Name:   MrHodja - Subject:   Speculation Date:   6/26/2020 12:43:31 PM

To use a phrase we often invoke when evaluating a system and its security for the first time:  We don't know what we don't know.  What actually transpired between the two will probably only be known to the two of them.  We don't know what Bolton might have promised, or at least indicated to Trump in order to get the prize appointment he seemed to want.  After-the-fact spin may or may not have a shred of truth to it.  But, politics is politics, and like international relations, what actually happens may never see the light of day.

Bolton is a chit-bag and is profiteering with his book.  But was he a good national security adviser?  For sure he lands squarely in the hawk camp. But even the military is well grounded in the tenets of national power, and is well aware that military action is usually the last one invoked. Trump is a chit-bag who toys with the truth as it suits his goals.  But what are his goals?  I suspect coming across as a nice-guy diplomat is not among them.  I do know that in spite of the countless roadblocks put in front of him by his detractors he has done an amazing job running the country.