One would have to do much thinking and scour far and wide to find a National Security Advisor better suited to the visceral inclinations of our President than John R Bolton. This Administration came to power with an institutional insecurity firmly in place from day one, so it was no surprise that experienced GOP hands – at least those willing to sign on with a nihilist – would be excluded in favor of those with “it is my greatest honor” on the tip of their tongues, at the ready to be said often…and with Pencelike feeling.
Yet and still, after Michael Flynn was forced to resign weeks after Inauguration Day, hiring criteria for a replacement was adjusted away from Ailes central casting, even if it meant square pegs for round holes and hoping for the best. Looking back it now seems clear excluding Bolton was a concession to this sensibility.
The Apprentice was one of those shows that, although initially entertaining, got old quickly as the novelty of watching snakes in a bucket devour each other at the behest of the Jabba the Hutt they all sought favor from wore off. Of course what was inane entertainment in prime time is similarly dysfunctional as a deliberative paradigm for US policy. That no brainer was on display this week in the White House as the President presided over a death match between his Chief-of-Staff and National Security Advisor.
Trump being Trump, a crisis feel permeates the West Wing as the optics of a “human caravan” heading north from Honduras makes L’ Enfant Terrible feel more insecure than usual. The Thursday meeting of principles charged with whitening America got ugly when Homeland Security Chief, Kirstjen Nielson touted Mexico’s appeal for help from the United Nations Refugee Agency in processing asylum claims from the several-thousand and growing throng of refugees. Bolton, who, despite his historically inappropriate appointment as UN Ambassador under W, detests everything about the organization, deeming it an existential threat to US sovereignty, expressed incredulity that Nielson could be so weak, using ugly adjectives Trump surely appreciated.
Kelly, who has been Nielson’s patron from day one, hand picking her to succeed him when he was elevated to the West Wing, gallantly called out Bolton for the nasty bully he is and it was on. Trump, who never met a woman he didn’t want to demean, or a fight he didn’t love watching, shares his NSA’s disdain for all things multilateral and predictably sided with Bolton and his Iago of a sidekick Stephen Miller, further infuriating Kelly, who stormed out of the White House afterward, swearing for the 1345th time he was done. While Sarah Sanders, less relevant with each passing news cycle, declared the combatants had patched things up, rumors of Kelly’s imminent departure are rife and intensifying… Nielson would almost certainly leave with him.
Where does that leave the issue Trump swears will deliver both chambers on the Hill early next month? Exactly in the place it’s been… squarely at odds with the law and the Constitution, as well as human decency. Anyone remotely experienced with the menu of challenges at our southern border understands the vagaries are many, but stemming migration from the south requires at its roots addressing systemic issues on the ground that encourage people to flee in the first place. This is as true now as it was in the early 80s, when civil wars and government atrocities throughout the region began the quagmire.
Particularly garish within the well of bankrupt Trumpism/GOP notions is the implication desperately poor and fearful Central Americans are whimsically heading to the US for opportunity, or more detestable, government programs they can take advantage of, Horatio Algers in sandals or welfare reinas, pick your poison. Trump’s MAGAite disdain for economic, political and humanitarian initiatives designed to improve the lot of those otherwise forced to escape hellish conditions is as unsurprising as his call to deploy more US military manpower to join National Guard divisions already proving fully ineffectual to a task they have no business pursuing. Moreover, his renewed musing about the benefits of family separation makes clear the moral abyss is just where he wants his wretched core-infused GOP to be. The tragic fact his base loves occupying that space, and millions more may be inclined to hold their noses and err on the side of Buzz Windrip in order to feel safer about a few thousand poor and desperate people seeking what we used to sell as a primary part of our greatness, reflects a constituency tailor-made for the foreign policy John Bolton is glad to provide.
When Bolton’s predecessor H.R. McMaster was ousted after a brief and stormy tenure, the storyline emerged he was too volatile and clashed with colleagues like Mattis and Kelly. However, a deeper look reveals McMaster’s devotion to presenting the President complete pictures on questions at hand was really his undoing; Trump simply loathed being confused by too many options, and came to distrust such presentations as devious means for pursuing “weak” approaches by rendering more complex issues he preferred far simpler.
There is nothing more Trumpian than dumbing things down. Since Bolton generally skips anything with nuance and proceeds directly to confrontation and ultimatums, he is now the Donald’s pet, with accompanying access. It’s doubtful Kelly will tolerate the situation much longer. When he leaves, and Nielson follows, there will be no West Wing gate keeper, and DHS, already without a deputy director, will have no leadership whatsoever. That leaves immigration policy fully in the hands of Bolton, Miller and, to a lesser extent, Pompeo. Expect the worst. BC