, Obama ordering the Justice Department to drop charges against drug-running terrorists to appease Iran, didn't phase them at all.

They didn't mind the Obama/Biden administration going after parents, Catholics, peaceful pro-life protesters while ignoring violent acts on crisis pregnancy centers and churches.

It never once bothered them the Justice Department failed to act on the illegal activities of the Clinton and the Biden crime families, even providing cover for those crimes, while lauding the FBI's raid on Trump's home, and states illegally and deliberately ignoring immigration laws.   

Not one bit of that bother them one iota, but the Bolton raid just crossed way over the line.  Imagine that.   The fact is no matter what the Trump DOJ does it will be called political revenge, retribution, and a threat to Democracy.  The new mantra of the Democrat party, but it will not be, "no one is above the law".  The fact is the Obama/Biden/Clinton cabal have committed crimes, a lot of them, and the charges against them will not be lawfare, it will be law enforcement, and there will be unimpeachable documentation to prove it. 

Trump on Day One: "Cry Havoc and Let Slip the Dogs of War"

Donald Trump Keeps 46 Promises and Counting on Day One, Thrilling Republicans

By Rich Kozlovich

Starting with Harry Truman, I've seen 13 Presidents (counting Trump only once) in my life, and the First Lady of each.  I think I can say hands down, Melania is clearly the classiest of them all, including Jackie Kennedy.  Smart, speaks multiple languages, has amazing taste, and she showed it at her husband's inauguration.  

The last time she was first lady the jealous women in the Pravda media ranted asking why she always wore high heels.   That's easy to answer.  For the same reason Billy Graham wore five hundred dollar suits, he looked good in them, and so she wears high heels because she looks good in high heels.  

Talk about hitting the ground running, there's never been such a first day for a President as this.  Impressive, inspiring, and fresh air comes flowing into Washington dispelling the fumes of the leftist fever swamps.  

The Rick McDowell had this to say about his inauguration speech:

The inauguration speech was far-reaching, multifaceted, only slightly retrospective, and emphasized what an opportunity we have before us. After the obligatory humbling of the current state of the federal government, the rest was optimism and American to the core. Everything made sense. Border security even with military involvement and potential controversial acts; energy independence and exportation of energy as a key driver of economic growth; a return to sanity in meritocracy and ending government-manufactured racial and gender division; the acknowledgement of our success as a country mainly through American entrepreneurship, not government action.

The media must really be fuming.  After four years of evasions, coverups, lies, and insane irrational totally incomprehensible blather from Biden, Kamala, and Karine Jean-Pierre, Trump took questions from the media while signing a stack of executive orders, including pardons for J6 prisoners.  Striking contrast between Biden and Trump.  They actually understood what was being said. Imagine that.  

• Trump Signs Flurry of Executive Orders in Front of Live Audience: The First Struck a Blow to Biden's Legacy

During his inauguration speech he threw down the gauntlet.  From now on the federal government was going to protect women's rights.   From now on the official policy of the federal government will be there are only two genders, male and female.  Remarkable.  And unlike Ketanji Brown Jackson, Trump didn't even need a degree in biology to come to that conclusion.  Riley Gaines called Donald Trump a ‘true champion for women", and has ended federal funding for sex changes.

1. He's renaming Mt. McKinley Mt. McKinley.  
2. He's serious about the Panama Canal to prevent China's efforts to take control of it.  
3. The rule of law is back, no more lawfare.
4. An end to government censorship.
5. A massive release of, classified government documents including documents regarding the assassinations of JFK, RFK, and MLK.  

So, guess this pretty much establishes who is the ultimate classifying authority in the United States, and pretty much demonstrates the corruption behind the Mar-a-Lago raid. 

All of which was called out to all the bad guys, right to their faces.  "They were all sitting there. Bush was there, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, all of them were there."  As Mike McDaniel noted:

this was one of the great moments in American history was watching the faces of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as Trump listed the damages they’ve inflicted on us, and what he’s going to do to repair them.......The misery of Democrats/socialist/communists (D/s/cs) like Chuck Schumer, who had to keep at least a more or less neutral facial expression, was delicious. At least he didn’t look demon-possessed as he usually does........

Let the Purges Begin

Trump Revokes Security Clearances of 51 Ex-Intelligence Officials who declared the Hunter Biden laptop was actually just Russian propaganda.  They lied, they knew they were lying, Biden knew it was a lie, the media knew it was a lie, and it's now known that lie was organized by Secretary of State Tony Blinkin. Who, as far as I can tell, has not received a preemptive pardon. 

  Trump's order states:

“This fabrication of the imprimatur of the Intelligence Community to suppress information essential to the American people during a Presidential election is an egregious breach of trust reminiscent of a third world country"..

Retired Gen. Michael Hayden was stripped of his clearance, and John Bolton was stripped of his Secret Service detail and his clearance was revoked for using classified information in his memoir that was:

“rife with sensitive information drawn from his time in government, posing a grave risk that undermined a President's ability to ask for and receive candid information .....on matters of national security from their staff."  

I wouldn't be surprised if Bolton faces criminal charges over this. And why would Bolton still have a Secret Service detail?  I'm now wondering how many have these taxpayer funded services. 

Marco Rubio was the first Trump nominee to be confirmed, and Trump is making sure all these far left types who worked against him in his first term won't be there to prevent Rubio from carrying out his polices due to their "notoriously recalcitrant, hidebound" resistance to Trump's policies, and the ability of Rubio to build a solid team without traitors working in their midst. They were expected to "resign no later than noon on Monday." 

And this isn't just the State Department, Trump signed an Executive Order to fire top career federal managers more quickly.  He's just not going to tolerate "managers who fail to follow or implement his policies."  He's also withdrawing from the World Health Organization, a vile component of the UN, and Trump Vows Sanctions Over ICC’s Anti-Semitic Actions.  After that Poland, who was going to honor the ICC's arrest warrant for Netanyahu, decided maybe that wasn't such a good idea after all. The ICC is a corrupt sham institution if there ever was one.   Globalist tyrants...... here come the dogs of war.

The Purge of the Top Brass in the Military Has Begun:

 

There were reports that the Trump administration was mulling a ‘warrior panel’ to purge the military of the woke brass. The president signed a slate of executive orders to rid the government of federal DEI programs, secure the border, and get America back on track to greatness. We’re not even two days into the Trump presidency, and he’s already firing people..........  One of the first officers to go is the commandant for the United States Coast Guard, who was fired for pushing DEI nonsense and failing to help secure the border.

Trump appointed Matthew Lohmeier, a former Lt. Col. who was fired for his anti-Marxist views to be undersecretary of the Air Force, and it's clear far more changes are going to hit the Pentagon, and they know it.  General Milley portrait removed from Pentagon hours after Trump sworn in.  The same butt kissing, self promoting people who groveled before this DEI racist nitwit are now trying to distance themselves from him.  He's reinstating service members who refused the shot and forced out of the military by Biden and Austin, and with back pay; saying: 

‘Our armed forces will be freed to focus on their sole mission: defeating America’s enemies’........

Trump Fires Immigration Judges as Border Security Becomes a Top Priority - One way to do that is to shore up the legal backbone by having quality immigration judges, which the president wasted no time in reshaping. He fired a slew of them today. Immigration judges are the gatekeepers to asylum requests. The president would like new ones.......

Let the Deportations Begin '

On Monday Border Czar Tom Homan made this administration's intentions clear saying: Deportations Start Tomorrow:

Look the president’s been clear that, right out of the gate, we’re going to concentrate on public safety threats and national security threats. So, I can’t believe that any elected politician — I don’t care what party you’re from, why would you not want public safety threats out of your communities? That’s your number one responsibility as an elected official is the protection of your communities.

•  Donald Trump to End ‘Birthright Citizenship’ via Executive Order
• ACLU sues over Trump cancelling birthright citizenship.

Sen. Ernst: GOP Securing Border, Closing Loopholes to Prevent Illegal Alien Crime - Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) in a statement to Breitbart News said that Republicans are passing the Laken Riley Act and Sarah’s Law to close loopholes that prevent illegal aliens criminals from facing justice.  More than two-thirds of senators voted to approve the Laken Riley Act on Monday, with 12 Senate Democrats voting for the legislation.

Trump has shut down the CBP One border app, and announcing he’s "putting troops on the border and declaring cartels foreign terrorist organizations in the same speech was no coincidence", and is prepared to invoke ‘Alien Enemies Act’ to deal with this invasion of migrants and drug cartels, and all these leftist Latin American governments are all in a lather over the "threat" of mass deportations, expressing concern about:

“protecting the human rights of migrants, preventing abuse and mistreatment, managing regular, safe and orderly migration from a humanitarian perspective.”

Remarkable.  None of that seemed to bother them when they were being abused in their own countries, and abused badly while they were traveling across their borders to get to America. Interesting moral code they have....which is none.   

The Impact

I've stated over and over again big corporations are at best leaky vessels as allies.  They're like Ph.D.'s and Military Officers.  They advance by going along to get along, now all of a sudden leaders of corporations have had a "Road to Damascus" epiphany, and are abandoning, DEI, and Climate Programs.

 After years of applying the progressive environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ideological framework to their corporations, executives appear to now be realizing that these programs could be driving their companies into a legal and financial wall......Companies that have announced they are canceling or dialing back their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs include Meta, Walmart, Ford, McDonald’s, Harley-Davidson, John Deere, Tractor Supply Company, Lowe’s, Molson Coors, Nissan, Toyota, and Stanley Black & Decker.....Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley—dropped out of the U.N.-sponsored Net-Zero Banking Alliance.  

On Jan. 13, the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative (NZAMi) announced that it would suspend its activities after investor giant BlackRock announced its withdrawal from the club on Jan. 9. These departures followed in the wake of half of the members of the Net-Zero Insurance Alliance quitting that organization in 2023.......“ESG and DEI are both on death watch.....” 

As Davos 2025 reacts to Trump tack, EU chief leads defense against climate change, as Trump is going to DRILL, BABY, DRILL, declaring a national energy emergency creating "directives and actions designed to animate his “Unleash American Energy” agenda."  He's going to collect tariffs, and he's abandoned the Paris Treaty for the second time. 

 My friend Dr. Jay Lehr, who has passed, had a lot to do with that during Trump's first term.  He would be pleased to know Trump is continuing that battle, and he's going to "refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve again was a beautiful and well-deserved slap at Biden", and he called Liz Chaney a crying lunatic.  What's not to like?

Winning the election is merely winning a battle, winning the war requires winning many battles.  The Democrats and their RINO helpers have done incalculable damage to America over the last thirty five years since Reagan.  During the 20th century there were only three conservative presidents, Warren G. Harding, who died during his first term, succeeded by Calvin Coolidge, who I consider the best President in the 20th century, and Ronald Reagan.  That was eight conservative years versus ninety two years of "progressive" to openly socialist rule.  Going forward add another twenty to that versus four with Trump.  That's 110 years of progressive corrosion and corruption versus twelve years trying to repair that corruption.  The next four years will be a daily battle for Trump but he and I are the same age, 78, so he has nothing to lose and understands it will take more than four years to fix things, so he will go all out no matter the costs.  

One more thing.  Trump has been called an narcissist, a lot, and even by conservative writers, and I will admit, I've agreed..... in the past..... but after watching what he's endured, I have to ask:  What narcissist would go through all the horrible things they've done to him and his family over the last eight years?  I'm no longer convinced he's a narcissist.  I think it's supreme self confidence, and a sincere belief if he's not there to fix America, it won't be fixed.  And I agree.

Judge says government’s suit over Bolton book can proceed

By Eric Tucker October 1, 2020

The Trump administration can move forward with its lawsuit against former national security adviser John Bolton over his tell-all book, a judge ruled Thursday in denying a request to dismiss the complaint.

The Justice Department alleges that Bolton’s book, “The Room Where It Happened,” contains classified information, and the government sued in June to try to prevent the release. Though the book was published, a suit accusing Bolton of breaking agreements with the government by disclosing classified information and by failing to complete a required pre-publication review can proceed, U.S District Judge Royce Lamberth said in a 27-page opinion..........To Read More....

John Bolton's book looks like a fairy-tale for Trump-haters

June 18, 2020 By Andrea Widburg

The Trump administration has sued to stop John Bolton's purported "tell-all" from being released next week on the grounds that it is filled with classified information that affects national security. That suit hasn't stopped Bolton's publisher from leaking the supposed "bombshells" in the book.

Those bombshells will excite Trump-haters, but those who support Trump will immediately recognize them as lies, deliberate misinterpretations, and resentment. Expect the activist Democrat media to sing the book's praises, but that won't change the outcome of the November election.

The book's biggest alleged bombshell, which Bolton writes about in the Wall Street Journal (paywall), is his claim that, in June 2019 at the Osaka G20, Trump begged Chinese President Xi Jinping to help him get re-elected. According to Bolton, Xi said America's relationship with China was important and that it was wrong for some in America to want a Cold War. Trump countered that Democrats were hostile to China, and then, says Bolton, the begging started:.............To Read More

My Take - Given what's been happening with Bolton and his actions, I'm not surprised, but I am thoroughly disgusted and disappointed in Bolton. While I wasn't all that keen on his willingness to use American military might so often, I did believe he actually understood who America's enemies were and the need to deal with them accordingly.  Apparently he's now lost that ability.  He's also lost the respect of all conservatives, and I think everyone who isn't a confirmed member of the neo-pagan secular religious sects of leftism.

Why Trump Needed Someone Like John Bolton

Bolton’s willingness to be honest about the true intentions of our adversaries was a strength and a necessity.

Bobby Jindal September 18, 2019

The Reagan administration believed that “personnel is policy” and empowered conservatives by placing their ideological colleagues in positions of power throughout the government bureaucracy. President Trump has at times worked to disprove this maxim, continuing the trend of recent administrations of both parties. The president has centralized power in the White House at the expense of cabinet agencies. He has taken this trend a step farther by concentrating power in his own hands at the expense of the White House chief of staff and other senior advisers.

 

The reality-TV celebrity who enthusiastically enjoyed announcing firings on national TV was never going to assemble a team of rivals, a collection of distinguished statesmen with independent reputations, ideas, and power bases. Instead, he has delivered a historically high rate of turnover in senior positions, including the chief of staff, national-security adviser, communications director, and cabinet secretaries. Despite his amply demonstrated loyalty, even Vice President Pence has been the subject of rumors about his potential replacement. It is hardly surprising that the man who made the phrase “you’re fired” the climax of his weekly TV show would be willing to change his advisers so casually.................To Read More.....

My Take - There's much here I disagree with, but he's reflecting many of the thoughts I expressed in my article, The Tide and John Bolton.  As I've said in my article, I don't like some of Bolton's militaristic approach to events, especially Venezuela.  It's now clear to me Bolton hasn't grasped the entirety of the end of the Bretton Woods era.  Trump has! 

However, his extensive knowledge and insights into world events is in my opinion important.  Does that excuse his going around the President to the media?  Any action such as that makes the choice to let him go inevitable. He had to know that, and that's why he offered to resign, which placed Trump in a position of having to accept his resignation or decide to keep him on board.  If he kept him on it would have been a tacit agreement allowing him to continue down a divergent path and still be in his administration. 

Trump must have recognized that for what it was and made the only decision a leader can.  There's much about Bolton I like, but either a member of the administration is loyal or he's out.  That's known as leadership.

As for Bolton, he's not going to be out of the picture for long.  He will land somewhere and he will be able to take any position he likes publicly. 

The only thing that surprises me is this article was from Bobby Jindal.  Why?  What's he up to?  I think that's a story we need to watch. 

Will our Federal Communications Commission live up to its charter? I suspect we now have, yet, another “wait and see” scenario at hand.

Sep 10, 2019 Stratfor Guidance

John Bolton's departure as national security adviser may open the door wider to diplomacy in the Trump administration's handling of Iran, but only if the White House relents and allows some sanctions easing.

With Bolton out of the picture, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo may face fewer obstacles in trying to get negotiations back on track to secure an Afghan peace deal.

Even without Bolton's hard-line opposition to legacy arms control frameworks, negotiations for New START may still be in trouble.

Bolton was already largely sidelined on White House policy on North Korea, but his removal will send an important signal to Pyongyang that the White House may be more willing to compromise.

U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted Sept. 10 that he had informed national security adviser John Bolton that his services were no longer needed. Trump added, "I disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions, as did others in the Administration, and therefore I asked John for his resignation." Bolton's removal raises questions about several foreign policy issues marked by either policy inconsistencies or disagreements among Trump administration officials. The decision to dismiss Bolton comes as Trump is struggling to remove political distractions, avoid military confrontation and demonstrate some foreign policy wins as he heads into the 2020 U.S. presidential race...........To Read More.....

The Bolton hullabaloo is just silly

September 11, 2019 By Monica Showalter

The press is going bonkers over the exit of President Trump's national security adviser, John Bolton.
"Trump unplugged," the New York Times blared, arguing that Trump was going to be his own national security adviser, and now things will get really crazy because the NSC job will no longer be important.

No, nothing's gonna change, the New York Post argued, quite possibly closer to the truth.
Trump's new national security adviser will be his fourth, a CNN kicker read.

Chaos, argued Axios.............To Read More....

John Bolton Out as National Security Adviser

Too hawkish for the president?

September 11, 2019 Joseph Klein

John Bolton is out as President Trump’s national security adviser. The president tweeted Tuesday morning that “I informed John Bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the White House. I disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions, as did others in the Administration, and therefore I asked John for his resignation, which was given to me this morning.”.........

Differences between President Trump and Bolton steadily increased during Bolton’s roughly 18-month tenure. The president has been willing to negotiate with Iran and North Korea over their nuclear programs, for example, while maintaining tough economic sanctions to exert “maximum” pressure without having to go to war. Bolton was more inclined to risk military confrontation to achieve his own more far-reaching objective of regime change. The president has focused on a favorable outcome in trade negotiations with China, using tariffs as his stick, while Bolton reportedly would have been willing to use military pressure to bring China into line..........To Read More....

The Tide and John Bolton

By Rich Kozlovich

I've been watching this play out for some time, and I've had misgivings about some of John Bolton's stands and actions. Which bring me to this question. What's this really about?

First, I think it's good to recognize that we really don't know what went on at the White House. Bolton is smart, and stubborn. He's the kind of guy that simply won't back away from a fight, and is a tough fighter. What were the issues that triggered Trump's action? Outside the inner circle of the White House staff, no one really knows.

One thing we can be sure of, Bolton has done some good work for the United States and stepped on the toes of some very bad people who hate America, foreign and domestic. His defense of Israel is legendary at the U.N. Iran applauding his firing should give everyone pause over this. However, I'm convinced the problem with him and Trump is recognizing the Bretton Woods era is over.  And that means not funding every so-called ally and fighting everyone else's wars, but given some of the others working at the White House, and their positions on foreign policy, I'm not sure which is which.

Bolton has vast experience, and he'll be back in the public arena in some form or the other, if for no other reason, he sees the dangers that exist, and calls them like he sees them, and in more cases than not, he'll be right.

One more thing. It bothers me that Bolton offered to resign and then was told he was fired. It's clear to me Trump didn't want him to be allowed to exit gracefully. Trump may come to regret "firing" Bolton, and the way he did it down the road.

The President of the United States has every right to disagree with his advisors and act against their advice, and fire them when they displease him. After all, he's the boss. But in this case, disagreeing with John Bolton is one thing, but choosing to not have him there as the lone voice in the wilderness, may be is serious error in judgment.

On some issues, I've not agreed with John Bolton's hawkish stance. But we really do need to get this. The world is full of go along to get along guys who fail to take the hard stand necessary to win. These guys a dime a dozen and are like spark plugs, easily replaced. But there are few who have the courage to be the rock in the current, or are willing to row against the tide. John Bolton is one of them.

It's always popular to throw away the John Bolton’s of the world, but once the strength they bring to the table is lost, where do you find another heterodox who is a smart, knowledgeable, and capable fighter? One who places the mission ahead of themselves?

I've been involved in my industry's trade associations for over 25 years, and a few years ago I received an award from my state pest control association they actually created for me called "The Rock Award". To become "The Rock" is a long term and often an unpleasant experience. I've always functioned under this rule: "It's not about me, it's about the mission".

I wasn't popular, or even liked, for many years within my trade association's leadership. Not only at the local and state level, but even at the national level. The leadership isn't the association however, and those who row against the tide will find the tide changes, and those who rowed against it will then be in the lead when that happens.  Furthermore, as a result of rowing against the tide, they're intellectually and philosophically in better shape than their adversaries.  I can say with absolute certainty, there are few who have what it takes to be the rock in the current.

Which brings me to my next obvious question. Who will replace Bolton as the heterodox within the administration? Answer: No one! Heterodoxy isn't for the faint of heart, and people like John Bolton aren't as easily replaced as spark plugs. 

Should he have been fired?  Only time will tell us the whole story.

I've linked four articles in today's issue of P and D regarding Bolton's firing.  I think Pam Geller's may be the most insightful.

• National Security Adviser John Bolton RESIGNS By Pamela Geller
• Trump May Come To Miss Bolton — As the UN Did By BENNY AVNI
• Can Trump Hew the Hard Line After Bolton? Editorial of The New York Sun
• Hawkish National Security Adviser John Bolton Ousted After Clashing With Trump Debra Heine  

National Security Adviser John Bolton RESIGNS

By Pamela Geller - September 10, 2019

[Bolton} spent much of the last week waging a last-minute battle to prevent Mr. Trump from signing off on a peace agreement with the Taliban militant organization, which he viewed as anathema — a deal that the president was preparing to finalize by inviting the Taliban leaders to Camp David.

Mr. Bolton urged Mr. Trump to reject the agreement, arguing that the president could still withdraw troops from Afghanistan to fulfill his campaign promise without getting in bed with an organization responsible for killing thousands of Americans over the last 18 years. (NYT)

 

Washington Post on the 8th:

Competing versions of what led to the cancellation of the meeting and, at least temporarily, any further U.S.-Taliban negotiations, exposed internal administration tensions that have flared as a deal seemed near in recent weeks.
Those tensions have pitted Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, whose chief negotiator, Zalmay Khalilzad, said a week ago that agreement “in principle” had been reached after 10 months of talks with the militants, and Trump national security adviser John Bolton, who opposed the talks.

Khalilzad is an old Bush nation building lackey. He shouldn’t be in this administration.......To Read More.....

Trump May Come To Miss Bolton — As the UN Did

By BENNY AVNI, Special to the Sun | September 11, 2019

The chorus of hosannas sure-to-come from Washington in reaction to John Bolton’s departure from the White House reminds me of the sighs of relief at Turtle Bay in December 2006. That’s when the mustachioed American decided to leave the United Nations and forgo an uphill Senate confirmation battle to extend his recess appointment as ambassador to the world body.

As now, the cheering then was misplaced. Just like Mr. Bolton’s approach to national security now, his handling of the United Nations in his 18 months here was based not on slogans and traditions but on recognition of stark realities. The UN, where diplomats and officials were aghast at the mere appearance of the disrupter in their midst, was better for Mr. Bolton’s presence.

In one of his first press conferences, shortly after arriving at Turtle Bay in August 2005, Mr. Bolton laid down the law: America will veto any one-sided Security Council resolution on Israel. Proposals for such resolutions frequently arose before his arrival and gave ulcers to American diplomats that were much less blunt and more, er, diplomatic than Mr. Bolton. After that, anti-Israel initiatives at the Council started to wane, at least during his tenure............To Read More....

Can Trump Hew the Hard Line After Bolton?

Editorial of The New York Sun | September 10, 2019

Two names stand out as particularly newsworthy among those being mentioned, at least to us, as possible National Security Adviser following the departure of John Bolton. One is our envoy to Free Germany, Ambassador Rick Grenell, who, we hear, is due to speak with the President late this week. The other is — wait for it — General Michael Flynn, who had the NSC job for a month at the start of Mr. Trump’s presidency.

 

We caution our readers that these names reached us only as Washington scuttlebutt. Even as such, though, they may prove to be a window into the jousting ahead for a post that does not require Senate confirmation. General Flynn’s name is particularly startling, given that he’s a felon awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to misleading the FBI over his contacts with Russia’s former envoy here.

Whether that guilty plea will survive, though, has been in doubt for some time. Just today General Flynn’s lawyers accused the prosecutors — that is, Special Counsel Mueller’s team — of “egregious government misconduct” in withholding exculpatory evidence that due process required them to disclose to the defense. The New York Sun nine months ago called on the Judge, Emmet Sullivan, to reject the general’s guilty plea............To Read More....

Hawkish National Security Adviser John Bolton Ousted After Clashing With Trump

Debra Heine  September 10th, 2019

President Trump announced Tuesday that he has fired his hawkish National Security Adviser John Bolton, saying he and others in the administration “disagreed strongly” with his suggestions on foreign policy.

“I informed John Bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the White House,” Trump tweeted. “I disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions, as did others in the Administration, and therefore I asked John for his resignation, which was given to me this morning,” he added in a subsequent tweet. “I thank John very much for his service. I will be naming a new National Security Advisor next week.”..........To Read More....

Feel the Bern: Bolton tells Venezuela's dictator Maduro to cut the clown show and get out

January 12, 2019 By Monica Showalter

National security adviser John Bolton has never suffered fools gladly, so just now, from Abu Dhabi, he's let Venezuela's dictator, Nicolás Maduro, have it, telling him to cut the clown show in Caracas and just get out. Here is what the Associated Press reports:

The United States stepped up its criticism of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro on Saturday with an explicit call for the formation of a new government in the South American country.  

The U.S. State Department said in a statement that it stood behind the head of Venezuela's opposition-run congress, Juan Guaido, who said on Friday that he was prepared to step into the presidency temporarily to replace Maduro.  

The statement was the latest in a series of Trump administration attacks on Maduro, whose inauguration to a new term as president on Thursday has been widely denounced as illegitimate.

Bolton's remarks are refreshing, because he's not even pretending Maduro's president these days. He actually isn't, because, having gotten himself into office by a fraud election and then illegally swearing himself in in front of judges instead of the opposition legislature, as the law says he must, he hardly is..............To Read More.....

More Below:

• Costa Rica refuses to recognize Maduro’s mandate, despite diplomatic threat from Venezuela
• 14 countries say they will not accept Maduro's mandate in Venezuela
• Chile Refuses to Recognize Maduro's New Presidential Term - Foreign Ministry

John Bolton Visit Heats Up Elections in Vital Battleground State of Florida

Humberto Fontova Posted: Nov 03, 2018

“Members of this (Trump’s) administration will never take a picture in front of Che Guevara…Under this administration we will no longer appease dictators and despots near our shores in this hemisphere. We will not reward firing squads, torturers, and murderers…The troika of tyranny in this hemisphere – Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua – has finally met its match. Our concern is with sanctions, not selfies.

“This Troika of Tyranny (the regimes in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua)– this triangle of terror stretching from Havana to Caracas to Managua is the cause of immense human suffering, the impetus of enormous regional instability, and the genesis of a sordid cradle of communism in the Western Hemisphere. The United States looks forward to watching each corner of the triangle fall…”The Troika will crumble.” (National Security Advisor John Bolton, Miami, 11/1/18, while announcing fresh sanctions against Cuba and Venezuela.) ..........To Read More.....

Why We Need John Bolton as NSA

The readiness to use force to help our friends -- and hurt our enemies.
 

April 2, 2018  Bruce Thornton 8 

Last week ex-CIA chief Michael Hayden signed a letter with a “bipartisan group of 115 national security leaders” that counsels the Trump administration and new National Security Advisor John Bolton not to jettison the nuclear deal with Iran. Hayden’s justification for this advice illustrates all the stale ideas and unexamined assumptions about foreign affairs that have brought us to this crisis in the first place––and why we  need the return to realism we are likely to see with Bolton at the helm.

Hayden starts by admitting that the deal has problems. Iran was on the economic ropes because of the sanctions, and so should have been the “suppliant,” not us. Hayden’s delicate indirection refers to Obama’s shameful eagerness for a deal, any deal in fact, to burnish his foreign policy “legacy” and please the “international community” with his commitment to “multilateralism” and “smart diplomacy” instead of military power.

Hayden also notes Obama’s “bait-and-switch when selling the deal to Congress,” a reference to the post facto concessions to the regime, like “abandoned or altered positions on no notice inspections,” which of course make the whole idea of monitoring Iran’s activities a mere aspiration..........This letter is a compendium of the failed assumptions of delusional internationalism. It also explains why John Bolton’s appointment is so necessary.........To Read More.....

Will John Bolton finally boot Ben Rhodes's White House minions?

John Bolton is reportedly set to clean house at the turmoil- and leak-ridden White House, still loaded with the worst of the Obama holdovers.

By Monica Showalter March 27, 2018

For more than a year now, we have been hearing of Obama-era holdovers still holding jobs in the White House. And not surprisingly, there's been turmoil, with leaks stoking feeding frenzies for the Democratic operatives with bylines known as the press.

The latest example of this was in the annoying leak about President Trump refusing to take the advice of these holdovers about not congratulating President Putin for his re-election in Russia. That one not only could have been the work of leftover Obamatons, but also could have been the work of NeverTrump dead-enders or Bush loyalists.

I ask you: why is this going on? President Trump has been in office more than a year, run through two national security advisers, and apparently, these disloyalists are still there, embedded like parasites, and the leaks are still going on. Why? This is not how basic politics works. A leader enters office and brings his loyalists with him, especially at the White House. It's been that way since the 19th-century spoils system, and it makes sense. Obama and former president George W. Bush certainly did it.............More

Peter Zeihan on Geopoltics: China

             

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Bolton in a China Shop

 

 

Thursday, March 22 was a big day, but before I get into the meat, there’s a couple of items I need to do a quick update/refresh on.

On March 1st the Trump administration announced tariffs on imported aluminum and steel. In the three weeks since the Americans have granted temporary waivers for a majority of the countries that send America the two metals, most notably Canada, Mexico, and the European Union. In the case of Canada and Mexico, it was so that the tariffs could be used as a cudgel in ongoing NAFTA renegotiation talks – something that has annoyed the Canadians and Mexicans more than a bit.

The European case is a touch more involved. Within hours of Trump announcing the initial tariffs, the European Commission – that’s the EU’s administrative/executive arm – announced a wide-ranging series of counter tariffs targeting firms headquartered in the districts of the entire Congressional leadership. I got a good laugh out of this. Not only did the Commission clearly have that list drawn up well in advance, it also highlighted just how ignorant they were of U.S. politics.

Foreigners punishing Nancy Pelosi’s or Mitch McConnel’s districts for something that Trump did isn’t going to earn those foreigners any favors. If anything it might have encouraged the Americans to close ranks a bit.  

(What Brussels was likely aiming for here was to copy the tried-and-true American strategy of selectively targeting countries in Europe that are causing problems in trade negotiations, for example putting tariffs on French cheese when France is causing issues in agricultural trade talks. That works well. But going after folks in unrelated industries who are not responsible for trade policy just tends to piss people off.)

All in all it was a traditional bureaucratic kneejerk reaction that can only come from a keyhole view of the situation, and Trump very quickly shattered the myth of European options by tweeting out that should those counter-tariffs come into play, he would simply bar the import of European automobiles into the American market. This would hit the Europeans on two fronts. First, the Americans are at least nominally still Europe’s security guarantor and any real trade war between the two would erase any pretense of alliance at a time when Turkey has become unhinged from NATO and the Russians are on the march (security issues are not a remit of the European Commission so such never entered into their calculus). Second, fully half the German economy is trade-dependent, and some 80% of the vehicles Germany manufactures are sent abroad. Any meaningful trade war would quickly wreck Europe’s core.

One can imagine the Prussian fury that surely flowed across Europe’s phone circuits when German Chancellor Angela Merkel called up the eurocrats to tell them what they were going to do. Those eurocrats have since cooled their jets and sought talks with the Americans on how to get a waiver for the aluminum and steel sanctions. Those talks were completed last week, and the Europeans made a very interesting concession. The EU only received its (temporary) waiver on the condition that they enter into talks with the Americans on presenting a joint position on aluminum and steel versus the Chinese.

China’s steel industry is the most overbuilt and oversubsidized sector in a country that is massively overbuilt and oversubsidized. It alone is now the source of the majority of the world’s excess steel capacity and global steel exports. A TransAtlantic gang-up makes a lot of sense.

Now back to March 22.  

On that day President Trump announced tariffs on a mix of $50 billion to $60 billion of Chinese exports to the United States in retaliation for a product dumping, lack of reciprocity on market access, and intellectual property theft. The whiff of a trade war between the world’s two largest economies is in the air, and the American media is apoplectic… as it tends to be whenever it discovers the president did not die in his sleep. This time more serious commentators (i.e. the stock markets) also registered their concerns with most indexes selling off sharply.

The issue is this isn’t about “merely” $60 billion in goods. The Chinese development model is based on overbuilding, subsidization, product dumping, lack of reciprocity and intellectual property theft. Any serious effort by the Americans to pare any of that back cuts to the core of Chinese economic growth, employment, Communist Party dominance and the very political stability of the entire Chinese system.

But the Chinese have little leverage here. Let’s go down the list.

1.China is a massive exporter to the American market, but the converse is not true. In any trade conflict the Chinese get hosed economically.

2.The Americans maintaining of the global trade order is what enables the Chinese to export to everyone else. Just as the Germans fully realize that a fight with the US on trade is one in which they have no hope, so too do the Chinese (at least at the top, at least in private).

3.Even without the trade order, the U.S. Navy controls the oceans to an overwhelming degree. Even with recent expansions the Chinese navy is no more than 3% as powerful as the American Navy on a global basis. If a bilateral trade war were to evolve into something more shooty, the Chinese would lose nearly all exports and all imports – including some three-quarters of their oil needs.

4.North Korea is no longer a card the Chinese can play. Pyongyang’s recklessness with its nuclear and missile program has now attracted the full attention of President Trump – a man not known for his subtlety. There are only three ways forward for North Korea at this point. The United States nukes it which eliminates China’s only “ally”. The United States rings it with missile defenses which negates China’s own strategic deterrent. Or the United States cuts a deal that both Washington and Pyongyang can live with. Option 3 is by far China’s preferred option and Beijing is (quietly) facilitating a pending summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

5.The T-bill bomb that many have suggested is China’s supposed ace is utter rubbish. The logic is that in a real spat the Chinese, the second-largest foreign holder of U.S. government debt, could just dump some of the U.S. T-bills it holds on the market and crash the U.S. economy. That’s not how things work.

a.You cannot just walk up to the U.S. Treasury building and demand your money back; it’s a fixed term note.

b.Any interim sale of a T-bill to another party has to have a buyer. No buyer, no sale.

c.China could theoretically try and sell its T-bills whenever the U.S. Treasury was trying to sell new debt and that would raise the cost of U.S. financing. But not only is the U.S. T-bill market the largest in the world so it would have to be a big sale, but what would “massive” success bring? It would push down the value of the U.S. dollar. Considering the Chinese regularly intervene in their markets to push the U.S. dollar up so that they can sell more goods into the U.S. market, it would work at cross purposes to the set of Chinese policies that make the Chinese economy possible.

d.And of course, the U.S. Federal Reserve can simply mop up the T-bill market if it chooses by printing currency. It’s a perk of running the global currency. It isn’t that the Chinese cannot hurt the Americans on trade, just that they can’t without also causing themselves catastrophic damage. It is an America-sneezes-China-gets-Ebola sorta thing.   

Which brings us to the other news of the week. Enter John Bolton.

On March 22 U.S. President Donald Trump fired his national security advisor, General HR McMaster, a man whom many in the national security establishment have profound respect for, and replaced him with John Bolton, a man whom very few hold any respect for.

Many people might rightfully despise Bolton and all that he stands for. Critics say he has never met a country he didn’t want to bomb, a government he hasn’t wanted to overthrow, and an ally he didn’t want to intimidate. And when you look at his public statements on Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Russia, China, Japan and the Koreas it is pretty easy to come to the conclusion that the dude holds some fairly strong and mean-spirited opinions. I tend to lean toward the majority view on Mr. Bolton when it comes to his policy preferences. That, and he’s a prick.

But no matter how unlikable he may be, what you can not say about Bolton is that he’s incompetent or inexperienced. If you can put politics and personality aside for a moment, Bolton is one of the most skilled diplomats the United States has ever had. He was a protégé of James Baker, arguably the best Secretary of State in modern times. He knows the ins and outs of how diplomacy – both hard scrabble and polite – works and just where to dot i’s or twist arms, send flowers or send ammunition. His most infamous innovation is that he fully embraces military options as part of the “diplomatic” toolkit, something that many diplomats are too meek or polite to say publicly, but he also excels at building ad hoc international coalitions on the fly to change international law as he did to rein in North Korean missile proliferation in the 2000s. He certainly breaks the mold that claims that diplomats have to be diplomatic.

The worldview of Donald Trump is far closer to Bolton’s heart than any other president, and it is obvious to everyone with a pulse that what Trump has been missing is someone who can translate TrumpTantrums (TM) into actual policy. For those (like me) who are frustrated with the lack of consistency in Trump’s actions, this could be a positive sign. For those terrified (like me) of all the implications of some of Trump’s positions, this could be horrible.

I don’t want to overplay this. The position of the National Security Advisor has exactly as much power as the president chooses to delegate. Some – like Condoleezza Rice and Henry Kissinger – had massive reach, while others – Susan Rice comes to mind – were barely in charge of their own stationery. But whether Bolton is large and in charge or simply tickles the part of Trump’s psyche that loves disorder while holding the door open so the bull can ravage the China shop, John Bolton may be just what Trump needs to translate his foreign policy goals into hard reality.

And the Chinese know it.

Consider the timing of events last Thursday. First, Trump announces his tariffs on China. Second, Chinese media explodes with vitriol and threats of retaliation. Third, the Europeans cut their deal with Trump to avoid the aluminum and steel tariffs should they join Trump’s efforts against China. Fourth, it is confirmed that Bolton will replace McMaster as Trump’s new National Security Advisor. Fifth, the Chinese government forces Chinese financial houses to massively intervene in Chinese stock markets to prevent a rout of epic proportions.

Beijing knows exactly what’s going on here.

If this is real, if Trump means to break the Chinese position (and maybe even the Chinese system’s back), then Bolton is a solid choice and tariffs are a good knife and Bolton will repeatedly use that knife in ways too effective and cruel for me to opine about at present.

Finally, a parting thought:

Trump is not a freshman president anymore. Might he be finding his feet? He seems to be linking issues and personnel and approaches together into a kind-sorta unified theme. If I didn’t know better, I’d say that Trump just might be in the process of getting a handle on this foreign policy thing.

              

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Trump’s Choice of Bolton Reflects American Greatness

The political warriors from the Freedom Center’s events are Trump’s newest fighters.

March 23, 2018 Daniel Greenfield  13

 Fifteen years ago, North Korea banned John Bolton from the useless nuclear talks. “Such human scum and bloodsucker is not entitled to take part in the talks,” its foreign ministry declared.  North Korea had freaked out because then Undersecretary of State Bolton had called Kim Jong Il, a “tyrannical dictator” and life in the socialist hellhole, a “hellish nightmare”.  Bolton would later describe that as one of his proudest moments.

Back then, North Korea had defended the move by pointing out that Bolton’s views differed "from the recent remarks of the U.S. president". And so it could claim that he didn’t represent the United States.  Fifteen years later the game has changed. Kim Jong Il is dead and the President of the United States has called his successor, “little rocket man”, a “madman” and “short and fat”.

John Bolton very definitely does represent the views of this president...........It takes a warrior to pick the political warriors who want to fight to win. And who understand that standing up to bullies, thugs and tyrants is less likely to lead to a fight than surrendering to them.   Bolton and Kudlow are part of a vigorous new wave of picks by President Trump. They’re part of his strategy to remake the administration to better reflect his vision, his strategy and his message..............To Read More.....

 

 

McMaster Out, Bolton In as National Security Adviser

By Melanie Arter | March 22, 2018

The White House announced Thursday that National Security Adviser Gen. H.R. McMaster plans to resign from the Trump administration and will be replaced by former U.S. Ambassador John Bolton.  McMaster will serve until mid-April, after which Bolton will take over.  “After thirty-four years of service to our nation, I am requesting retirement from the U.S. Army effective this summer after which I will leave public service. Throughout my career........To Read More....

My Take - Did he really want to retire or is this a way for the President to fire a man without humiliating him?  I think it's the latter.  McMaster and his team's thinking are so closely aligned with leftists I couldn't understand why he was tolerated this long, but Trump didn't come into the office like most Presidents.  He came in without the support of the party and that's where the recommendations for these position come from. 

He's had to keep people who were already there in some cases until he had time to figure out who he could get that would do what needs to be done.  And as far as I can tell - he's had to do that largely on his own.  But now these changes will give him access to others through the people he's now bringing in, and the changes will go faster and be more in line with the America First mentality, including the staff McMaster praises.